மயிலிட்டியில் ஆயுதக்கிடங்கு? இராணுவத்தளபதியுடன் கூட்டமைப்பினர் வாக்குவாதம்

April 18, 2017

மயிலிட்டியில் ஆயுதக்கிடங்கு இருப்பதாக சொல்லப்படுவது முற்றிலும் போலியான தகவல் என இராணுவத் தளபதி கிரிசாந்த டி சில்வா தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர்களுடன் பாதுகாப்பு அமைச்சில் நேற்று இடம்பெற்ற சந்திப்பின் போது அவர் இவ்வாறு தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

மயிலிட்டி துறைமுகத்தை பொது மக்களின் பாவனைக்கு கையளிக்க மறுப்பு தெரிவிப்பது குறித்து கடற்படையினரிடம் கூட்டமைப்பின் பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர்கள் கேள்வியெழுப்பியிருந்தனர்.

அதற்கு பதிலளித்து பேசிய கடற்படையின் தேசிய திட்டமிடல் பணிப்பாளர் குருகுலசூரிய "அவ்வாறு ஏதும் நடைபெறவில்லை" என குறிப்பிட்டிருந்தார். எனினும், கூட்டமைபினர்கள் அவரின் பதிலை ஏற்கவில்லை.

மேலும், மயிலிட்டி பகுதியில் ஆயுத கிடங்கு இருப்பதாகவும், அதனை மாற்றவேண்டியுள்ளதனால் குறித்த பகுதியை விடுவிக்க காலம் தாமதிக்கப்படுவதாக சொல்லப்படுகின்றதே என கூட்டமைப்பினர் மீண்டும் கேள்வியெழுப்பினர்.

இதனையடுத்து பதிலளித்து பேசிய இராணுவத்தளபதி, "அவ்வாறு கூறப்படுவது பொய்யான கதையாகும்" என குறிப்பிட்டார். எனினும், இராணுவத்தளபதியின் கருத்திற்கும் கூட்டமைப்பினர் மறுப்பு வெளியிட்டனர்.

எவ்வாறாயினும், அது உண்மையான தகவல் என கூட்டமைப்பினர் மீண்டும் வலியுறுத்த, மறுபடியும் இராணுவத்தளபதி மறுப்பு வெளியிட்டிருந்தார்.

இந்நிலையில் குறுக்கிட்டு பேசிய பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் எம்.ஏ.சுமந்திரன் கேள்விப்பட்ட தகவலையே அவர்கள் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர் என குறிப்பிட்டு பிரச்சினையை முடிவுக்குகொண்டுவந்துள்ளார்.

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US must not ignore Sri Lanka's human rights violations

© Getty

BY TAYLOR DIBBERT, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 04/17/17 01:40 PM EDT

Though largely unnoticed in Washington, the United States has been making a big push to strengthen ties with the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka. This policy shift began during Barack Obama’s tenure and, thus far, has continued since Trump assumed the presidency. Public remarks from U.S. government officials (about the current state of affairs in Sri Lanka) have been misleading and even inaccurate. Unfortunately, the continuation of excessively congratulatory remarks from the Trump administration would probably discourage needed reform in the country.

To be clear, Sri Lanka experienced a big political change in January 2015 — when longtime authoritarian Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated in his quest for an unprecedented third term. U.S.-Sri Lanka relations during Rajapaksa’s tenure soured due to rising authoritarianism and allegations of wartimes abuses which occurred during the end of the civil war. Shortly after Sirisena’s ascension, the U.S moved quickly to rebuild the relationship, principally for geopolitical reasons.

That said, Sri Lanka’s new government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is obviously floundering. Tricky coalition politics and, more importantly, a lack of political will mean that we should not expect dramatic changes in the coming years.

Yet, instead of providing a more accurate assessment of where things stand, it appears U.S. government officials may simply create fictitious stories for domestic and international consumption.

For, example, according to remarks by American Ambassador Atul Keshap on April 1:

“Our growing military-to-military cooperation reflects the progress Sri Lanka has made on reconciliation and justice. As Sri Lanka continues to make progress in implementing its commitments to its people and the international community, this will form the basis of further cooperation between our militaries.”

What on earth is Keshap talking about?

Put bluntly, Keshap’s comments are ridiculous and a slap in the face to the country’s Tamil community (an ethnic minority in a country that is largely comprised of ethnic Sinhalese). There’s no question that Tamils are the group that has suffered the most due to the war. Furthermore, the reality is that the country has not really made any progress on reconciliation and justice. (No, singing the national anthem in Tamil does not count.)

“Sri Lanka has not made any significant gain in anything as far as reconciliation is concerned,” notes Kusal Perera, a senior journalist based in Colombo.

In fact, Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in these areas was made abundantly clear during the recently concluded 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), where another co-sponsored resolution was passed on Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the country’s transitional justice process will be monitored by the HRC for an additional two years, although many people are now pessimistic about how things have been going and where they might be headed.

Indeed, the U.S. is so eager to renew ties with Sri Lanka that inconvenient truths will be ignored and more “alternative facts” may emerge in the weeks ahead. Washington’s promulgation of a hugely misleading Sri Lanka narrative, is partly meant to justify increased security cooperation with a military tarnished by credible allegations of war crimes and ongoing reports of torture and sexual violence. Let’s not forget that, eight years after the country’s civil war ended, a debate on demilitarization has yet to begin and security sector reform is nowhere in sight.

Since Sirisena was elected president, America’s Sri Lanka policy has been disappointing, shortsighted and naive. It appears that the U.S. will continue to deprioritize human rights concerns in general and minority issues specifically. These regrettable decisions will not go unnoticed — especially by Tamils residing in the country’s Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Taylor Dibbert, a writer based in the Washington, D.C. area, is affiliated with the Pacific Forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. From 2011 to 2014 he worked for a human rights organization in Sri Lanka. The views expressed here are his own. Follow him on Twitter @taylordibbert.

SRI LANKA: GSP PLUS BENIFITS SHOULD BE SHARED WITH WORKERS – EU DELEGATION

Image: Anne-Marie Mineur and Lola Sánchez Caldentey meeting with local TU leaders; Credit www.guengl.eu.

18/04/2017

Issuing a statement the Fact Finding Mission including Members of the European Parliament Anne-Marie Mineur and Lola Sánchez Caldentey that visited Sri Lanka has emphasised that GSP plus concessions will be granted to Sri Lanka only  that the benefit goes also to the workers.

The statment further says that:

The main focus of the Fact Finding Mission (FMM), which took place between the 10 and 12 April, has been to evaluate the status of labour rights in the country, which is a main concern for some political groups in the European Union. As a member of the delegation Anne-Marie Mineur stressed, “it is the Government´s obligation to effectively guarantee the fundamental rights of workers and their trade unions. Collective bargaining and the right to strike should be an integral part of this”. Her colleague, Lola Sánchez Caldentey stressed the European Union shall not grant a special trade status to Sri Lanka if the money coming from this advantage remains only in the pockets of a few business people.

The European Union will decide in the following month whether Sri Lanka is duly entitled, or not, to be granted Generalized System of Preferences Plus status (GSP+). This status is a component of the EU policy for developing countries which offers trade incentives to those which implement core international conventions on human and labour rights, sustainable development and good governance.

Members of the European Parliament Anne-Marie Mineur and Lola Sánchez Caldentey with other members of the FFM that includes trade union 3F of Denmark, International Transport Workers Federation (ITWF) and Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) were invited by the invited by IndustriALL Sri Lanka Council, with the aim of evaluating the progress of the country in recent years. “In 2015 we received with satisfaction the commitment of the Sri Lanka government to put in place legislation to address Human Rights violations. However the implementation of that legislation remains very questionable”, says Anne-Marie Mineur.

The delegation has encountered workers who have been object of labour rights violations, including harassment to trade unions, illegal dismissal of trade union leaders, sexual harassment and labour rights violations within the Free Trade Zones. After more than ten meetings the delegates had, Lola Sánchez Caldentey concludes that “if the European Union consumers knew the abusive conditions under which the women do the cloth that they buy, they would be ashamed” to which Anne-Marie Mineur adds “the government must ensure that these workers can organize themselves through trade unions, because otherwise they will keep on being exploited”. The delegates have also expressed their concerns about the extensive use of manpower agencies for co-working arrangements, which have undermined freedom of association and collective bargaining; and on the fact that the judiciary has increasingly been interfering in labour disputes and collective bargaining to the detriment of trade unions.

Following this fact-finding mission, the delegation met among other officials, the Minister of Labour Mr.W.D. John Seneviratne to whom they have addressed their serious concerns regarding labour rights. The Minister has expressed his commitment to ensure that 50% of the benefits of GSP+ status will be for the workers. “We obviously welcome this engagement, but we still don’t know how the government will deliver this promise; we will therefore be closely following its implementation. From our perspective, the first step to make sure that the benefits go to the workers is to make sure that they get fair wages, have the effective right to organise and bargain collectively. Signing a convention is just the beginning. The real challenge is to implement it; to ensure that workers not only have the theoretical right to organise, but also that, in reality, there is no harassment towards trade unions by the employers”, concluded the delegates, who endorsed the trade union’s road map to assert Labour Rights in Sri Lanka as a way to ensure that workers will effectively benefit from GSP+ status.

– Anne-Marie Mineur and Lola Sánchez Caldentey, Members of the European Parliament
with other delegates of the FFM that includes trade union 3F of Denmark, International Transport Workers Federation (ITWF) and Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC)

Moving Towards Renewable & Sustainable Energy In Sri Lanka

By Kavindu Ediriweera –April 19, 2017

Kavindu Ediriweera

During the Presidential election 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena announced his manifesto under the theme of compassionate Maithri governance, a stable country. In the chapter 10 of the aforesaid, he promised to meet the basic energy needs through renewable energy. The manifesto also included among others protecting against rising of imported fuel prices, inclusion of environmental factors in decision making, building biomass power plants and benefiting rural communities. It also mentions removing subsidies for fossil fuel and supporting renewable energy with the President’s policy statements emphasizing the obtaining of long term concessionary loans for clean energy from global funds.

Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy

Until early 90s, Ceylon electricity board depended on Hydropower since it was introduced in 1950s to the country. Until late 2010, hydropower held the majority share on the national power grid. Later on, due to increasing demand and unavailability of economically feasible sites for the development of major hydro sources, respective governments had to shift into a mix electricity generation system such as fossil based alternative as a result.

Electrification growth has changed from 7% that was in early 1976 to an almost 100% electrification rate. Current status of the installed capacity of power in Sri Lanka is 4065MW while having a peak demand of 2483MW. With the changing life patterns of people, it is also notable that at present per capita consumption of electricity has risen from 348kWh (2004) to the existing value 603kWh.

At the end of the year 2016, energy share of the market stands at CEB Coal 36%, CEB Thermal 17%, IPP Thermal (Independent power producers)15% CEB Hydro 24% and other non-conventional renewable energy 8%. According to CEB sources other renewable energy capacity stands at 543.5MW having 209 ongoing projects including among others 178 mini hydro power projects with the capacity of 349.64MW, solar power 41.36MW and wind power 123.85MW.

Change of Plans

Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) issued its long-term generation expansion plan 2015-2034 in July 2015. According to which it was expected to increase coal based electricity generation by 5 times to meet the energy requirement of the country causing solid rise of 350% carbon emission which includes increasing particulates by 750% and coal ash 3700tons/day by 2034. Notably, renewable energy cost reduction is not mentioned in this document.

However, this was rejected later introducing CEB short term 2017-2020 plan under the guidance of Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). It further requested a new plan for 2018-2037 long term generation expansion plan giving priority to government policy framework, least cost principles, demand-side management (DSM), more renewable energy, improve consideration of environmental, health and other externalities and seek wider consultation.

Moving Forward with Increased Renewable Energy Targets

Readiness to integrate variable renewable energy into the national power grid is an upcoming issue that CEB has to face with the increase of RE sources. It is necessary to get new tools to absorb a large share of variable renewable energy to the system.

It is found as a globally confirmed fact that considering the lifespan of a power plant that the leverage cost of fossil fuel and coal is comparatively higher than the leverage cost for renewable energy power plants. Further, there is a reduction in costs that is noted since 2010. Cost of storing renewable energy has been reduced by 70% since 2010, and is expected to reduce by 50% by 2024 compared to the current level.  A  decline in solar electricity prices is noted worldwide as a result of drop in technology cost, low cost financing, favorable solar conditions and competitive procurements.

Currently the revision of National Energy Policies and strategies, which was prepared in 2008, is ongoing parallel to government’s vision for national development, which has set up targets to achieve highest potential of share in renewable energy sector by 2020.

Call for Comments on National Energy Policy  

The Power and Renewable Energy Ministry of Sri Lanka has introduced the draft of the national energy policy for Sri Lanka for public comments. This is introduced as a step towards Sri Lanka’s move to sustainable energy as part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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CID gets facts on Thajudeen case from a secret informer - AG

- By Our Court Correspondent-April 18, 2017

Probe into the death of former rugby player Wasim Thajudeen is still underway following details provided by a secret informer, Deputy Solicitor General Dilan Rathnayake informed the Court.

The observation was made when the case was taken into consideration at the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Rathnayake had also went on to say the final report on the inquiry carried out by the Medical Council of Sri Lanka against former Colombo Chief JMO Dr. Ananda Samarasekera will be submitted to the AG Department before 21 April. He also added the CID investigates on missing records of a log belonging to the President’s Security Division on the day of the incident.  

Meanwhile, former senior DIG, Anura Senanayake, who was arrested for allegedly withholding evidence pertaining to the case, has been further remanded until 27 April. Thajudeen, a Sri Lankan ruggerite and former Havelock SC captain, was killed in Colombo in May 2012.

Retired top officers contradict each other in CID cross-examination-Use of ‘sharp object’ to kill The Sunday Leader Editor was known soon after assassination

Expose` : Good governance commander in chief completes two years but MR ‘s control still within army !

by Shamindra Ferdinando-April 18, 2017, 10:28 pm 

Wartime Director Operations, Joint Operations Headquarters (JOH), the then Brigadier Kumara Herath has told the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air Chief Marshal Donald Perera had told him that The Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga had been killed with a sharp object soon after the incident which occurred on the morning of January 8, 2009 at Attidiya, Dehiwela.

Initial media reports said Wickrematunga had been shot dead.

Herath, who had retired recently in the rank of Maj. Gen, said that Air Marshal Perera had summoned him to his office after being informed of the attack by the then Overall Operations Commander Brigadier Mano Perera. Herath quoted Air Marshal Perera as having said that Wickrematunga had been impaled by a sharp object. Both Air Chief Marshal Perera and Brig. Herath had been based at the JOH, situated within Army headquarters.

Maj. Gen. Mano Perera had been based elsewhere.

Herath emphasised the fact that Wickrematunga being stabbed with a sharp object had been known to the military soon after the incident.

The CID cross-examined Air Chief Marshal Perera (retdretd), Maj Gen Mano Perera (rtd) and Maj Gen Kumar Herath (rtd). The cross examination of the retired senior officers had been carried out simultaneously with CID recording their statements. Air Chief Marshal Perera served as Sri Lanka’s envoy to Tel Aviv during the previous administration after his retirement.

The CID has been told that the JOH knew of the assassination about 20 minutes before Sirasa announced the incident.

Maj. Gen. Herath has said that the circumstances under which Wickrematunga had been stabbed with a sharp object were known to them years before the exhumation of Wickrematunga’s body on a court order in late Sept last year.

However, both Air Marshal Perera and Maj. Gen. Mano Perera denied Herath’s claim. Maj. Gen. Mano Perera said perhaps the then Operations Commander Colombo Brigadier Anura Perera may have phoned Air Chief Marshal. Anura Perera, too, retired in the rank of Maj. Gen.

Maj. Gen. Mano Perera also strongly denied having visited the scene of killing.

It also transpired during the cross-examination by the CID that Wickrematunga’s assassination hadn’t been taken up at the regular JOH conference the following week though police intelligence officer referred to the incident.

The JOH used to meet regularly on Tuesdays ahead of National Security Council meeting chaired by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The CID launched a fresh investigation into The Sunday Leader editor’s assassination immediately after the change of government in January 2015. In addition to the Wickrematunga’s assassination, the CID is probing assassination attempt on Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon and the brutal assault on The Nation Deputy Editor Keith Noyahr, also during the Rajapaksa administration. In addition to those incidents, the police are also inquiring into the attack on journalist Namal Perera in June 2008, several weeks after the abduction of Noyahr. Perera was a former course coordinator at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism, at the time he was targeted at Kirulapone. Perera, now with the Australian High Commission recently identified two of the soldiers who had been involved in the attack at an identification parade.

The CID has arrested several personnel attached to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in connection with attacks on journalists under the previous government.

Pic caption: Retired Maj. Gen. Kumar Herath leaving CID headquarters. Yesterday CID recorded his statement in connection with The Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematnga’s assassination. It was his second statement to the CID (Pic by Nimal Dayaratne)

Ranil Wickremesinghe untangling of a socio-political parable

“If the story-tellers could ha’ got decency and good morals from true stories, who’d have troubled to invent parables?” 
~ Thomas Hardy 

2017-04-19

Since of late, there seems to be a spate of interest in our Prime Minister. Often referred to as Ranil, instead of Prime Minister, he has managed to draw unusual attention to himself; by the nineteen eighties he had already become the darling of the Colombo cocktail circuit, parallelling Lalith Athulathmudali at the time; his laidback lifestyle which emanates an aloofness beyond a mere ‘politician-ness’ of a politician has sometimes caused a great deal of suspicion among his constituents. His inflexible principle of unwillingness to lend any political favours to his friends and constituents has cost him a massive amount of perceived ‘man in power’-notion, to whom most of our voters turn in a circumstance of dire need. His oft-repeated free market economic practices followed up by real-time de-acquisitions of loss-making, state-owned business ventures have come for severe criticism by the leftover ‘left’ in the country. 

Ranil Wickremesinghe untangling of a socio.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Halt in PRECIFAC probe on parliament affairs?

 Apr 18, 2017

It has been reported that the former Secretary to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Serious Acts of Fraud and Corruption (PRECIFAC), Lacille de Silva has made inquiries into the reasons why investigations conducted by the Commission regarding allegations of fraud and corruption in Parliament, seem to have halted.

The former Secretary is said to have made an official request to the present Secretary H.W. Gunadasa under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

From time to time the Commission was said to receive complaints from the Parliamentary Food Department and Engineering Department. Complaints regarding miscellaneous purchases, installation of sound control machines in committee rooms, call for proposals from time to time for the installation of security systems and expenses incurred on Parliamentary restructuring were also said to be among some of the complaints received according to de Silva.

- http://srilankaedition.com-

Fake News, Lake House & Colombo Telegraph

By Saman Wagaarachchi –April 18, 2017 

Saman Wagaarachchi

Three years ago, the term ‘fake news’ wouldn’t have made an impact in Sri Lanka because media was curtailed, journalists were kidnapped or shot for their dissenting views and websites with opposing views were shrouded to secrecy.

Enter Colombo Telegraph. It proclaims ‘in journalism truth is a process.’ That truth seems to be a veneer of lies when you have cultivated an online platform where ‘journalists’ can argue the pros and cons of treating women like chattel, the legalism of child marriage and corporate information without an iota of fact checking is published for public consumption like Gossip Lanka.

Yesterday, CT had published a news article saying ‘Lake House Directors To Be Replaced: Presidential Committee Finds Fault With Editorial Director’

Two key points from the article are as below:

1: ‘It has been identified as the main reason for the abysmal performance of the company’s two Sinhala newspapers – Dinamina and Silumina – which have failed to show any progress in terms of sales, under the current management.’

Fact check: The sales of the ‘abysmal titles’ can be verified with the latest publication of the LMRB and as per Survey Research Lanka. This can also be cross-checked with me, the current Editorial Director at Lake House.

2: ‘The committee is to recommend the removal of Wagaarachchi from the current position.’

Along with Wagaarachchi, other directors too will be replaced to bring in a new management to the company, several top sources of the government added.

It is learnt that one member of the new board of directors will be nominated by President Maithripala Sirisena. The new member, according to sources close to the President will ensure that the President gets due coverage from the Lake House newspapers.’

Fact check: The board of ANCL is under no obligation to answer to this allegation but as of now, an inquiry is being made with respect to editorial improvements to be made across all the newspapers being circulated under the ANCL portfolio.

In the age of fake news, Donald Trump and the GOP were able to secure him a US Presidency. As the general public, we should perhaps be vigilant because online media needs to be strictly scrutinized to not mislead the public. Perhaps, the former President i.e. Mahinda Rajapaksa needs to adhere to this adage by Stephen King; “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame on both of us.”

Over to you, the reader, don’t be fooled. Fact check the Colombo Telegraph who have perhaps diluted the truth in its process.

Editor’s Note: While standing by our story, Colombo Telegraph is now in a position to present a comprehensive account of the interaction between the Presidential Committee and the Board of Directors of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited.

The Presidential Committee on the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited met the company’s board of directors and members of the senior management, in two separate meetings, on March 29, at the conference room of the company.

At the commencement of the meeting, ANCL Chairman Kavan Ratnayaka and its Finance Director presented details about financial performance of the company, including the growth of revenues and repayment of debts obtained by the previous management.

They also briefed the committee members on the corporate strategic plan of the company.

After this initial presentation, the committee members observed that despite the growth of revenue and the repayment of debts, the performance of the company’s newspapers are “abysmal”. in terms of content and sales.

Attorney-at-law Chandrasiri Seneviratne, a member of the committee, explained the manner in which previous managements of the company took measures to drive sales and increase readership of the Lake House newspapers.

At this point, former Supreme Court Judge Nimal Dissanayak, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee, commended the Daily News newspaper, saying it has shown great progress in terms of content, under the current management of the company.

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C. Suntharalingam, Part II: Grandfather’s Letters

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole-April 18, 2017, 8:07 pm 

Three Vantage Views

Before reading Grandfather’s Letters, I had an anecdotal view of C. Suntharalingam (CS). In 1958 as a six year old, I was terrified when classmates talked of Sinhalese marching to Jaffna to slaughter us. CS (in the climax of the book) held the line in Vavuniya, distributing unlicensed-guns and placing dynamite in culverts. One day as lorry-loads of men careened down Chemmany Road Nallur to Vavuniya, I ran alongside the convoy behind senior boys (including our Sinhalese baker’s sons) shouting "Thamilarukku Jai" (Victory to Tamils), wondering what the Hindi word jai meant.

C. Suntharalingam, Part II Grandfather’s Letters.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

The Meethotamulla tragedy: The face, not failure, of development 

Sri Lankan crime police officers take pictures of the garbage dump during a rescue mission after a garbage dump collapsed and buried dozens of houses in Colombo, Sri Lanka 16 April 2017 - Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte

By Iromi Perera and Vijay Nagaraj-Tuesday, 18 April 2017

On the afternoon of 14 April tonnes of garbage at Meethotamulla, one of the biggest dumping sites just outside Colombo, came crashing down destroying scores of homes. At the time of writing, the death toll was reportedly 26 but was expected to rise. There have been serious allegations made by the affected community that rescue efforts did not even begin in earnest till very late into the night owing to a lack of direction and the failure of authorities.

According to Nuwan Bopage, a lawyer representing residents of Meethotamulla, people were left using shovels to get to those buried. “During that whole time we could hear the dying breath of those buried under the garbage,” he said at a media conference the next day.

Behind the tragedy is a litany of broken promises—including an assurance by the Prime Minister himself in 2015 of solving the problem within six months—and protests being met with tear gas or batons. A group of residents from Meethotamulla approached the Supreme Court in 2014 seeking to stop the dumping of garbage.

According to some of the lawyers as recently as two weeks ago there were warnings of a collapse sounded in Court. But the protection of the right to equality offered in the Constitution lies buried today under tonnes of garbage. The judiciary, the bureaucracy, elected representatives as well as all of us have failed the people of Meethotamulla. 

Death by design

Soaring almost 200 metres high and spread over a vast area, the Meethotamulla dump was a veritable death sentence for those who had no choice but to live in its ominous shadow. Labelling it a ‘disaster’ is misleading because it did not just happen, it was allowed to happen; the hazard of a garbage dump came to the community in Meethotamulla and not the other way round.

Tragic as it is, Meethotamulla is a familiar story. Consider other ‘disasters’—Koslanda/Meeriyabedda in 2014, Kotmale in Nuwara Eliya in 2015 and Aranayake in Kegalle in 2016, followed by the floods in Colombo. In each of these cases, and there are others, it is the poor who have paid the ultimate price.

Each of these cases underscores what development has meant for the estate, rural or urban working class poor. Their lives precarious, their legitimacy and citizenship extends only as far as the cheap labour and services they provide and the votes they cast. But unlike the other cases, Meethotamulla is quite literally the wasteland of Sri Lanka’s economic geography.

The tragedy of Meethotamulla is that it is the outcome of planned development not its failure. And this is precisely also why just like no one was held accountable for the tragedies in Meeriyabedda or Aranayake, no one is likely to be held accountable for Meethotamulla either.  

"Soaring almost 200 metres high and spread over a vast area, the Meethotamulla dump was a veritable death sentence for those who had no choice but to live in its ominous shadow. Labelling it a ‘disaster’ is misleading because it did not just happen, it was allowed to happen; the hazard of a garbage dump came to the community in Meethotamulla and not the other way round " 

In almost every case, from Meeriyabedda to Meethotamulla, the State claims people ignored warnings or defied calls to relocate. Or worse, simply holds the victims responsible, like blaming the floods in Colombo on those living on canal banks or floodplains. The planned and organised destruction of the environment in the name of development, which in fact exposes the poor to the highest risk, continues unabated.

But what is implicated is also development itself not just its agents. Many people have asked why people were not relocated. But why should they have been? As people in Meethotamulla have long said, the problem is the garbage not them.

The relocation reflex is actually symptomatic of the many prejudices and presumptions regarding the urban poor and their entitlements. That somehow their presence is more often than not risky, illegitimate and illegal, that places like Meethotamulla must be just ‘settlements’, informal and impermanent anyway. 

Development without justice 

The previous Government showed so much alacrity in forcibly relocating thousands of Colombo’s poor into high rises at great economic and social cost. But with all its militarised might and efficiency it could not stop the dumping of garbage in Meethotamulla.

If the then Government was out to make Colombo ‘slum-free’ and a ‘world-class city’, the present one has its eyes set on a ‘megapolis’ and a ‘smart city’. That Colombo has entrenched pockets of poverty, where the average lifespan and levels of health, income and consumption are far below what they should be matters little in these plans.

None of these grandiose visions are grounded in equity, inclusion or spatial, social and economic justice, in securing the lives of those most at risk. The only kind of risk that is valued is that taken by real estate investors. As much as other factors, it is poverty and distance from power that turns hazards into disasters for some but not others.

Meethotamulla, much like the floods, put paid to the assertions of the previous and current Government of taking measures to improve the lives of the urban poor. In fact, far from prioritising the improvement of habitats and housing conditions of those most at risk in Colombo, the focus has and continues to be on ‘liberating’ land that can be marketed as real estate, in the service of a financialised economy.

If the Meethotamulla dump had been on anything that might become valuable real estate it would have been moved, like thousands of Colombo’s working class poor were. They were obstructing economic corridors that needed ‘liberating’, but living in the shadow of mountains of garbage was acceptable.

The palpable sense of outrage and outpouring of support for the survivors from across Colombo and beyond is indeed welcome. But the forced evictions of thousands of Colombo’s poorer residents in the name of development evoked no such outrage or sympathy.

The reality is that the poor have long been paying not enjoying the dividends of so-called development. If we can see Meethotamulla for many fundamental wrongs it exemplifies and begin to be outraged by them, we will have perhaps started towards ensuring so many lives are not lost in vain, yet again. 

(Iromi Perera works with the Centre for Policy Alternatives and Vijay Nagaraj with the Law & Society Trust)

RANIL MAHINDA SIRISENA Are they all the same? 

2017-04-19

Aged old boys – Ranil and Mahinda need each other to keep both politically afloat. If one is to win, is it due to the unpopularity of the other? Votes come less from the dwindling party cadres: others think twice before they vote? 

Sirisena needs to ride on the unpopularity of the other two for survival - being a nowhere kid, without the support of the Rajapaksas’ or the UNP, is unlikely to reach anywhere except home sweet home. Is this a battle of the unpopular - leaving no options or alternatives to voters? Yet, Sirisena has done (at times) useful tit-bits negating rash Ranil, whereas the other two have done sweet nothing worthwhile after the last election. People appreciate Mahinda’s services in eliminating terrorism, but that is history. Alive is his post 2009 conduct with terrorism unlikely to resurface virulently. Ranil ran high on integrity till the Central Bank bond scam equated him to the level of other politicians. 
If Ranil and Sirisena join hands at the next elections to defeat the common enemy: yet the SLFP party cadres and their ‘non-thinking’ voters will not vote again for a combine operating with their dreaded opponent Ranil; SLFPs’ ‘thinking’ voters, may have sided with Sirisena for his patriotic instincts, will desert him in hordes describing Sirisena as an opportunist: leaving him with his miniature depleted vote bank from the North Central Province. In a nutshell, he is Mr. Unreliable in SLFP politics. 

Mahinda Rajapaksa will be the beneficiary of the ‘senior floating voters’ only lose it on the roundabout of two generations of under 18-year-olds [Mahinda came to national politics in 1970 together with Ranil 47 years ago] have lost faith with his alleged acts of corruption and non-governance. Most of those under the 45 generation are unlikely to vote for him again. They are becoming a formidable silent majority. 

Changing to a younger leadership is the need of the hour. May find such, beneath the third tier of a political party (first two being secured by the over 60 club of politicians with a handful from the over 70 years’ group still kicking alive in their dead politics or their progeny/relatives). It is preferable to seek a candidate from political parties, out of its lists of better candidates, from the now generation. 
Whichever party rids Wickremesinghes’ and Rajapaksas’ first, will have an advantage in being the desired trendsetter and the late jettisoning opponents will earn the dubious title of being copycats. If one goes out, the other will have to follow suit. Any credible name that holds respect can eclipse Wickremesinghe or Rajapaksa from an electorate that cries silently for a change, from (a) country permanently on an economic meltdown. Neither is widely-respected anymore with their warts visible. 
We make ourselves vulnerable allowing the decrepit ruling juntas around the trio to rule us till death takes us apart. Blame the voters more, given the opportunity they will vote for one of the three of the named candidates, due to party affiliations, to jostle the others out of reckoning. Vicious circle ends often at square one. 

Intelligentsia will not parade the streets on May Day - that will not aggregate to voters of a single populace electorate in the Colombo District though described as ‘tens of thousands.’ Leadership should salute their paid hirelings on display, provided transport, food and cash is on offer. 
Instead, why do the literate voters not join hands: appeal to the political parties they vote for, to make way for new leaderships away from the kith and kin / friends and sycophants of their establishments. They must be booted out together as an endeavour will be made to stall such an outbreak, as ouster becomes virtually impossible closer to Election Day; for which we have a period between two and a half years to three years ahead. It is a ‘Now or Never’ situation and don’t say you were not warned previously. New leadership needs time to settle down to rewind politics. 

Economy was, but no more is, an oracle of renown to predict election results – since both the recent governments are held responsible for the present economic malady. Reason: first-time voters no more cast their votes on the basis of old family heretical ties to a political party, make their votes more volatile. Middle-aged floating voters in recent polls have crisscrossed party lines and voted for different political parties at varying elections. Senior citizens are unlikely to vote contrary to their traditional upbringing but may decline to visit the polling booth on the day of balloting. A protest vote of 6 % in addition to the regular reject vote can make a significant difference to the end result. 
Political parties are on shopping expeditions to catch the emerging voters. Instead voters are hostile to the presently governing parties though the sound of the jingle of coins emerges stronger from the hip pockets, the anti establishment votes against governments past and present are becoming louder. It includes a leadership once rejected that is unlikely to get another life, as the mature know, economics is not a matter of concern to politicians of today, as they live in comfort, but it was not so till the free economy in 1978 was introduced. 

Dudley Senanayake resigned as Prime Minister for increasing the price of rice by a few cents and cutting the free meal offered to schoolchildren that led to a General Strike. Difference will be visible when the Presidential Commission reveals the secrets of the Bond Scam and the resulting ‘no action’ being taken to arrest a situation in the scam of scams. What credible action did the government take till Sirisena appointed an impartial and credible commission for inquiry? Where was the opposition in the midst of these events? 

Credit goes to a few journalists, few independent commentators and their proprietors in the media. Let’s call it a victory for democracy. Hopefully, justice will prevail if the Commission acts effectively and objectively. 

Gotabhaya should not mislead the nation on Meethotamulla tragedy –Chameera Perera

Apr 18, 2017

Leaders of Citizens’ Organizations Collective (COC) expressed their displeasure about the government’s failure to take proper action to prevent collapse of Meethotamulla Garbage Mountain.

Addressing the weekly press conference held at CSR in Colombo on April 18 Left Centre Co-convener Chameera Perera said that Gotabhaya Rajapakse should not mislead the nation on Meethotamulla tragedy.
“Gotabhaya who was initiated the Meethotamulla garbage mountain in 2008 and overlooked the court decision given against garbage dump at Meethotamulla in 2009.
He added, “Nobody could not challenge including the court against his decision about the Meethotamulla garbage dump. He and the former regime depressed and brutally attacked demonstration organized by the Meethotamulla people in 2012. Gotabhaya has told to English newspaper that their plan to create a sanitary dumping in latter part of the government. And he said that the plan was neglected due to the change of the government on January 8th 2015. It is really a shame of giving this kind of false reasons.”
“We urge the government to follow certain scientific measures excised by the other countries who has large population in cities. And it should be short and long term process to overcome this environmental problem,” said Perera.
COC also criticized the brutal killing of an elephant by wild life officer on April 17.
“It was televised by the Sirasa TV and we urge Wild Life Minister to investigate this matter,” said Co-convener of Left Centre.
Talking to Lanka News Web Convener of Parapuraka Balaya (Power of a generation) Chamara Nakandala said that Meethotamulla tragedy was not a natural destruction.

“It was politicians made destruction. They were informed by the people at Meethotamulla and environmental experts about the danger of the garbage mountain. But authorities were kept silence. If they take prompt action for that we could save the lives of people who lost at the Methotamulla destruction. It is a time to government and opposition to joint- together and finds a solution for this issue.”

He added, “Government should consult expert in recycling management systems and apply to the country and find a suitable solution for the garbage problem in the country. People will learn a lesson from this incident and not support for the necessary solutions for this due to their bad experience and broken promises given to the people. Anyhow government should get the support from religious leaders, environmentalists and civil society leaders to aware the public on needy of solution for the garbage problem. We can’t blame only to the government authorities. Citizens of this country should understand about their responsibilities about protect the nature.”

“We can’t keep trust on the government due to the failure of take proper action for incidents at Salawa and Aranayaka. Victims of those places did not receive a reasonable compensation for their damage,” said Convener of Parapuraka Balaya.

Akalanka Hettiarachchi, convener of Aluth Parapura also spoke out at the event.

(Photos and reported by Lawrence Ferdinando)