From Viagra to Valium, the drugs that were discovered by accident

From Alexander Fleming onwards, the lives of millions have been transformed and saved by treatments that scientists were not even looking for

A number of major scientific discoveries have been down to pure chance. Photograph: Blend Images, ER Productions Ltd/Getty Images

James Rudd-Tuesday 11 July 2017

When scientists in New Zealand discovered that a meningitis vaccine fortuitously protects against gonorrhoea, they were benefiting from an unpredictable force responsible for some of history’s most striking medical breakthroughs: serendipity.

So many things have been discovered by chance. The German writer, scientist and all-round polymath Johann Wolfgang Goethe, a discoverer himself, wrote: “Discovery needs luck, invention, intellect – none can do without the other.”

Viagra

In pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s laboratories in Kent, a failed treatment for angina accidentally became a billion-dollar erectile dysfunction blockbuster, and the world’s most famous blue pill.

During early clinical trials of sildenafil, now better known by its trade name Viagra, male volunteers taking the pills consistently reported unprovoked, long-lasting erections. After further investigation, it turned out that Viagra, designed to relax blood vessels around the heart to improve blood flow, was having the same effect on arteries within the penis. Since its commercial release in 1998, it has been used to improve the sex lives of millions of men worldwide.

Incidentally, the 2007 ‘Ig’ Nobel Prize, awarded annually for that year’s most useless research, was awarded to three Argentinian scientists who discovered that Viagra helped hamsters recover faster from jet-lag.

Penicillin

Returning to work after a month-long Scottish vacation in 1928, pathologist Alexander Fleming made a discovery in a discarded culture dish, which he had unintentionally left open to the elements on a window sill in his laboratory at St Mary’s Hospital in London.

In Fleming’s absence, the dish, growing the dangerous bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, had become contaminated with an air-borne mould – a type of fungus. Fleming noticed that, near the blue-green strands of fungus, growth of the bacteria had been stopped in its tracks.

Fleming had inadvertently stumbled across the first antibiotic, which he called penicillin.

For his accidental discovery, he shared the Nobel prize for medicine in 1945 with Florey and Chain, Oxford chemists who perfected the process of penicillin mass production in time to treat infected battlefield injuries sustained in the second world war.

“When I woke up just after dawn on 28 September, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer,” Fleming later recalled. “But I suppose that was exactly what I did.”

Heart pacemaker

New York engineer Wilson Greatbatch invented the world’s first implantable heart pacemaker – but he didn’t mean to.

While trying to build a device to record heartbeats in 1956, he accidentally installed the wrong type of resistor into his prototype – which promptly began to emit regular electrical pulses.

Realising these pulses were recapitulating the electrical activity of a normal heartbeat, Greatbatch immediately saw the potential of his device. After two years of refinements, his design for a pacemaker that could be implanted into the heart was patented in 1960 and soon went into production. Life-saving descendants of this first device now improve the lives of over half a million patients with slow heartbeats every year.

Stomach ulcers

In the 1980s, two Australian doctors were ridiculed for suggesting that stomach ulcers were caused not by business lunches and stress, but by infection with a common bacteria. Barry Marshall, a gastroenterologist and his pathologist colleague in Perth, Robin Warren, noticed that stomach biopsies taken from their ulcer patients all contained the same spiral-shaped bacteria, called Helicobacter pylori.

To prove their hunch, Marshall deliberately downed a pint of foaming helicobacter broth that he’d grown in his lab after isolating it from the stomach of one of his patients. Within a week, he had rampant stomach inflammation – which was then completely reversed by taking antibiotics.
Their discovery has also meant the virtual eradication of a type of stomach cancer caused by helicobacter infection.

For their work (and presumably Marshall’s bravery), Marshall and Warren were awarded the 2005 Nobel prize for medicine.

Antidepressants

Several classes of antidepressants owe their discovery to chance, from iproniazid, which was initially used to treat tuberculosis in the 1950s, to the tricyclics of the 1960s, which stemmed from an experimental treatment for schizophrenia and the more recent breakthrough involving the use of ketamine.

Valium

The entry-level benzodiazapine was developed in the 1950s by a Polish immigrant in the US, Leo Sternbach, from discarded chemical compounds he had synthesised 20 years earlier in Poland when he was working on experiments to create new dyes.
The dyes were a failure. The benzodiazapines quickly became the most popular prescription drugs in the US.

Batticaloa residents protest against corrupt local officials

10 Jul  2017

Batticaloa residents protested against the current District Secretary on Monday, with locals calling for her transfer following accusations of corruption.

Shadowy Hands In Effort To Control Sri Lankan Media – Is The Sri Lanka Press Institute Asleep? 

JULY 10, 2017

A shadowy group calling itself the National Secretariat for Media Reform (NSMR) funded by an international non-governmental organization, International Media Support (IMS) and lobbing for a badly drafted Bill of independent Council for News Media Standards has led to huge public agitation and concern in Sri Lanka.      

Ranga Kalansooriya

Concerns have arisen as to whether this is an attempt by certain international forces sympathetic to the ‘yahapalanaya’ Government to throttle journalists who are now critical of the Government. These concerns are heightened given that Director General of Information Ranga Kalansooriya is the one pushing the draft while the Ministry of Media is silent. Kalansooriya earlier worked with IMS as its regional advisor to Asia, and is well known to be still the one pulling the strings.

“I still do international consultancies, that is all I have to say. Please contact IMS for further details,” on 22 December 2016 he told Colombo Telegraph .

Social media activist Nalaka Gunawardene now serves as country programme manager for IMS which he clarified to an email query sent by Colombo Telegraph. Admitting that he ‘occasionally’ seeks Kalansooriya’s advice, Gunewardene has been pushing the draft on numerous social media platforms.

On Saturday, the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) denied claims by Kalansooriyathat SLWJA had been associated with the draft, accusing Kalansooriya of ‘telling lies.’    

Nalaka Gunawardene

The draft that was discussed in a series of consultations around the country funded by IMS establishes a Council that will have strong powers to punish editors and journalists for violation of the standards that it lays down which are vague and arbitrary. Kalansooriya and Gunawardene have tried to justify the Council by saying that it will be similar to the RTI Commission of Sri Lanka established under the internationally recognised RTI Act. This comparison was ridiculed by journalists and media activists.

“The RTI Commission has got respected people as members, at least at the start, because of the strength of the RTI law itself and because civil society and media backed it strongly. The media was behind its drafting. How can this be the same here? This is a bad draft. Who is backing it? What is this Secretariat? No journalist or academic of repute serves as a member on it. No recognised person will want to come and serve. They will say this will be like the RTI Commission as an excuse and put government ‘pandankarayas’ on the Council who will act against journalists’ said a media activist.

Even though earlier, the Free Media Movement and others were involved in the process, they have now delinked themselves. The draft permits a court to order disclosure of a journalist’s sources. Journalists describe this as shocking when even the existing attitude of Sri Lanka judges has not been agreed as to whether a court should exercise that power or not! This judicial attitude was seen in cases filed against the Sri Lankan newspapers, for i.e. against Lakbima in 1995, where the High Court refused to hold the editor responsible for not disclosing sources. International standards were quoted by Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane for the refusal. When discussing this point with her at the international symposium to mark the 10th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility in 2008, the editor of the Colombo Telegraph Uvindu Kurukulasuriya (then a Director of Sri Lanka Press Institute and the Press Complaint Commission of Sri Lanka) was informed as follows;


Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane

“My thinking was liberal and inclined towards the protection of sources. What happened was that the other judge made an error of law. So what happened was – we make errors of judgment and it is rectified by the higher court. That happens all the time. But what happened when this case came up was that Parliament repealed the criminal defamation law itself. The two conflicting judgments remained without being decided upon by a higher court. But I say that my thinking is right. You do not have to divulge your sources. To me, you should not divulge your sources because you are the voice of poor people and if they come and tell you something today you have to protect whoever is telling you. If I was a journalist, I will go to jail. I will say, I am not going to divulge. You have to fight these things. I mean, life is about fighting for what is right. Anyway, the correct judgment is a Supreme Court Judgment of Justice Mark Fernando’s which says that you do not have to divulge sources. That is the law at the moment.”

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Over to you?

My dear Maithri,-Sunday, July 09, 2017

I thought I must write to you even though I know you are a very busy person, what with all this business of running the country and appointing new secretaries, ambassadors, governors and army commanders. Still, I wanted to write to you because of something you had said last week.

Pardon me if I have got this wrong, but you were reported as having said that anyone watching television would feel that there was no government in the country. I don’t know how you came to this conclusion by watching television, but we had the same thought – even without watching television!

Please let me explain, Maithri. For instance, one would think that something as simple as disposing of our garbage can be done efficiently. Instead, everyone is saying that it is someone else’s job and no one is taking responsibility for it. So, Colombo has gone from being a garden city to a garbage city!

Some say the Chief Minister has been asked to supervise garbage disposal. Others say Champika has been given the job. The courts have intervened to prevent garbage being dumped in certain areas. The Green Man is complaining that the court decision is not helping. No one seems to be in charge!

Isn’t it the same with the dengue epidemic? You may say it is the fault of the mosquito and not of the government but has the government done enough? When Rajitha speaks, he has a solution to every problem but he has no solution to what appears to be the worst dengue epidemic ever.

Another reason why there seems to be no government is because there is a group which thinks they are the government – the GMOA. Dengue epidemic or not, they will strike if they feel like it because they say their strikes protect the next generation of ‘innocent patients’ from private medical schools.

Those in the GMOA who believe they are the best brains in the country because they got the highest ‘Z’ scores, apparently forgot there was a dengue epidemic when they decided to stage a continuous strike. It was the Archbishop, the good Cardinal, who reminded them – and the strike was called off!

Maithri, isn’t it funny that after the GMOA had talks with you, Rajitha says the talks were informal or a ‘hora’ discussion. A few days later, despite the talks they had with you, they announce a strike, but after talks with the Archbishop, it is called off. So, no wonder we feel that there is no government!

The issue the GMOA is complaining about is private medical schools. Some ministers in the government – like Rajitha, SB and Lucky – want them. Others – like Champika, Dayasiri and Susil – don’t want them. Many others are silent. And you wonder why we feel there is no government!

Maithri, until a few weeks ago, we had heard from Asgiriya only when a cricket match was being played there. Suddenly, we got advice from there saying that what Gnanasara hamuduruwo was saying had some truth in it, even though they didn’t quite agree with the way he was saying it.

So, are we to now believe that what he was saying – that certain communities were second class people in this country and should be treated differently – was right? Please correct me if I am wrong but that is different from the Buddhism I know which says one is an outcast or a noble not by birth but by deed.

Then, lo and behold, the hamuduruwo who had been in hiding, evading a warrant for his arrest and who claimed that he feared for his life, appeared before two courts on the same day and was granted bail by both courts on the same day. And yet you wonder why we feel there is no government!

As if that was not enough, a few days ago we were told that it had been decided in Kandy that a new Constitution was not necessary and that it had also been decided that certain laws which were before Parliament needed to be withdrawn. And yet you wonder why we feel there is no government!

Correct me if I am wrong, Maithri, but I thought some 6.2 million people gave you a mandate to change the Constitution and abolish the Presidency. So, are we to forget all that because we have now got instructions from the hill country? I thought the Parliament was in Kotte – and not in Kandy!I heard you made a quick trip to Kandy to try and arrive at some agreement, Maithri. If you can’t do that, you and your ministers might as well hand over the government to the decision makers in Kandy, who I am sure, will know how to run the country, dengue, garbage, Gnanasara hamuduruwo and all!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: Maithri, you came to power promising to usher in ‘yahapaalanaya’. Now you say that we feel there is no government. I agree, because what we now have instead is ‘haya paalanaya’- you, the Green Man, your ministers, the GMOA, the courts and those in Kandy pulling in different directions!

Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC says: “WE CAN’T PREPARE A LEGAL DRAFT CONSTITUTION WITHOUT AN INTERIM REPORT”

Preparing the new constitution has taken center stage during the past few days with contradictory statements being made as to the very need of a new constitution, whether there is a mandate to hold a referendum, and the current status of the constitution making process. In the light of the looming confusion Daily Mirror spoke to Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC to clarify the concerns raised and to untangle the intricacies related to constitution making. MP Wickramaratne is a member of the Steering Committee appointed by the Constitutional Assembly for the drafting of a new constitution. He was also a member of the team that drafted the Constitution Bill of 2000. 

Pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi

Excerpts of the interview: 

What is the current status of the constitution making process?

2017-07-11

The steering committee has been meeting and we have been having a draft interim report for a few months. Some parties wanted more time for internal discussions and also for discussions between parties. Now that has happened and now most parties have clear positions on the various issues. I’m not allowed to reveal details of the discussion. But I can tell you that last week the Steering Committee met thrice and we are now discussing the draft interim report, clause by clause. We have finished almost half of the report. We hope to finish the rest in the month of July. Hopefully there will be an interim report within the next few weeks.   

Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC says “WE CAN’T PREPARE A LEGAL DRAFT CONSTITUTION WITHOUT AN INTERIM REPOR... by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Ex Deputy South African CJ shares experiences of constitutional making process

7 July 2017

The Former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa Dikgang Moseneke sharing South African experience of constitutional making process with Sri Lankan officials noted this week that the Constitution of South Africa recognized rights not based on religion or ethnicity but gave protection to minorities and was based on equity, dignity and no discrimination.

"In our system everybody has right to be a Buddhist, be a Muslim, to belong to a Hindu religion or even no religion”. The constitution specially protects the rights. Justice also emphasized on “unity in diversity, mutual respect and co-existence”as important element for reconciliation. Most of the violence in South Africa is due to poverty, exclusion and disintegration of families.

Justice Dikgang Moseneke also spoke about reaching the consensus on constitution on South African experiences. However, though there were challenges, common value of unity in diversity, reconciliation, democracy, fundamental rights and freedom helped to overcome the challenges.

He shared these views during a meeting with senior officials of Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation and shared the South African experiences on reconciliation that is dedicated work on reconciliation mechanims. Along with Justice Moseneke, Advocate Karen McKenzie Head of Human Rights, Commonwealth Secretariat and   Johannes Van Niekerk, Counsellor Political of South Africa also took part in the meeting.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commissionin South Africa examined as to how people killed or disappeared and that was a healing process to address the pains. Reparation for victims is one of the pillar in transitional justice that helped victims to receive compensation. The transitional justice is different from the normal justice and it was aimed at buying peace. Amnesty was given to  ex-combatants and they were socially integrated. Women participation in all areas of transitional justice and constitutional reforms was given importance. In South Africa, 35-40% of the women are in the Parliament said Justice Dikgang Moseneke.

Non-recurrence and memorialization were also important in the reconciliation process. Local peace committees in South Africa helped to keep violence, tensions down and solve the burning issues. The Justice further said that transforming the conflict into peaceful and sustainable outcome requires comprehensive understanding of the root causes of conflict. Conflict mediation and conflict resolution in hot spot districts is also important. Healing and reparation are one of the most important element for reconciliation.

The Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation presented the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) of the Ministry. The interventions and initiatives were commended by the Former Justice Dikgang Moseneke and Advocate Karen McKenzie, Head of Human Rights, Commonwealth Secretariat.

The meeting was attended by Mr. V.Sivagnanasothy, Secretary, Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, Mr. M.M.Zuhair, State Secretary,Mrs. Sandanayake, Additional Secretary Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, representatives from Ministry of National Co- Existence Dialogue and Official Languages and Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM).

The Saffron Googly – A Challenge To Yahapālanaya

By Granville Perera –JULY 10, 2017

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” ~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama – Spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists

Gnanasara‘s spittoon filling Mahanayakes have come out to dabble in politics and governance. Now, there is no need for a government, cabinet, or a parliament. They can dictate terms to the President and H E Maithripala Sirisena would bend backwards, oblige and implement their dictates. They have become dictators overnight to the government on policy issues that they do not posses an iota of knowledge of. Is it the Avant Garde funds of Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe that is doing the trick or a threat of a Sinhala military coup by Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa? The President turned chicken by this threat, rushed to Kandy and assured the head prelates that he will bow down and get their approval for any government action on constitutional reforms. Another of his January 8 hypocritical promises thrown in to the dustbin. It’s unprecedented in the history of Sri Lanka that the Mahanayakes have exerted such pressure and a government with 2/3 majority in Parliament has conceded. This may be the beginning of the dominance of the saffron robe in every aspect of our lives that needs to be censured by all citizens, the Buddhists included.  Should we regret that Mahinda Rajapaksa is not sitting in the Presidential chair to bomb them as he threatened to do when they wanted to convene a Sanga Sabha meeting and issue a proclamation against the arrest of Sarath Fonseka. Remember that, anyone?? Where is Gota? Yahapalanaya needs him as a consultant for twisting arms or hold the gun to the head. 

The Asgiriya Mahanayake, with his Sanga Sabha meeting on June 20, 2017, set the stage by censuring the Government’s efforts to rein in Galagoda Atte Gnanasara’s violent behaviour against the minorities. This gave Mahinda’s Joint Opposition another slogan to scream on arresting Buddhist priests and conspiring to change the unitary state of the country.  This was also another opportunity to launch a campaign to destabilize the Government claiming the constitution would be amended to favour the minorities. This is similar to the call made by the founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), S W R D Bandaranaike with the Sinhala only declaration. Ironically, a Sinhala Buddhist Bhikku took his life. Former President, Madam Chandrika Kumaratunga who now heads the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR), I’m sure, must be ashamed when she is reminded of her father’s racism. If the current SLFP leader, President Maithripala Sirisena is to follow the saffron robed dictates, there is no need of a Legislature, Judiciary or any other governance mechanism. Earlier, the Asgiriya Mahanayake’s accolade of Gnanasara’s action against minorities is as good as killing the noble Buddhist precept of Maithri in Lord Buddha’s teachings. Today, some of the Saffron robed thugs are worse than the Sicilian Mafia. Even the Sicilian Mafiosos who are ardent followers of the Catholic faith and the Pope will not promote such hate and intimidation against Christians or other faiths. When there are hundreds of videos as evidence of rogue monks violently attacking Christian churches, the guardians of Buddhism are threatening human rights defender Lakshan Diasfor bringing such atrocities to the public forum. With the European Union and other like-minded ambassadors censuring the Government on the hate against the Muslims, the Buddhist extremist stand is exposed to the world. The evangelical Christians too have also met the EU ambassadors and briefed them on the continued harassment of the Christian faith. These will become the initial scrutiny for the UNHRC to decide whether the Government of Sri Lanka is abiding by its commitments. The Government’s two year grace is not to dance the devil. The Asgiriya declarations certainly are not going to be of help. The strong Tamil Diaspora will dance the devil during the next UNHRC sessions in September. The Christians and the Muslims will no doubt join them in Geneva.

These Prelates who are providing the manna for extremism don’t seem to have an iota of Buddhism in them. We also have a Cardinal who is using his cassock to create tension amongst the Christians, Tamils and the Sinhalese. He managed to get in to Sirisena’s inner circle by making public announcements that Buddhism should have primary status in the constitution. Has anyone challenged or denied this status? This is his cassock politics that has brought him immediate results with Sirisena and the extremist Buddhists towards the Catholic Church. This is an extension of his politics during the Rajapaksa era.

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I won’t abuse my portfolio to console comrades– Mangala

BY PANCHAMEE HEWAVISSENTI-2017-07-09

In a tete-a-tete with Ceylon Today the Minister of Finance and Media, Mangala Samaraweera said despite his busy schedule he still can allocate time to listen to his favourite music and to read books while engaging in other activities that interest him. He also said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have kept faith in him that he would execute the assigned responsibilities in an adroit manner and he is steadfast in achieving the goals.

I won’t abuse my portfolio to console comrades– Mangala.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Building solidarity beyond borders

While reactionary forces in Sri Lanka and the region are networking well, resistance remains isolated

Meera Srinivasan

-JULY 10, 2017

Since 2013, Sri Lanka has been witnessing a spike in targeted attacks on the Muslim and Christian minorities by hard-line Sinhala-Buddhist groups. It began with a fringe organisation’s campaign against halal certification, forcing shops to stop selling meat labelled for Islamic guidelines. A series of attacks on mosques and shops owned by Muslims followed. Within a year, violent communal clashes erupted in the southern coastal town of Aluthgama, killing four people and injuring nearly 100.

At that time the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa regime remained silent, leading many to believe that it was passively backing the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS or Buddhist Power Force), a hard-line Sinhala nationalist organisation linked to the attacks. After Mr. Rajapaksa was ousted in the January 2015 elections, many Sri Lankans hoped that the newly-elected government would end such impunity.
Apparently it has not. Since April this year, over 25 attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned establishments have been recorded. Unlike Mr. Rajapaksa, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have publicly stated that there is no place for religious intolerance in Sri Lanka. Mr. Sirisena ordered a police crackdown on violence against minorities while Mr. Wickremesinghe vowed tougher laws against religious hate crimes.

However, the BBS’s firebrand monk-leader, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, notorious for his inciting speeches, including the one believed to have instigated the Aluthgama riots, remains virtually untouched. In late June, the monk, who had been “in hiding” for a month, finally surrendered to a court only to be granted bail the same day. The BBS continues airing its very provocative views on Muslims.

There is no denying that it was the long-drawn-out silence of Sri Lanka’s national leaders that made the politics of the BBS less of the fringe and more mainstream in the first place.

Political context

It is also important to consider that whether in India or Sri Lanka, the intolerance that manifests in hate attacks is not unrelated to the religious-nationalist agendas of political parties currently in power. Elements within both governments can get away with expressing extremist ideologies, shared by some of the hard-line groups directly engaging in brutal violence. Also, it is well-known that the national parties bank heavily on extreme right-wing forces for electoral support.

Less obvious is the spontaneous alignment of many of the right-wing religious fundamentalists in both countries. Apart from agreeing ideologically, these groups appear to be vigorously networking among themselves.

At the height of anti-Muslim attacks in Sri Lanka in 2013, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National General Secretary Ram Madhav, who was then the national spokesman of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), wrote in its publication Samvada that “the issues raked up by the BBS are worthy of active and sympathetic consideration”. In 2014, Gnanasara Thero said discussions were at the “highest level” with the RSS on a Buddhist-Hindu ‘peace zone’ in the region to combat a “growing threat of radical Islam”. Confirming that informal discussions were held with “a couple of people” in the RSS, BBS Chief Executive Officer Dilanthe Withanage told The Hindu last week that it is “high time we worked closely with the BJP and RSS.” The BBS has also formed an alliance with Myanmar’s 969 movement, a militant Buddhist group linked to anti-Muslim riots there.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) invited Sri Lanka’s Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran for the World Hindu Congress in New Delhi in November 2014. Addressing the conclave, the Chief Minister said that the difficulties faced by the Hindu community in the island had not ended after the war. That the Chief Minister decided to foreground challenges of the Hindus alone raised eyebrows, given that the Northern Province is also home to war-affected Tamils following other faiths.

In a separate development, a group of Hindus in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority north launched ‘Siva Senai’ in October 2016, describing it as an organisation that sought to “protect Hindus from threats of other religious groups”. The RSS, the VHP and the BJP were “very supportive” of the move, its Chief Organiser told The Hindu at the time.

Last month, when the Sri Lankan police were searching for Gnanasara Thero, an organisation called the Hindu Mahasabha Loktantrik wrote to the Indian Home Ministry asking the Government of India to provide security to the wanted monk. Reportedly a new Hindu nationalist party, the organisation might be on the margins of mainstream Hindutva politics. But it is hard to miss how these so-called fringe elements embolden each other and are ever-ready to join forces.

Faint reactions

While the religious right wing in the region appears to be networking well, resistance to these regressive elements has been, at best, isolated.

Among activists and the intelligentsia, the idea of ‘South Asia’ appears confined to the conference circuits or infrequent, one-off protests. Barring a fading and questionable sympathy in Tamil Nadu for Eelam Tamils there have been few expressions of solidarity between the neighbouring countries in the last decade. The left, liberal civil society and public intellectuals seem to have been preoccupied with domestic challenges to the extent that they are seldom heard condemning violence or repression right next door.

The region is fraught with divisive hate politics, as is the world at large. The need for progressive voices to consolidate their disparate struggles is clear and urgent. Such a broad movement must not only transcend borders but also factor in the key material concerns of the vast majority of people, on which reactionary forces feed. Just as it takes hate politics head on, such a movement must speak to the economic insecurities of millions, or hawkish right-wing forces are waiting in the wings to politically hijack the cause.

In the era of charged activism on social media, dissent is often accompanied by individual self-righteousness. It is not the shrillness of opposition that matters, but its breadth, depth and consistency that makes a difference.

meera.srinivasan@thehindu.co.in

Protests in Jaffna after police kill unarmed Tamil man

10 Jul  2017

Protests have erupted in Jaffna, after an unarmed Tamil man was shot dead by Sri Lankan police yesterday.

Protests have erupted in Jaffna, after an unarmed Tamil man was shot dead by Sri Lankan police yesterday.
Locals burnt tyres, blocked roads and destroyed a police post in demonstrations, as residents clashed with Sri Lankan security forces.
Tensions continue to run high in Vadamaradchchi, including in Karaveddy and Thunnalai, with the Sri Lankan government having deployed the Special Task Force and police across the region.
Reports suggest that two policemen have been arrested in response to the shooting of the unarmed Tamil civilian. The two police officers, who were presented in front of Point Pedro magistrate today,

have been remanded until the 24^th of July. The police officers have been identified as Sub inspector Sanjeevan and Sub inspector Mohammed Mubarak.

Earlier today Sri Lanka's police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara told reporters that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara had ordered a Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to  visit Jaffna. Mr Gunasekara said the investigators would reach Jaffna on Tuesday to conduct an impartial investigation into what happened.

Police are still conducting a search operation for the two other unarmed Tamil men fled the scene after the first Tamil man was shot dead by the police.

Related Articles: 

09 July 2017 : Unarmed Tamil man shot dead by Sri Lankan police in Vadamaradchi

Jaffna shooting: two cops remanded

July 10, 2017

Two police officers who were arrested in connection with the shooting at Point Pedro have been remanded until 24 July. 

The suspects were remanded after being produced before the Jaffna Magistrate this afternoon.

The two arrested officers have also been suspended from duty.

Police opened fire at a lorry carrying sand which neglected a order to stop in Manalkadu, Point Pedro yesterday (09).

Police reports confirmed that one individual was killed as a result of the shooting.

Dangerous gamble: Shielding Rajapaksas from investigations

 "Indeed, many of those recent problems stem from the decisions taken during the Rajapaksa presidency -- that does not mean they were all bad decisions"

2017-07-11

During much of his political life, ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa was a shrewd street fighter. Recently he has also proved what an accomplished puppeteer he is too. In many recent incidents, ranging from the mini-riot in Hambantota over the proposed export zone, to SAITM and the recent ill-advised intervention by the Mahanayakas, Mr Rajapaksa has had a hand in exploiting minor grievances and escalating them into crisis proportions. Indeed, many of those recent problems stem from the decisions taken during the Rajapaksa presidency -- though that does not mean they were all bad decisions. What is disingenuous however is that Mr. Rajapaksa is now behaving as if he was born yesterday and is instigating the people against those very decisions. Poor souls who have now been taken for a ride by the born-again Mr Rajapaksa could well have been offered a free ride in a white van, had they chosen to challenge those decisions during the Rajapaksa presidency. Even the Mahanayakas were careful not to cross the red line with him. In 2010, after the arrest of General Sarath Fonkseka, the Mahanayakas planned to convene a Sanga convention to highlight their concerns over the mistreatment of the war-winning former army chief and the erosion of democracy in the country. After one ominous telephone call from Mr Rajapaksa, who allegedly threatened to split an existing Nikaya into two, Buddhist high priests abandoned all plans and went into a half decade of hibernation. Recently, they appeared to have been woken up by a courier from the ex-president.  
The Rajapaksas and their cronies ought to be in courtrooms defending themselves against the alleged deeds of fraud, corruption, nepotism, white-vanning and attacks on the media. Instead, they are ruling the streets. Their actions no longer resemble a desperate reaction by a disgruntled, marginalized lot who try to stay relevant. Theirs is a far more sinister plot to make the country ungovernable and ride to power in the ensuing anarchy. He and his cronies are exploiting the very freedoms that were guaranteed by the new government in an effort to discredit those freedoms and to make the people nostalgic about his authoritarian past.  

"At the Cabinet meeting the the President had lamented that the Govt. had failed to prosecute any of the big fish of the former regime"

However, the success of the Rajapaksas and their cronies has much to do with the complacency of the current government to rein in the ex-president. At the Cabinet meeting held last week, President Maithripala Sirisena lamented that the government had failed to prosecute any of the big fish of the former regime. He claimed that senior police officers of the Financial Crime Investigation Division have confided in him that some senior government ministers were preventing the police from digging into allegations of corruption blamed on the inner circle of the Rajapaksas. He alleged that there exists an agreement between some senior members of the current administration and Mr Rajapaksa to protect the latter from legal action. He pointed out that the Chief of Staff of the former President, Gamini Senerath has not been charged even after his driver in a statement to the police revealed that sack loads of public money were transported illegally under his instructions. He said that the former presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga in a statement over the distribution of Sil cloth among voters has told he was acting under the instructions of ex-president Rajapaksa. But, Mr Rajapaksa has not been charged, nor has he been questioned, the President noted.  
That the president himself is now airing disappointment over the inability of his own government to hold the Rajapaksas accountable tells a lot. There may be several explanations for the government’s failure. Some senior UNP ministers believed that the arrest of the Rajapaksas would have caused political instability. That may be why Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe once asked the police not to arrest Gotabaya Rajapaksa.  

 Many people-including this writer, believed that sparing Mr Rajapaksa from legal action would tame his destabilizing influence and encourage him to go into political retirement. However, such notions have been proved wrong. Mr Rajapaksa is way too ambitious, still popular and can cause a lot of harm.   
Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake, who was once accused of being the mysterious person behind the phone call to the IGP inquiring about a court appearance of one particular Nilame, has assured that police and law enforcement authorities are free of political interference to carry out their duties. Even if Minister Ratnayake does not interfere, some agencies of the government, such as the Attorney General’s Department are loaded with senior officers loyal to the former regime. That would mean after one point, investigations would not move forward, without a manifest interest by the government. Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa who himself is charting a separate path these days does not inspire confidence in the eyes of many people.   
The other explanation is far more sinister; vested political calculations of the influential UNP members are blamed on the government’s apparent go-soft approach towards the Rajapaksas. They may prefer to protect the former president, hoping disarray in the SLFP and its potential break-up across the loyalties to the incumbent president and his predecessor would be electorally beneficial to the UNP. That may be logical thinking under most circumstances, but with Mr Rajapaksa, that is wishful thinking. Mahinda Rajapaksa is a lot smarter than the UNP bigwigs who plot to use him as a cats paw. It would not be  long before Mr Rajapaksa’s alleged UNP benefactors find themselves at the receiving end.   

The President has told the Cabinet ministers, that if the Attorney General’s Department, police and other investigation agencies were brought under his purview, he would catch the culprits within three months. This proposition has been roundly criticized by the social media warriors, who have raised concerns that the move would lead to concentration of power in the hands of the President. That is a genuine concern. Also, bringing those agencies and institutions directly under the purview of the president is ill advisable for that would give it the appearance of a witch-hunt. Mr Rajapaksa would love to play the victim.   However, if the current status quo does not produce results, something has to be done to avert further erosion of public confidence in the investigations into the past acts of fraud and corruption and other mischief.  
In the absence of a clear commitment from many members of the government, the president will have to take a special interest to see that investigations would lead to some tangible results. A presidential oversight would also discourage many interested parties from sabotaging investigations.   
A government minister was on record as saying that if the Rajapaksas are brought to book, much of the current protests would stop. He is probably right. After all it will show that there is a government.  

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