Massive cyberattack hits Europe with widespread ransom demands

 A major ransomware attack June 27 hit computers nationwide in Ukraine as well as Russia's biggest oil company and companies in the Netherlands, France and the U.K. (Reuters)

By Andrew Roth and Ellen Nakashima June 27 at 5:33 PM

MOSCOW — A new wave of powerful cyberattacks hit Europe and beyond on Tuesday in a possible reprise of a widespread ransomware assault in May. Affected were a Russian oil giant, a Danish shipping and energy conglomerate, and Ukrainian government ministries, which were brought to a standstill in a wave of ransom demands. The virus even downed systems at the site of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, forcing scientists to monitor radiation levels there manually.

Cyberattacks also spread as far as India and the United States, where the Merck pharmaceutical giant reported on Twitter that “our company’s computer network was compromised today as part of global hack.” The New Jersey-based company said it was investigating the attack.

Cyber researchers say that the virus, which was linked to malware called Petrwrap or Petya, used a so-called “exploit” developed by the National Security Agency that was later leaked onto the Internet by hackers. It is the second massive attack in the last two months to turn powerful U.S. exploits against the IT infrastructure that supports national governments and corporations.

The onslaught of ransomware attacks may be the “new normal,” said Mark Graff, the chief executive of Telegraff, a cybersecurity company.

“The emergence of Petya and WannaCry really points out the need for a response plan and a policy on what companies are going to do about ransomware,” he said. WannaCry was the ransomware used in the May attack. “You won’t want to make that decision at a time of panic, in a cloud of emotion.”

Here is what you need to know about ransomware: software that locks down your files and demands payment to release them. (Sarah Parnass, Dani Player, Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)

The attack mainly targeted eastern Europe, but also hit companies in Spain, Denmark, Norway, and Britain. Victims included the British advertising and marketing multinational WPP and a shipping company, APM Terminals, based at the port of Rotterdam.

But the damage was worst in Ukraine.

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team, in Russia, estimated that 60 percent of infected computers were located in Ukraine, and another 30 percent in Russia.

The hacks targeted government ministries, banks, utilities and other important infrastructure and companies nationwide, demanding ransoms from government employees in the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

[NSA links WannaCry ransomware attack to North Korea]

The hacks’ scale and the use of ransomware recalled the massive May cyberattack in which hackers likely linked to North Korea disabled computers in more than 150 nations using a flaw that was once incorporated into the National Security Agency’s surveillance tool kit.

Cyber researchers have tied the vulnerability exploited by Petya to the one used by WannaCry — a vulnerability discovered by the NSA years ago that the agency turned into a hacking tool dubbed EternalBlue. Petya, like WannaCry, is a worm that spreads quickly to vulnerable systems, said Bill Wright, senior policy counsel for Symantec, the world’s largest cybersecurity firm. But that makes it difficult to control — or to aim at anyone, he said.

“Once you unleash something that propagates in this manner, it’s impossible to control,” he said.
He expressed puzzlement about why firms and governments are still being hit. Microsoft in March made available a patch for the Windows flaw that EternalBlue exploited.

“If you were running an updated operating system and had the latest patch, you would be protected,” Wright said.

The ransomware hit Europe in the early afternoon. Ground zero was Ukraine. Breaches were reported at computers governing the municipal energy company and airport in the capital, Kiev, the state telecommunications company Ukrtelecom, the Ukrainian postal service and the State Savings Bank of Ukraine.

Grocery store checkout machines broke down, ATMs demanded ransom payments, and the turnstile system in the Kiev metro reportedly stopped working.

The mayhem reached high into the government. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko on Tuesday tweeted a picture of a computer screen warning in English that “one of your disks contains errors,” then adding in all capital letters: “DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR PC! IF YOU ABORT THIS PROCESS, YOU COULD DESTROY ALL YOUR DATA!”

[The next ransomware attack will be worse]

“Ta-Dam!” he wrote. “It seems the computers at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine have been ‘knocked out.’ The network is down.” His spokeswoman published a photograph showing demands for a ransom in bitcoins to release data encrypted by the virus.

Suspicions in Ukraine quickly fell on Russia, which annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has been blamed for several large-scale cyberattacks on the country’s power infrastructure. But no proof of the attack was brought, and Russian companies, like the oil giant Rosneft, also complained of being hit by a “powerful hacking attack.” Photographs leaked to the press from a Rosneft-owned regional oil company showed computers displaying ransomware demands similar to those in Ukraine.
The virus also brought havoc to Western Europe. A.P Moller - Maersk Group, a Danish transport and energy conglomerate, announced that “Maersk IT systems are down across multiple sites and business units due to a cyber attack.”

The company was trying to determine exactly how broad the attack was. “We are assessing the situation, and of course the safety of our employees and our operations alongside our customers’ business — these are our top priorities,” Maersk spokeswoman Concepcion Boo Arias said.

[How to protect yourself from a global ransomware attack]

Nakashima reported from Washington. Isaac Stanley-Becker in Berlin, Hamza Shaban and Julie Tate in Washington and David Filipov in Moscow contributed to this report. 

8,000 people rescued in Mediterranean in two days, as three die

Numbers attempting the crossing has increased about 20 percent on the same period last year, with 2,000 deaths reported

A Libyan coast guardsman stands on a boat during the rescue of 147 immigrants attempting to reach Europe off the coastal town of Zawiyah on 27 June (AFP)

Tuesday 27 June 2017

More than 8,000 people have been rescued in waters off Libya during the past 48 hours in difficult weather conditions, Italy's coastguard said on Tuesday.

"On Monday, we rescued about 5,000 people from four large boats, one smaller one and 18 rubber dinghies," a spokesman told AFP.

People were pulled to safety by coastguard vessels, military ships operating under the EU's border agency Frontex and aid boats run by privately funded organisations. Their efforts were coordinated by the coastguard.

But three died on Monday night, a German aid group said, during rescue operations in which thousands more were pulled to safety from rickety boats.

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Jugend Rettet e.V. @jugendrettet

EU - Where are you? We reached our limits and are no longer able to help. @seawatchcrew & http://sea-eye.org  are in the same situation

9:40 AM - 27 Jun 2017

German humanitarian group Jugend Rettet, which patrols the stretch of sea into which smugglers have sent more than half a million people over the past four years, said rescue boats in the area were struggling to cope.

"Despite all efforts, three people died from a sinking rubber boat," Jugend Rettet wrote on Facebook.

"We reached the capacity limit of our ship, while our crew is seeing more boats on the horizon. Currently, all vessels are overloaded."

"Together with Sea Watch and Sea Eye our crew was able to save more people last night under bad weather conditions," the NGO tweeted on Tuesday, referring to two other nonprofit groups.

About 72,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea in 2017, a roughly 20 percent increase on the same period last year

About 72,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea in 2017, a roughly 20 percent increase on the same period last year, and more than 2,000 have died in the attempt, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

At Europe's southern frontier, Italy has become the main destination for primarily sub-Saharan African and Bangladeshi migrants since the European Union struck a deal with Turkey which blocked a once-busy route to Greece.

Italy and the EU are trying to work with Libyan authorities to fight smugglers, but the same chaos which allowed the gangs to establish profitable businesses is hampering their efforts. 

Italy's coastguard said it was seeing "a lot of activity" on Tuesday, "but not at the same level as on Monday".

Spain's Civil Guard said one of its vessels serving under Frontex's anti-trafficking Operation Triton had rescued 133 people found on an inflatable dinghy off Libya.

Those rescued included 17 minors, two babies and 23 women, seven of whom were pregnant, it said.

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✔@MSF_Sea

After a good night's sleep on the deck, our guests are now disembarking the #Prudence in #Palermo.

4:40 AM - 27 Jun 2017

The crew was coming to the assistance of two other dinghies and had been asked to assist three others, it said, adding that the vessel expected to end up with 1,300 migrants on board, "its maximum capacity".

Traffickers on the North African coast take advantage of periods of good weather to set large numbers of people seeking passage to Europe out to sea, a notoriously dangerous crossing.

On Sunday, over 3,300 people were rescued in 31 separate operations, while two bodies were recovered.

The record for people rescued on a single day stands at 7,000, plucked from their unseaworthy vessels on August 29, 2016.

Tick saliva 'gold mine' blocks killer heart condition

Ticks are masters at feeding without causing any pain or inflammation-GETTY IMAGESImage caption

Myocarditis can result in sudden cardiac death in young adults-GETTY IMAGESImage caption

27 June 2017

The saliva from ticks could be used to treat a dangerous kind of heart disease that can cause sudden death in young people, scientists say.

Proteins in the saliva were found to be excellent at stopping inflammation of the heart, which can cause myocarditis and lead to heart failure.

Oxford University researchers say ticks are a "gold mine" for new drugs.

And there is potential they could be used to treat other diseases, such as stroke and arthritis, they said.

But all the research has so far been done in the lab, so it is likely to be many years before the drugs are used on humans.

Under cover

Ticks are experts at biting without being noticed.

This means ticks can feed on animals and humans for eight to 10 days without there being any pain or inflammation.

Writing in Scientific Reports, scientists say this is a result of proteins in the saliva preventing inflammation by neutralising chemicals called chemokines in the host.

This is also important in people with myocarditis, a condition where chemokines are released in the heart and cause inflammation to the heart muscle.

The problem is difficult to spot and can lead to dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure in a third of people, with some then needing a heart transplant.

The researchers have now identified new proteins in tick saliva that appear to block the effect of particular chemokines that cause heart problems.

Prof Shoumo Bhattacharya, BHF professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford, who led the research, said: "Myocarditis is a devastating disease, for which there are currently very few treatments.

"With this latest research, we hope to be able to take inspiration from the tick's anti-inflammatory strategy and design a life-saving therapy for this dangerous heart condition.

He added: "We may also be able to use the same drugs to treat other diseases where inflammation plays a big part, such as heart attack, stroke, pancreatitis, and arthritis."

Tick milking

Tick saliva can contain up to 3,000 proteins, depending on the tick species.

To avoid having to milk the ticks for their saliva using a tiny tube - the way it used to be done - scientists now grow tick saliva proteins in yeast, from synthetic genes.

This way they can make very large amounts.

They now hope their "bug to drug" pipeline will lead to new treatments for a range of other diseases.

Prof Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "They may not be pretty, but these little creatures could hold the secret to better treatments for a whole range of diseases.

"There's a long way to go, but tick saliva looks like an exciting, albeit unconventional, area of research."

Tolerating religious intolerance-SRI LANKA 2016/2017

Sri Lanka continued to pursue commitments to deliver accountability for alleged crimes under international law, although the process was slow. Many human rights challenges remained, including the authorities’ reliance on the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to arrest and detain suspects; torture and other ill-treatment in police custody, and impunity for enforced disappearance and other violations. Victims of violations during the armed conflict faced challenges in rebuilding lives and livelihoods as coherent relief and reparation plans had yet to be implemented.

Background

Sri Lanka initiated a constitutional reform process, began to design truth, justice and reparation mechanisms, and began to institute legal and procedural reforms to address, and ensure, non-repetition of the serious human rights violations and abuses that plagued the country for decades. It initiated public consultations on these mechanisms, but failed to adequately support implementation of the process.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

Tamils suspected of links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued to be detained under the PTA, which permits extended administrative detention and shifts the burden of proof onto the detainee alleging torture or other ill-treatment. In 2015 the government pledged to repeal the PTA and replace it with legislation that complied with international standards, but had not implemented this commitment by the end of 2016. A draft policy and legal framework for replacement legislation submitted for cabinet approval in October retained many of the PTA’s most problematic elements although it did introduce safeguards against torture.

In June, President Sirisena instructed the police and armed forces to abide by Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka directives, that were designed to protect those arrested under the PTA and other emergency measures and to end practices that can lead to abuse. Such abuses include the failure of arresting officials to identify themselves, the transport of suspects in unmarked vehicles, and the use of unofficial places of detention. The directives also guaranteed detainees’ access to a lawyer, including during interrogation, but these were not fully respected.

In late August, human rights lawyer Lakshan Dias petitioned the Supreme Court accusing the Terrorist Investigation Division of the police of violating the directives by refusing to allow him to meet with his client. An amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would have deprived those arrested of access to legal counsel until the police recorded their statements was withdrawn in October after lawyers protested.

Torture and other ill-treatment

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture visited Sri Lanka in May. He found that severe forms of torture by police continued, although probably at lower levels than during the armed conflict, and that impunity persisted for both old and new cases. He noted that procedural norms such as prolonged arbitrary detention without trial under the PTA “almost invite torture and ill-treatment as a routine method of work.” In August, Sri Lanka made a declaration under the UN Convention against Torture recognizing the competence of the UN Committee against Torture to receive and consider communications from individuals alleging violations of their rights under the Convention.

Excessive use of force

Reports continued of excessive use of force in the context of policing. Impunity continued to persist for past incidents. The killings by the army of unarmed demonstrators demanding clean water in August 2013 had yet to be prosecuted. In October a magistrate ruled that the killings were crimes, and ordered further hearings in 2017 to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to refer the case for prosecution.

Enforced disappearances

In May, Sri Lanka ratified the International Convention against Enforced Disappearance, but by the end of the year had not passed legislation criminalizing enforced disappearance in domestic law. The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons concluded in July, having received over 19,000 civilian complaints. However, little progress was made in clarifying the fate of the missing or bringing perpetrators of enforced disappearance to justice. In August, Parliament bypassed public consultation when it adopted an Act establishing the Office on Missing Persons to assist families to trace missing relatives and take on the case load left by the Commission.

Impunity

Impunity persisted for alleged crimes under international law committed during the armed conflict. Impunity also remained for many other human rights violations. These included the January 2006 extrajudicial executions of five students in Trincomalee by security personnel and the killing of 17 aid workers with the NGO Action Against Hunger in Muttur in August 2006.

In May, the former Media Minister, testifying in a habeas corpus case into the December 2011 disappearances of political activists Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan, stated that his claim at the time that the two activists were in government custody and that their whereabouts could not be revealed was based on information from the Defence Ministry. The investigation into the involvement of army intelligence officers in the 2010 disappearance of dissident cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda was ongoing. In August a court in the capital, Colombo, ordered a new autopsy of the remains of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, who was murdered in 2009.

Human rights defenders

In August, Balendran Jeyakumari, an activist against enforced disappearances, who had previously been detained without charge for a year under the PTA, was once again summoned for questioning. Human rights defender Ruki Fernando remained barred by court order from speaking about an ongoing police investigation into his advocacy on her case; his confiscated electronic equipment was not returned.

Sandhya Eknaligoda, the wife of disappeared dissident cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, faced repeated threats and acts of intimidation. These included protests outside the court where her husband’s habeas corpus case was being heard, and a poster campaign that accused her of supporting the LTTE after the police identified seven army intelligence officers suspected of involvement in his disappearance.

Freedoms of expression, assembly and association

In June, journalist Freddy Gamage was beaten by men he identified as supporters of a politician in the town of Negombo. Freddy Gamage had been threatened previously over articles he wrote exposing the politician’s alleged corruption and links to organized crime. He was further threatened by one of his attackers when they met in court after he pointed him out in an identification parade. Impunity persisted for past attacks on media workers; according to media NGOs, attacks included some 44 killings since 2004.

People engaged in activism in the north and east continued to report harassment and surveillance by security forces.

Legal, constitutional or institutional developments

Sri Lanka initiated a Constitutional reform process aimed at ensuring checks on executive power and more equitable ethnic power sharing. The results of public consultations on the content of a new Constitution were published in May. Parliament was expected to debate a proposed draft Constitution in early 2017.

In July, Sri Lanka passed the Right to Information Act. In August, the cabinet approved a National Policy on Durable Solutions for Conflict-Affected Displacement. This aimed to protect human rights by guiding the return of private lands seized by the military, creation of livelihood and income generating opportunities for the displaced, and assistance for returning refugees. The policy emphasized non-discrimination, access to justice and reparations. Implementation was expected to begin in February 2017.

Discrimination

Tamils continued to complain of ethnic profiling, surveillance and harassment by police who suspected them of LTTE links. In August, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found that the PTA was disproportionately used against Tamils and was discriminatory in effect.

Christians and Muslims reported incidents of harassment, threats and physical violence by members of the public and supporters of hardline Sinhala Buddhist political groups. Police failed to take action against attackers or in some cases blamed religious minorities for inciting opponents. In June, a group calling itself Sinha Le (Lion’s Blood) was linked to protests against a mosque construction in the city of Kandy. In June, its supporters waged a social media campaign of threats and intimidation against Equal Ground, an organization seeking human and political rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning (LGBTIQ) community of Sri Lanka.

In June, the Health Ministry noted that “transgender people are often socially, economically, politically and legally marginalized… and vulnerable to harassment violence and sexual assault and discrimination in access to public spaces.” It ordered health services for transgender individuals, including physician-certified Gender Recognition Certificates to assist in the amendment of birth certificates to accurately reflect the sex with which the individual identified.

Violence against women and girls

Impunity persisted for violence against women and girls, including rape by military personnel and civilians, and also in situations of domestic violence such as marital rape. Women human rights defenders supporting constitutional reforms advocated repeal of Article 16(1), which upheld laws existing prior to the current Constitution, even when they were inconsistent with the Constitution. This included tenets of Muslim personal law that permitted child marriage and failed to recognize marital rape.

Death penalty

Death sentences continued to be imposed; no executions were carried out. In September, a former MP was sentenced to death for the murder of a political rival.

OMP passage revives hope of reconciliation process

 

By Jehan Perera-June 27, 2017, 12:00 pm 

The unanimous passage through Parliament of the amendment to the law that establishes the Office of Missing Persons has revived the hope that the government will give priority to inter-ethnic reconciliation. The formation of the Government of National Unity has provided an unique opportunity to obtain a bipartisan political consensus that encompasses the two main political parties in the country, and indeed the larger polity, to deal with the country’s longest standing unresolved problem—its ethnic conflict. The Office of Missing Persons (OMP) was one of the four reconciliation mechanisms that the government promised to the international community in Geneva in October 2015. This was the landmark event that turned the international community from being a critic of Sri Lanka’s reconciliation policies to being a supporter.

The political significance of the passage of the OMP amendment bill unanimously in Parliament is two-fold. It shows that when the UNP and SLFP together decide on a course of action, the rest of the polity will tend to fall in line. Although the Joint Oppositions is opposed to virtually everything that the government does in a knee jerk manner, it too went along with the OMP amendment bill. This indicates that it is not opposed in principle to the first of the reconciliation mechanisms. This promises that the passage of the other reconciliation mechanisms in parliament in a consensual manner will not be impossible. On the other hand, the long delay since August last year to get the amendment passed shows that obtaining consensus takes time. But when this consensus is achieved the objectives can be achieved too.

The passage of the OMP bill in August 2016, which was to establish the first of the reconciliation mechanisms was a controversial political event. It took place amidst an uproar in Parliament where the opposition denounced the proposed law as paving the way for information collection that could be used in future war crimes prosecutions of the country’s security forces. Amidst the controversy the bill was passed without the opposition getting the opportunity to vote on it. They were more preoccupied in creating disturbance in Parliament than in the process of voting, knowing that they would be outnumbered by the coalition of UNP and SLFP members from the Government of National Unity. However, the willingness of the Joint Opposition to go along with the OMP amendment bill suggests that they too now accept the need for this reconciliation mechanism.

JVP SUPPORT

The government’s failure to operationalise the OMP law and set up the institution has led to a loss of confidence in the government on the part of the Tamil community. The problem however arose when in the government’s hurry to push through the legislation in August 2016, it overlooked an amendment that had been proposed by the opposition JVP. After the passage of the OMP bill in August 2016, the government faced two problems. The first was that the JVP which had been supportive of the idea of an OMP was not willing to accept the fait accompli. They insisted that their amendment which sought to deny the OMP of forging agreements with foreign entities be incorporated into the OMP law. Although the JVP has been very critical of the government with regard to issues of corruption and the economy, it has been a valuable ally to the government in terms of dealing with the past human rights violations.

The JVP has helped to legitimize the concept of an OMP amongst the people by reference to the fate that their own members suffered in the context of the two abortive JVP insurrections of 1971 and 1988-89. As the victims in those two horrific episodes were Sinhalese the JVP has performed the task of helping the general population see the OMP in a non-ethnic light. The major sources of popular skepticism with regard to the four reconciliation mechanisms that the government promised is the feeling that it is for the Tamil people rather than for all the people in the country.

At the UN Human Rights Council the government promised to set up a truth commission, an Office of Missing Persons, an Office of Reparations and a special judicial accountability mechanism. So far the farthest that the government has gone in terms of the four reconciliation mechanisms it has promised has been to pass legislation on the Office of Missing Persons. The other reconciliation mechanisms are reported to be in a final draft stage, but have not yet surfaced. Discussions at different levels of society reveal that those from the Sinhalese community feel that the reconciliation mechanisms are for the Tamil people and not for them. This is felt especially with regard to the proposed special judicial mechanism to look into war crimes. The sentiment expressed by Sinhalese participants in awareness programmes on the reconciliation mechanisms is that they target the Sri Lankan security forces and do not deal with what the LTTE did.

PRESIDENT’S CONCERN

This brings to focus the second reason why the implementation of the OMP law remained in a state of limbo after the law was passed in August 2016. The OMP needed to be gazetted and to be assigned to a specific government ministry. However, the signature of President Maithripala Sirisena was not forthcoming. As the commander-in-chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces an as the Minister of Defence, the President has a direct relationship with the security forces. Their concerns were expressed in a 14 page document submitted to the President by the Ministry of Defence which was strongly critical of the OMP and its consequences. The president was unwilling to gazette the OMP in these circumstances.

The main concern of the security forces is that the OMP will turn out to be a fact finding body which would collect information that will be utilized for purposes of war crimes trials. The issue of anticipated war crimes trials has taken the center stage in the discussion on the four reconciliation mechanisms. Whether it is the OMP, Office of Reparations, Truth Commission or Special Court they are all seen as collecting information that will be used to humiliate and punish the security forces. The unwillingness of the government to engage in a public education campaign on what the four reconciliation mechanisms entail has led to all sorts of fears about war crimes trials.

The stories of widows of armed forces personnel expressing fears that they will be denied their widows pensions, and of children of soldiers being teased in school that their fathers will be arrested has led to widespread antipathy amongst the Sinhalese people to the reconciliation mechanisms. On the other hand, if Sinhalese people are given an explanation of the reconciliation mechanisms, and are assured it will not target the Sinhalese only as perpetrators, and that the Sinhalese also have been victims, they will be willing to be supportive of the reconciliation processes. This is why it is important that all reconciliation mechanisms should have a longer time frame that spans the different conflicts rather than a shorter time period. A longer time frame will better show that all communities have been victims at different times, of the state and of the rebels.

Minister Ravi Karunanayake meets with Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan

Thursday, June 22, 2017

A meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan was held yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the conclusion of the one-hour discussion, the Opposition Leader told the media that several

important matters which would

help the country in its march forward were taken during the discussion.

Opposition Leader Sampandan further said that he drew the

opinion of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which is required to strengthen the rule of the good governance to the attention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran also participated in this meeting. 

Eid – Time To Renew Resolve To Find Unity In Diversity

By Lukman Harees –JUNE 26, 2017

Lukman Harees

Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the two major events in the Islamic calendar, is celebrated by all the Muslims irrespective of their global location in a spirit of festivity. It is a joyous occasion which comes after the blessed but spiritually rigorous month of Ramazan. Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated with fervour by Muslims in Sri Lanka too, extending our bonds of goodwill beyond the confines of the community. Muslims thus traditionally make it a habit to share their joy with their non-Muslim neighbours, mutually reciprocating the gestures of goodwill shown at Avurudhu, Christmas or Deepavali. Sri Lanka in that way is a special country where people can be seen to be enjoying the warmth and brotherly feelings amongst one another at these special occasions, with little regard to the vicious attempts by some elements to divide them. 

In the month of Ramazan, Muslims engage in many acts of charity. However, despite everything  appearing on the surface to be the same, yet the simplicity, the importance of values and the spirit of sharing and caring may in a way got lessened to a considerable extent due to materialism and commercialism being  woven into the very fibers of our culture. Thus,with all the going around ,our lesser privileged brethren tend to be forgotten. It should be borne in mind that there are many out there who have no sense of celebration in them. There are many belonging to all communities who still languish in refugee camps after the War, and thousands rendered homeless and out of employment after many natural disasters –more recently during the Meethotamulla waste dump tragedy and worse ever floods. There are those who are in hospitals ,and orphanages going through bleak and lonely days with no one visiting them. Friendless, deprived of company, they will have no one to offer solace or comfort. It is therefore imperative that Muslims use this joyous day to think and spare a thought for these deprived brethren with warm and hope.

It is also imperative that a sense of compassion is inculcated in our children so that when they too will think of their unfortunate brethren while also teaching them the art of giving without allowing them to live in a world confined to computers and social media. Our younger generation should be reminded that while we can at least celebrate in some form or another, there are yet millions of children around the world who don’t even have the basic necessities to make not this day even all their daily lives survivable. This should also an apt occasion to be thankful for many divine bounties without living a life of greed.

We cannot divest ourselves from the misery of others. We cannot shrug it off saying that it does not concern us. Many people tend to be inward looking. They may at times donate money to charity and feel rightly it may seem so that they are doing their duty. However, the fact that if once seen to be with these people the perception of charity changes. There is a feeling of belonging when the recipient and giver meet.

Another area which should concern Muslims while they are in the festive spirit is to learn to treat people and treat them alike irrespective of all religious differences as one human family as per Islamic ideology and teachings. Al Quran says: ‘Oh Mankind! We have created you from a male and a female and have divide you into tribes and nations to distinguish ( and no despise ) each other’ and our Greatest Role Model was called as the Mercy unto mankind and not just to Muslims. Islam thus teaches us to be kind and compassionate. All human beings deserve dignity and mutual respect, by the very fact that they are born into the human family. Universalism is stressed again and again in the Quran and Prophet(SAW)’s example, which Muslims have undertaken to emulate.

This sense of humanity will thus ultimately decide the quality of our life on earth and rewards in the hereafter. This spirit of tolerance and compassion which was cultivated during this month of Ramazan will be much needed in days ahead, at a challenging time in our history where vicious campaigns are afoot to sow hate, discord and ill-feelings amongst communities. Prophet of Islam (SAW) showed much compassion and offered forgiveness even to his avowed enemies and those who made his life and lives of his family and companions a misery and laid obstacles. On this blessed day of Eid, these examples should be fortified in our lives by extending goodwill, brotherhood and friendship to all communities who have been living in amity for centuries. It is said in every religion that hate can be dispelled not through hate but through love and affection.

Eid, in essence, is therefore a follow-up to Ramadan in the sense that it tells us, as the month of fasting did, that our duties and responsibilities to our fellow beings — our neighbours, our families, indeed those whom fortune has not treated well — are not to be taken lightly or ignored. The crucial point here is that Eid is an opportunity for Muslims to demonstrate to themselves and to others that Ramadan has made them better human beings than they earlier were. On Eid day thus, it is thoughts of others, of fellow feeling, of respect for others that are paramount. 

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Protests and strikes: What would MR have done if he was in power?

2017-06-27

he yahapalana government won the elections on a promise of democracy and prosperity. Now it seems to assume that its modest achievements in restoring democracy should serve as an excuse for not delivering on the economy. That is a dangerous misgiving which threatens the sustainability of on-going democratic reforms in the long run. That also makes people, especially the Sinhalese majority, feel nostalgic about the authoritarian but orderly past under its predecessor.   
Under the current administration, economic growth has hit below five per cent. It is expected to be around 4.5 per cent for 2017. However, that may not, necessarily, be a measure of the government’s economic handling since lower growth numbers are in part a result of the government addressing much needed fiscal reforms, which were overlooked by its predecessor. However, set against this tightening fiscal conditions and a debt trap inherited by the former regime, the indecisiveness and vacillation of the government over mega development projects are mind-boggling. It is the FDI that could fill the gap in the absence of state-led infrastructure development that propelled the growth under the former regime and was abandoned by the current administration due to the looming foreign debt. However, Cabinet papers on major development projects are being amended and re-amended for the umpteenth time. Investors complain about policy inconsistencies. None of the major foreign-funded development projects has moved forward from where the Rajapaksas have left them.

Proposed public-private partnerships and equity swaps of indebted foreign-funded projects (Hambantota Port, Mattala Airport, etc.) have led nowhere. Instead, they have become the most poignant reminder of the crippling policy paralysis within the government.   
The government is the primary organ that is responsible for the state policy. When the current administration fails in that primary task, others like the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), university students, joint opposition, exploit that vacuum. Their regular protests and trade union action could well be a manifestation of the new found democratic climate. But for a country with our socio-economic conditions, they are also a recipe for a greater socio-political instability.  
The difference between the current administration and its predecessor was that the Rajapaksas had the political will to act decisively, which the Yahapalanaya is lacking. Mr. Rajapaksa’s political will and courage were crucial in winning the war and putting up much needed infrastructure in place. However, even then, his administration was handicapped by its own composition. Until he assumed the presidency, Mr Rajapaksa was better known as a populist street fighter rather than a sound economic manager. And as the president, he was surrounded by political yes men and economic cave men, who either lacked knowledge or willingness to address structural shortcomings that besotted the Sri Lankan economy for a long time. They hesitated to tell the president that some of his economic designs were not sustainable. They were complicit in ruining the SriLankan airline. Had their biggest misadventure -- the bid to host the Commonwealth Games in Hambantota -- been successful, we would now be bankrupt as a nation. Also, had Mr Rajapaksa won power for another term and continued with his economic model, we would have faced an economic meltdown of the sort that has swept across Latin America, courtesy overspending by their previous leftist governments.   
This government has the right people and right policies, but, it is handicapped by a sheer lack of political will to implement its economic and political vision. It tells all the right things, but does very little. One reason for this is the party-political calculations that create something akin to a ‘prisoners dilemma’ in the dealings between the two main constituent partners of the yahapalana government. Neither UNP nor the SLFP seems to be genuinely interested in cooperating with each other; their party considerations often overwhelming the national interest. However, even when those factors are excluded, the government’s record is not so good. It has not been able to address basic policy matters. Its vacillation over formulating basic guidelines on private medical education is in part responsible for the regular strikes and protests, turning a minor issue over SAITM into a major inconvenience to the public.  

How would Mr. Rajapaksa have addressed those issues had he been the president? Most likely, he may not have encountered protests of this magnitude for that would have attracted a high retributive cost. Doctors would not have dared to take chances. University students may have protested, but not at a frequency as they do now. However, white vans and thuggery were not the only ways that Mr. Rajapaksa got things done. He opted to a pragmatic framework of things. For instance, where land acquisition was needed for development projects, a perennial problem in this country, is concerned, he offered compensation at market prices and alternative housing, but since people do not necessarily comply with the policy and could well sublet the government-provided house and return to their old place, he used the military to evict them. Such interventions, at times caused ugly scenes of mini riots, but viewed in an utilitarian context, i.e. greater public good even at the expense of a few, his policies were right. Also, his authoritarian development model did not dent his standing among the Sinhalese majority; in fact he won more votes than President Maithripala Sirisena in the South.  

This government is in the habit of discrediting everything associated with the Rajapaksas. It has dismantled the structure Mr Rajapaksa put in place, but, has failed to evolve a system of its own to address those complex social problems that are intrinsically associated with development. The resultant vacuum is now threatening social instability and economic future of the country.   
This may not be the most politically correct thing to say; but some of Mr Rajapaksa’s authoritarian tendencies were more in line with socio-economic conditions of the country and the urgency we have to economically uplift the people, than everything this government has achieved during its two years in power.   
Some policies are too good to be practical, whereas some less palatable policies do indeed work. Gandhi and his self-reliance did little to uplift the miserable living conditions of India’s teeming millions of poor. But Narendra Modi’s did. So did Augusto Pinochet and Deng Xiaoping. None of the latter trio would be your ideal leader of an ideal government. However, the world is not a utopia and the leaders have to take tough decisions if they are to truly serve the long term interests of their people.  
That however does not mean the yahapalanaya should resort to white vans and locking up dissidents. But, where it is mandated, it should make use of legitimate coercive power of the State to make its future vision for the country a reality.   

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