Trump as war criminal ?

 2017-09-30 

Out of the blues, the war in Vietnam is in the news again. By the way it is not the fiftieth anniversary of America’s defeat in Vietnam when North Vietnam caused it to flee. It’s only the forty second.  

Part of this must be fearful parallels with the moral and strategic blindness of President Donald Trump who seems to believe in uttering his life and death rhetoric, akin to President Richard Nixon’s on Vietnam, he can frighten the enemy into submission- in his case North Korea. Many people are worried that Trump is ready to fight America’s biggest war since Vietnam. As did Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s National Security Adviser, he appears to be considering the use of nuclear weapons.  

The second reason for Vietnam-consciousness are the rave reviews that are being given to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s 10-part documentary on the Vietnam War. It is being mentioned all over the place.  

To my mind one of the big questions is, is Trump ready to be branded a war criminal by present and future generations? That is what happened over Vietnam to Nixon and Kissinger. And before them, under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, when Robert McNamara, their Secretary of Defence, wound the war up to where half a million American soldiers were deployed. Later, repentant, he publicly branded himself as a war criminal.  

For McNamara-at-war helicopter gunships flaming out napalm that set alight everything in its path- villages, men, women and children- were de rigueur, a necessary tool in the fight to hold back communism. If South Vietnam fell so, like dominoes, would one Southeast Asian country after another. A ridiculous assumption as time showed.  

Eventually McNamara saw, as the North gained in strength despite the American onslaught, that US policy was built on an illusion. His son, an anti-war activist, got at his conscience. Finally, an act of self-immolation by a protestor right outside his office managed to get under his thick amoral skin. He resigned without explanation. As a reward for going quietly Johnson made him president of the World Bank.  

He told a confidante, the economist and writer, Barbara Ward, that he “bled inside for Vietnam”. In turn she told me and the words became the first public sign of the agony he felt as I repeated them in my column in the International Herald Tribune.  

Only after his term of office at the Bank ended did he turn again to the unfinished business of the Vietnam War. He went to thoughtful seminars with historians. He opened up discussions with the victorious North Vietnamese so that their former political and military high command could sit down with their American counterparts and talk frankly.  

At the same time he campaigned against nuclear weapons whose possession in large numbers he had so valued while Secretary of Defence. Then came his bombshell when he described himself as a war criminal- not just because of Vietnam but also, he said, for his time as a young strategic planner during the Second World War when he helped formulate the need for the use of nuclear weapons against Japan.  

What would have happened if the International Criminal Court, established to try those who have committed crimes against humanity, had existed? Would a “sinner” who so publically denounced himself and worked so hard to rid the world of war been arrested, tried and imprisoned? Perhaps he would have wanted it. Towards the end of his life he became so determined to do everything within his power to redeem his earlier mistakes that to become a public martyr in a court where he would have had a platform to speak and be heard like in no other place might well have appealed to his deep sense of humility, helping redeem a life in which he had spent a good part of it in two dreadful acts 
of destruction.  

In 1971 General Telford Taylor, who had been the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of the top Nazi officials, said that if the standards of Nuremberg were applied evenly and applied to the American statesmen and bureaucrats who designed the Vietnam War “then there would be a very strong possibility that they would come to the same end” as the Nazi leaders. As Christopher Hitchens wrote in his book, “The Trial of Henry Kissinger”, “It is not every day that a senior American soldier and jurist delivers the opinion that a large proportion of his country’s political class should probably be hooded, blindfolded and dropped through a trap door at the end of a rope.”  

I hope against hope that some of Trump’s advisors are warning him of the personal consequences of a rush to war with North Korea.  

For 17 years, the writer has been a foreign affairs columnist and commentator for the International Herald Tribune. He is the author of a newly published book, “Ending War Crimes, Chasing the War Criminals” (Nijoff).  

US air force academy chief delivers stirring speech telling racists to 'get out'

• Jay Silveria made comments after racist graffiti was found on campus
• ‘We would be naive to think that we shouldn’t discuss this topic’

 Lt Gen Jay Silveria, left, said: ‘If you’re outraged by those words then you’re in the right place. That kind of behavior has no place in the United States air force.’ Photograph: Bradley Camara/US air force

Jamiles Lartey in New York-Friday 29 September 2017

The superintendent of the US air force academy in Colorado Springs addressed a direct message to those who left racist graffiti at the academy’s preparatory school earlier this week.

“If you can’t treat someone from another race or a different color skin with dignity and respect then you need to get out,” said Lt Gen Jay Silveria, before encouraging the assembled academy of more than 4,000 cadets and staff to take out their phones and record him saying it again.

“You keep these words, and you use them, and you remember them, and you share them, and you talk about them,” Silveria said.

He was responding to a report in the Air Force Times that five black cadet candidates at the preparatory academy had had the words “go home nigger” written on the whiteboards outside their dorm rooms.

“If you’re outraged by those words then you’re in the right place. That kind of behavior has no place in the United States air force,” Silveria said. “You should be outraged not only as an airman but as a human being.”

The preparatory school, which is on the air force academy campus in Colorado Springs, enlists about 240 students – typically in their late teens – each year to train and study to attempt to be accepted as freshman cadets the following year.

“These young people are supposed to bond and protect each other and the country. Who would my son have to watch out for? The enemy or the enemy?” questioned one of the cadet candidate’s mothers who posted about the incident on Facebook. That post was later taken down.

Silveria said that some of the recent high-profile racist incidents in the US had influenced his decision to speak out.

“We would be naive to think that we shouldn’t discuss this topic. We would also be tone deaf not to think about the backdrop of what’s going on in our country. Things like Charlottesville and Ferguson, the protests in the NFL,” he said.

Officials said the academy’s security forces were investigating the incident, but that no additional information was released.

 Georgetown bank teller stole $185,000 from homeless customer with garbage bag of cash

A look at several failed ATM theft attempts. (The Washington Post)

By Spencer S. Hsu September 29

A 29-year-old bank teller stole more than $185,000 from a homeless customer who tried to deposit a garbage bag full of cash at a Wells Fargo branch in Georgetown, according to court filings and attorneys in the case.

In a deal with prosecutors, Phelon Davis of District Heights, Md., pleaded guilty Thursday to one federal felony count of interstate transportation of stolen property, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The victim was unnamed in court filings but was described as a homeless street vendor and longtime Wells Fargo customer who had more than one account that had gone dormant because of a lack of activity.

Court filings did not identify the customer or say why a homeless person would have a large amount of cash in a bag when he showed up at the M Street NW branch where Davis worked. Outside the courtroom, Davis’s attorney, Bruce Allen Johnson Jr., said he also did not know how the individual came to have the cache of cash. “That’s the million-dollar question,” Johnson said.

In plea papers, Davis acknowledged that the customer had “thousands of dollars of cash” that he wanted to deposit in October 2014, but he lacked identification. Davis told the customer where to get ID documents and a Social Security card, and also noted the customer “had a surprisingly large balance with the bank,” according to a signed, three-page statement of the crime.

On two consecutive days that October, Davis fraudulently opened a new account by forging the customer’s signature, set up an ATM card, personal identification number, email address and online logon that Davis controlled, and funded the account with $3,000 from one of the customer’s other accounts, according to the court filing.

Over the next two years, the filing disclosed, Davis transferred $177,400 between the customer’s accounts, withdrew $185,440, and transported at least $5,000 from automated teller machines in the District across state lines to his home in Maryland, the basis of the federal charge.

The customer did not receive mailed statements, use email or have access to a computer and so remained oblivious. The customer could see the balance of only one of the checking accounts at an ATM, Davis and prosecutors agreed.

Davis used the stolen money for the down payment on his home, to pay off personal debt, and to fund vacations in Aruba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

Court documents did not say how Davis was caught. He was charged July 19.

As part of his plea, Davis agreed to pay back the stolen money, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi J. Kleinman said he would likely face a sentence of 18 to 30 months under federal guidelines. U.S. District Judge Emmett G. Sullivan of the District would be free to go higher or lower.

“Did you, in fact, take money from an account as Mr. Kleinman described?” U.S. Magistrate Robin M. Meriweather asked in the Thursday plea hearing.

“Yes, ma’am, I did,” said the soft-spoken Davis.

Davis’s attorney, Johnson, said outside of court that “he greatly regrets the decisions he made and is dedicated to doing everything he can to make it right, including restitution. He is putting everything aside to repay the money and do what he can to repair what he’s done to his name, his reputation and to the victim.”

A sentencing date has not been set.

India’s First High Speed RailImage of Japan’s High Speed Rail

By S. Sivathasan –SEPTEMBER 29, 2017

S. Sivathasan

In the annals of India, 14th September 2017 has become a historic day. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid the foundation for India’s first High Speed Rail (HSR). There is another remarkable first. On the date of commencement of construction was announced the date of completion – August 15, 2022. A clean 5 year span also marking the 75 th year of India’s independence.

What is clearly evident are; India’s growing level of confidence to conceive large with timely accomplishment, ever developing technical and administrative capability to match Japan’s and rising fund of goodwill between the two super powers. Still more significant are, political stability being in place and prospects of same party continuity, remaining assured. Pronouncement of a neat 5 years is also encouraged by a well laid out cashflow of $ 18.6 billion, of which 81% is funded by Japan. This is a soft loan repayable in 50 years, along with an 18 year moratorium and carrying an interest of 0.1%

Mumbai – Ahmedabad (M-A) HSR 

Mumbai is the state capital of Maharashtra while Ahmedabad is the largest city of Gujarat, 23 km away from Gandhinagar the state capital. The HSR or Shinkansen – New Trunk Line – in Japanese is popularly called ‘Bullet Train’. It was Japan’s first, operational from October 1964. MA HSR, India’s first will be delivered in 2022.

This HSR having a speed of 320 – 350 kmh will traverse a distance of 508 km. High speed will reduce travel time of current 8 hours to 2 hrs. It is proposed that 471 km of the line will be constructed over the existing railway route, at an elevation of 18 metres. Tunnels to a length of 21 km will also be constructed. This strategy eliminates the need for consuming new land together with the attendant issues of acquisition and construction of underpasses.

India and Japan Compared

In 2015, Japan was world’s first in carrying 9 billion passengers. India came second in carrying 8.2 billion. In respect of passenger kilo metres (pkm) travelled, India was world’s second with 1,147 billion pkm in 2015. In the same year, Japan recorded 260 billion pkm and ranked third. The above performance was recorded when India had the 3rd longest rail network at 115,000 km while Japan had 27,268 km.

The contrasting statistics between the two nations reflect the variance between passenger demand and response of technology. India has opted for Japan as the provider of choice and many more years if not decades of collaboration are foreseeable.

India and China

Recent years were occupied by India’s meaningful engagements with Japan and China in mapping out a network of HSR lines to honeycomb the country and to connect major cities. As of now Japan has a few more in hand where feasibility studies are proceeding. China too is carrying out studies in certain major projects, of which the most prominent is the Chennai – Delhi HSR. When done it will be the world’s second longest at 2200 km, after China’s longest with 2298 km, Beijing – Guangzhou BG HSR.

China as the world knows it has an enviable achievement in railway development. She has the second longest rail network at 124,000 km and recorded 1,196 billion pkm in 2015. China’s HSR in 2016 was in excess of 22,000 km and seeks to reach 38,000 km in 2025. As of now top speed reached by BG HSR is 430 kph. At this speed it remains the fastest commercial train in the world.

In 2008/2009 recession struck the world, threatening even a depression. China’s response was not scaling down HSR but expansion in order to stimulate growth. Hence the heavy investment and staggering development. The network is now spread across 29 of the 33 provinces.

India is now poised to draw on the technology, human resources and finances of two of the greatest powers in Asia; Japan and China. India has the technical maturity for collaboration and even to go in for reverse engineering in order to get the best from both these behemoths. At this propitious moment is Modi’s ‘Make in India’ dictum. India has now the potential to develop her own HSR technology in a decade or less. With an array of IITs even Maglev – Magnetic Levitation – at HSR speeds of 320 kph and more is within her grasp. It is likely that as India’s international relations too have got into place, two giants will propel the third into the orbit of exponential HSR growth.

Modi’s Role

Mumbai – Ahmedabad HSR with a host of other HS rails flow from Modi’s exalted thinking. On 14thSeptember 2017, after inaugurating work on this project he said that his mind had no appetite for small endeavours. At all times only large ones engaged his attention. As Prime Minister he has displayed another characteristic. Convert thought into action and present the end product. So it has been with HSR.

Late Hon. Madhavarao Scindia, a former Railways Minister, reputed for farsightedness envisaged HSR for India and started work on a study. Congress government followed on it with only studies and discussions, but stopped short of bringing anything concrete. Modi had the verve for relentless pursuit. “Stop not till the goal is reached” said his mentor Swami Vivekananda.

Read More

Tens of thousands march for abortion rights in Ireland

Reuters Staff-SEPTEMBER 30, 2017 

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people marched in Dublin on Saturday to demand the loosening of some of the strictest abortion laws in the world ahead of a 2018 referendum on the issue.

Abortion remains a divisive issue in once stridently Catholic Ireland, where a complete ban on the procedure was only lifted in 2013 to allow terminations in cases where the mother’s life was in danger.

In 2016 over 3,000 Irish women travelled to England for abortions, according to the British Department of Health, but activists say the real number is far higher.

The government has promised to hold a referendum next May or June, but it has yet to decide exactly what question to put to the Irish people.

The human rights arms of the United Nations and Council of Europe have pressed the government to decriminalise abortion and widen the law to allow for the procedure in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape or incest.

But pro-choice activists want a more liberal regime, closer to that of England, which allows terminations to be carried out up to 24 weeks after conception. Opinion polls show a large majority of voters want some change.

“Government ministers have suggested only the most restrictive terms will pass, but I think the people want more than that,” said Sarah Murphy, a 26-year-old recruitment professional.

Demonstrators march for more liberal Irish abortion laws, in Dublin, Ireland September 30, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

“Ireland is changing. I don’t think you would have seen a march like this a few years ago,” she said.

Like many at the march she was wearing a black jumper with the word Repeal in white, a reference to a campaign to repeal the eighth amendment of the Irish constitution, which gives the unborn child equal rights to those of the mother.

A panel of citizens called together to advise government on the issue voted overwhelmingly that the eighth amendment should be changed.

An all-party committee in parliament is now considering those recommendations and is due to report to parliament by the end of the year.

Some of the crowd, which marched across the city before assembling outside the office of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, chanted “Get your rosaries off our ovaries” in reference to the influence the Catholic Church has long had on social policy in Ireland, while others held posters demanding “Repeal now.”

The growing pro-choice movement is seen as a sign that the Catholic church, which has dominated Irish life for centuries, is continuing to lose influence.

Ireland was the first country to adopt gay marriage by popular vote in 2015, approving it by 62 percent to 38 percent despite the opposition of the church.

Misery of Yemen's organ donors: 'It is better to starve to death'

War-time poverty drives many to sell parts of their bodies for desperately needed cash

A Yemeni victim of organ trafficking reveals the small incision through which one of his kidneys was removed (MEE)

Saturday 30 September 2017 

Ali was desperate for work. War had engulfed Yemen, he had eight children to support and he couldn't get enough jobs as a labourer to make ends meet.

In early 2016 he yet again found himself walking up and down the streets near the Qat market in al-Sonaina, a quiet and poor neighbourhood of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Mugani, a friend of his cousin, approached him.

"Buy some qat for me," Mugani asked.

The airport in Aden, pictured here in August 2015, is increasingly used by organ traffickers (AFP)

"I don't have enough money to buy food for my children," Ali replied. "How can I buy qat for you?"

Instead of answering, Mugani suggested that Ali follow him to a nearby house.

There, he explained how some Yemenis were selling their own organs to patients in Egypt for more than a million Yemeni rials [around $4,000] to escape poverty. Mugani should know: he had already sold one of his own kidneys.

'I didn't tell them the truth because they would refuse and try to stop me doing it'

- Ali, victim of organ trafficking

Ali was taken by the idea. "I returned to visit my family and told them that I will travel to work in Saudi Arabia," he recalled. "I didn't tell them the truth because they would refuse and try to stop me doing it."

Two days later Ali headed for Sanaa, where Mugani supplied him with an ID card, passport, fake medical report, plane tickets to Egypt and the mobile number of a contact in Cairo, known only as "Slama".

"We agreed that the Egyptian man would pay me $5,000 after the operation," Ali said. "I trusted Mugani."

He headed for the airport in Aden and within two days was in Cairo.

How Egypt is centre of trade

Yemeni law does not forbid organ trafficking. The result is that one of the world's poorest countries has become a target for international operations due to its rampant poverty and the desperation of men like Ali.

The situation has been exacerbated by a civil war that has left at least 20 million Yemenis needing some kind of humanitarian or protective support: seven million people are at risk of famine.

The World Food Programme has classified seven of Yemen's 22 provinces at "emergency" level – that is one step below famine on the five-point Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale. Ten provinces are at "crisis" level.

Nabil Fadhil, head of the Yemeni Organisation for Combating Human Trafficking, said it had prevented at least 300 individuals leaving the country to sell their organs between 2012 and 2014. But 150 prosecutions failed because the traffickers had broken no law.

"Poverty is the main reason that forces people to sell their organs," Fadhil said. "The best solution is poverty eradication."

Although many of the purchasers of organs come from Gulf states, Yemenis are banned from entering those countries if it's for healthcare reasons.

Instead they head for Egypt, which has more relaxed entry criteria and where Yemenis do not need a visa.

'This is your sister'

When Ali arrived at Cairo airport, he was met by Mahmoud, one of Slama's workers, who travelled into town with him, although he refused to discuss any aspect of the deal.

Ali was then taken to an apartment which he shared with 15 other men. "It was full with Yemenis who wanted to sell their organs," he said.

The men were supervised by five Egyptian brokers, who confiscated their passports to prevent them from leaving.

'The doctor warned me not to say that I would sell my kidney, rather that I would donate my kidney to my sister'

- Ali, victim of organ trafficking

Ali stayed there for a week, only leaving when Mahmoud escorted him to a clinic for daily examinations. Eventually he was sent to see a doctor.

"The doctor warned me not to say that I would sell my kidney, rather that I would donate my kidney to my sister," Ali said.

"Then he brought an Emirati woman in her 80s into the room and said: 'This is your sister, you will donate your kidney for her.'"

Ali said that the daughter of the Emirati woman told him that they had paid $50,000 to the hospital as the price of the kidney – 10 times the amount Ali agreed with Mugani back in Yemen.

"I had the operation and stayed for three days in the hospital. Then Mahmoud came to the hospital and took me back to the apartment. That same day he gave me $5,000 and took me to Cairo airport to return to Yemen."

Becoming an organ broker

As with other illicit forms of smuggling, many of those sucked into organ trafficking eventually become part of the problem itself.

Fadhil believes that more than half of the victims of the trade eventually become brokers. "After the victim sells his kidney for $5,000, the Egyptian broker tells him he will then pay $2,000 for each [new] victim who comes through him," he said, "so half of the victims agreed to be organ brokers."

Jamal, 35, a father of one from Sanaa, is typical. He used to depend on his motorcycle taxi for his family living. He had heard talk, rumours of people selling their organs in Egypt – but never thought that he would become one himself.

Nabil Fadhil, left, head of the Yemeni Organisation for Combating Human Trafficking (MEE)

In late 2015, one of his friends sold his kidney and told Jamal about it on his return. The operation, the friend said, was so easy.

By March 2016 Jamal, along with three others, was persuaded to become an organ donor. His friend took a cut of $500 from each of the men and said that each kidney would be sold for $5,000.

"My friend was an organ broker and I did not know," said Jamal. "When I agreed to sell my kidney, he prepared everything for me in one week."

Jamal followed the same process as Ali – but was no happier by the end, in part because the money was earned illegally. "I was planning to open a shop but the money was reduced as the brokers in Egypt and Yemen took around $2,000."

After the operation, he was approached to be an organ broker but rejected the idea. "They say they will pay you $2,000 for each case that you bring in, but I did not agree."

Fadhil's organisation has documented more than 1,000 cases of trafficking since 2012, including 300 during the conflict – but he estimates the real figure to be at least 5,000.

My friend was an organ broker and I did not know

- Jamal, victim of organ trafficking

The war, he said, has made no difference to the numbers. In many cases, donors journey to Aden and Sayun and then travel to Egypt. He confirmed that the current economic situation forces people to make the journey.

But the service is badly funded. "We do not receive any support from any side," he said. "We documented more than 1,000 cases through our own personal work and with coordination with the interior ministry and criminal research and Investigations."

The number of cases may have dipped with the closure of Sanaa airport, but in several respects that has made the enforcers' job even tougher.

"We could not document some because of the closure of Sanaa airport, which means some now travel to Aden and Sayun airports."

'I regret I believed my friend'

And Ali? Eventually he returned home from Egypt and told his family what he had done. They were upset at his behaviour, despite his attempts to persuade them that he did it for the best, for the money.

"My wife and mother have still not forgiven me and still hate me for it to this day. They think this behaviour goes against Yemeni traditions."

Ali bought three motorcycles with the money and rented them out to friends to ensure a monthly income. But the bikes did not last more than six months, and eventually he lost everything.

"I lost all the money that I received for the price of my kidney," he said, "and now I am in need again. Moreover, I may die at any moment as I have only one kidney."

After the operation, the donor needs to monitor his health and be checked every six months, as he has lost an organ of his body 

- Shaheed Salem, urinary doctor 

The traffickers also didn't tell him about the after-effects of the operation: a WHO report in 2007 said that 78 percent of paid organ donors in Egypt "had spent the money within five months of their donation" and that "73 percent reported a weakened ability to perform labour-intensive jobs".

Shaheed Salem, a urinary doctor at a private health centre in Taiz, who has no involvement with organ trafficking, told MEE that while kidney donors could live a normal life if they received proper healthcare and nutrition, there were still risks as with any surgery.

"The organ transplants usually need qualified hospitals and surgeons. After the operation, the donor needs to monitor his health and be checked every six months, as he has lost an organ of his body."

Ali did not feel initial pain following the operation in Egypt, but now, with the cold weather starting to set in, he aches.

"I regret that I believed my friend and sold my kidney," he said. "I would tell anyone who needs money not to sell their organs. It is better to starve to death than do that."

Struggling Mullaitivu fishermen demand release of coast from Sri Lankan army

30Sep 2017

Mullaitivu fishermen are struggling to engage in their livelihood due to the Sri Lankan military occupation of coastlines in the district.

With around fifty boats engaged in fishing in the Mullivaikkaal West area, fishermen are struggling without sufficient docking space.

Much of the Mullaitivu coast remains heavily militarised and inaccessible to Tamil residents.

The Mullivaikkaal beach where the Sri Lankan military forces committed widespread atrocities towards the end of the war remains guarded but is accessed by Sinhalese fishermen.

Mullaitivu residents have requested Northern Provincial Council member T. Ravikaran to secure the release of enough coastal land to establish a harbour of at least 100 metres, to accommodate the fishing boats.

Related Articles: 

30 July 2017 : Myliddy fishermen struggle to rebuild livelihood with inadequate government support

10 May 2017 : Militarisation is primary cause of Mullaitivu's poverty representative tells NPC

03 April 2017 : Limit Southern fishermen's use of Mullaitivu waters - NPC

FOREMOST POSITION FOR BUDDHISM - PRESIDENT

UNITARY STATUS enshrined UNDER NEW CONSTITUTION :

Saturday, September 30, 2017

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday assured that there would be no room for a division or a separation of the country under the proposed new constitution.

He also assured that his government would not in any way dilute the position given to Buddhism that has already been guaranteed in the present constitution. He made these remarks yesterday in response to the comments of several Maha Nayaka Theras,participating in a ceremony held at Gemunupura in Ampara.

President Sirisena also said that several nayake theras had commented to the media, that the new constitution is to be drafted based on Federalism, which is incorrect.

“I phoned Jayampathi Wickramaratne and inquired about the truth of this statement”, the President said.

“He said that nothing will consist in the constitution that will dilute the foremost position given to Buddhism. I asked his twice and he assured me that such clauses will not be included in the constitution”.

He also said that the former President had said that there should be a new constitution for power devolution. 

Terrorism Investigation Department summon Mannar civil society leader over planned protest

Sivakaran arrested by TID, released on bail ( Apr 28, 2016)

 Sep 29, 2017

The Terrorism Investigation Department has summoned a Mannar civil society leader for questioning in Colombo.

V. S. Sivakaran, who heads the Federation of Community Organisations in Mannar was served the summons in relation to a letter he had sent to the Sri Lankan president criticising the president’s plans to attend the opening of an illegally constructed vihara in the environs of Thiruketheeswaram Kovil.

In the letter Mr Sivakaran had warned that if the President chose to ignore local concerns and attend the opening, Mannar locals would protest his visit.

While the opening of the vihara is due to take place this Friday (September 29), Mr Sivakaran has been instructed to appear before the Terrorism Investigation Department in Colombo the following Monday (October 3).

http://tamilguardian.com

Presidential Rule of Provincial Councils

By Neville Ladduwahetty-September 29, 2017, 9:57 pm 

The Provincial Councils Elections (Amendment) Bill was passed by Parliament with a 2/3 majority and signed into law by the Speaker. The need for a 2/3 majority is reported as being based on the advice of the Attorney General. Whether the Bill provides for the Governors to take over the functions of the Provincial Councils at the end of their statutory period or not, the present understanding is that the Governors would be responsible for the functioning of the Provincial Councils at the end of their statutory periods.

The Constitution however, does not provide for the Governor of a province to take over its functions at the end of the statutory period of a province. What it provides is for the President by proclamation to "assume to himself all or any of the functions of the administration of the Province and all or any of the powers vested in, or exercisable by, the Governor or anybody or authority in the Province" (154L, 1. a). However, such assumptions of power by the President are only under special circumstances such as public security (154J), failure to comply with directions (154K), failure of administrative machinery (154L), financial instability (154N).

Since none of these special conditions listed above exist at this time in any of the provinces, the arrangement for a Governor to assume functions of a province amounts to a violation of the Constitution. However, although it may be a violation as far as the Provincial Councils are concerned and therefore the need for a 2/3 majority as recommended by the AG, in so far as the people of the province are concerned, it is a denial of their franchise. This is a violation of a fundamental right which is an important component of the sovereignty of the people. The impact of the measures adopted by the government could very well have far reaching consequences, unless corrective measures are adopted.

PROVISIONS IN THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Article 154L of the Sri Lankan Constitution is an almost verbatim copy of Article 356 of the Indian Constitution. Although this provision is intended to be used sparingly and only in instances of failure of domestic machinery or a democratically elected government being unable to form a government, it has almost always been used by Indian governments to sack state governments whenever it was politically expedient.

For instance, the process started with Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959 dismissing the government in Kerala followed by and Indira Gandhi’s government dismissing elected governments "just to teach their rivals a lesson". The provision of Article 356 was abused to such an extent that India set up the Sarkaria Commission in 1983 to bring about balance between the Central government and State governments.

Although Sri Lankan governments have acted more responsibly in the past, the current arrangement could tempt governments to operate selected provincial and even local government administrations without elected bodies. Despite this, the procedures adopted, however disingenuous and improper, are being perceived as acceptable on grounds that whatever was done by Parliament has the sanctity of Parliamentary privilege because of the supremacy of Parliament. This is a flawed notion.

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE

There is an understanding within the Judiciary and among Parliamentarians in Sri Lanka that Parliamentary privilege is sacrosanct. This notion has skewed judgments relating to previous applications for interpretations of resolutions passed by Parliament relating to the meaning of a "National Government". As a consequence of this notion the judiciary considers measures adopted by Parliament as being out of bounds for the judiciary to intervene unless specifically requested. This belief is based on practices adopted by former British Parliaments and recorded in Erskine May’s several editions, but have since been revised.

The practice in the British Parliament had been (according to the UK Parliament’s website):

42. "From at least 1818 the practice in the House of Commons was that its debates and proceedings could not be referred to in court proceedings without leave of the House".

43. "One of the uses the courts now make of parliamentary proceedings is as an aid when interpreting Acts of Parliament. This follows from the decision in Pepper v. Hart" 1993.

44. "The House of Lords in its judicial capacity decided that clear statements made in Parliament concerning the purpose of Legislation in the course of enactment may be used by courts as a guide to the interpretation of ambiguous statutory provisions. The Lords held such use of statements did not infringe article 9 because it did not amount to questioning proceedings in Parliament. Far from questioning the independence of Parliament and its debates, the courts would be giving effect to what was said and done there".

It is evident from the practices in the UK Parliament cited above, the Judiciary has every right to "interpret Acts of Parliament".

However, instead of seeking inspiration from current thinking in UK, it would be more appropriate to rely on Sri Lanka’s own Constitution and file a Fundamental Rights case for denying the franchise of the People by bringing Provincial and Local administrations under the President’s rule through his agent, the Governor.

CONCLUSION

Despite the fact that Sri Lanka is a Republic and the Preamble to its Constitution states "do hereby adopt and enact this CONSTITUTION as the SUPREME LAW of the DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA" its operations are guided by the notion that Parliament is supreme as in UK. This is not so.

The Parliament is not supreme. What is supreme in Sri Lanka is its Constitution and as the Preamble unequivocally states, it ratifies "the immutable republican principles of REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY". Therefore, the denial of the franchise of the People to appoint their representatives to Provincial and Local administrations is a violations of the foundation on which rests Sri Lanka’s Constitution.