MALLORY, W.Va. — For the people of the hollow, opportunity begins where the road ends, and that was where they now went, driving onto a dirt path that vanished into forest. It was here that they came at the end of the month, when the disability checks were long gone, and the next were still days away, and the only option left was also one of the worst.
By the late 1950s, Ernesto Che Guevara began appearing in newsreels, and within less than a year after his death the legendary freedom fighter was spawning cinematic works, depicted by famous actors in fiction films.
by Anwar A. Khan writes from Dhaka-
“For us there is no valid definition of socialism other than the abolition of the exploitation of one human being by another.” – Ernesto Che Guevara
( October 5, 2017, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Che’s friend Ricardo Rojo wrote a far-famed book on him titled, “My friend Che.” Tears welled up my eyes every time whenever I read it. To me, Che Guevara is more than my friend, and more than my soulfulness kinsman. Acclaimed around the world, he is the dashing rebel whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed revolution. One can trace Che’s extraordinary life, from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the battlefields of the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro’s government to his failed campaign in the Congo and assassination in the Bolivian Jungle…..
He was the Argentine Marxist and guerrilla fighter whose famous portrait by Alberto Korda still adorns everything from t-shirts and baseball caps to hagiographic murals, MAD magazine covers and high-end panties, was killed 50 years ago, on 9th October 1967. He had been captured—with the help of CIA operatives in Bolivia, where he was attempting to spark a continent-wide revolution in the mold of the Cuban rebellion of the previous decade. Che Guevara illuminates as the mythic figure that embodied the high-water mark of revolutionary communism as a force in history.
In his journal, Guevara writes of the encounter with the forces of Batista government, “I talked all night with Fidel. And in the morning I had become the doctor of his new expedition. To tell the truth, after my experiences across Latin America I didn’t need much more to enlist for a revolution against a tyrant. But I was particularly impressed with Fidel. I shared his optimism. We needed to act, to struggle, to materialise our beliefs. Stop whining and fight.” The handsome, youthful, cigar-smoking, beret-clad looking revolutionary has become an icon of protest the world over since long. By the late 1950s, Ernesto Che Guevara began appearing in newsreels, and within less than a year after his death the legendary freedom fighter was spawning cinematic works, depicted by famous actors in fiction films. Many books are written by many writers on this great revolutionary. He has inspired numerous documentaries and features. To remember and honour this indefatigable champion of the wretched of the Earth, there are the top ten films about him —fallen, but not forgotten.
Che Guevara by Alberto Korda
If, as Mao Tse Tsung puts it, “the people are the sea and the guerrillas are the fish,” Che’s lack of local support doomed his final struggle. A fish out of water, Guevara was caught October 8, 1967, by the U.S.-trained and armed Bolivian military, with CIA participation. He was summarily executed the following day, thus avoiding a sensational trial and bringing to a devastating end Che’s tri-continental strategy. According to 3rd June 1975 declassified document of America, “When Che Guevara was executed… one disdainful CIA (the whole CIA is a disdainful outfit) official was present — a Cuban-American operative named Félix Rodríguez… After the execution, Rodríguez took Che’s Rolex watch, often proudly showing it to reporters…” So much inhuman an act! Che Guevara wrote that we must be “guided by a great feeling of love” for the oppressed, and “strive every day so that this love of living humanity is transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force”. Nelson Mandela correctly spelt out, “Che’s life is an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom. We will always honor his memory.”
The book “My Friend Che” by Ricardo Rojo was first published in 1968 and translated in 11 languages was the first direct testimony written on Ernesto Guevara. The book sold more than half a million copies, own facets of the guerilla leader and helps discover the man before he was converted in a myth. Ricardo Rojo was a rare species on the Argentine political landscape: he put principles before power and profit, and thus fell out with all those he started off supporting. But Rojo will be remembered for his best-known book, “My Friend Che.”
As a young medical student, Guevara traveled throughout South America and was radicalized by the poverty, hunger and disease he witnessed. His burgeoning desire to help overturn what he saw as the capitalist exploitation of Latin America by the United States prompted his involvement in Guatemala’s social reforms under President Jacobo Árbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow at the behest of the United Fruit Company solidified Guevara’s political ideology. Later in Mexico City, Guevara met Raúl and Fidel Castro, joined their 26th of July Movement and sailed to Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with the intention of overthrowing U.S. backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guevara soon rose to prominence among the insurgents, was promoted to second-in-command and played a pivotal role in the victorious two-year guerrilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime. The United States supplied Batista with planes, ships and tanks, but the advantage of using the latest technology such as napalm failed to win them victory against the guerrillas of Fidel and Che.
Following the Cuban Revolution, Guevara performed a number of key roles in the new government under his friend Fidel Casto. Additionally, Guevara was a prolific writer and diarist, composing a seminal manual on guerrilla warfare, along with a best-selling memoir about his youthful continental motorcycle journey. His experiences and studying of Marxism–Leninism led him to posit that the Third World’s underdevelopment and dependence was an intrinsic result of imperialism, neocolonialism and monopoly capitalism, with the only remedy being proletarian internationalism and world revolution. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to foment revolution abroad, first unsuccessfully in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia.
Guevara remains a revered historical figure. As a result of his perceived martyrdom, poetic invocations for class struggle and desire to create the consciousness of a new man driven by moral rather than material incentives, he has evolved into a quintessential icon of various leftist movements. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, while an Alberto Korda photograph of him, titled Guerrillero Heroico (shown), was cited by the Maryland Institute College of Art as “the most famous photograph in the world”.
The day after his execution on October 10, 1967, Guevara’s corpse was displayed to the world press in the laundry house of the Vallegrande hospital. Cruelty should have its limit!
Tragedy of a mission
Guevara received several honours of state during his life, such as, 1960: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the White Lion, 1961: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Southern Cross… His life and legacy will remain alive till this civilisation is having life, vigour or spirit. He will remain a transcendent figure both in specifically political contexts] and as a wide-ranging popular icon of youthful rebellion. A revolutionary leader, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born on June 14, 1928, in Rosario, Argentina. After completing his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires, Guevara became political active first in his native Argentina and then in neighboring Bolivia and Guatemala. In 1954, he met Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and his brother Raul while in Mexico. But one thing is very clear that he was a prominent communist figure in the Cuban Revolution (1956–59) who went on to become a guerrilla leader in South America. Executed by the Bolivian army in 1967, he has since been regarded as a martyred hero by generations of leftists worldwide. Guevara’s image remains a prevalent icon of leftist idealism and anti-imperialism.
Since his death, Guevara has become a legendary political figure. His name is often equated with rebellion, revolution, and socialism. His life continues to be a subject of great public interest and still been explored and portrayed in numerous books and films. His famous quote reads, “Better to die standing than to live on your knees.” As Guevara’s interest in Marxism grew, he decided to abandon medicine, believing that only revolution could bring justice to the people of South America. In 1953 he traveled to Guatemala, where he witnessed the CIA-backed overthrow of its leftist government, which only served to deepen his convictions. In his book, Man and Socialism in Cuba, Che wrote, “Man truly achieves his full human condition when he produces without being compelled by the physical necessity of selling himself as a commodity.” With deep-chested, I remember Che Guevara, the revolutionary hero of the world’s proletariats.
Duterte inspects firearms together with Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Eduardo Ano during his visit at the military camp in Marawi city, on July 20, 2017. Source: Malacanang Presidential Palace via Reuters
SECURITY and illegal drugs problem are hampering the southern Philippine island of Mindanao from leading the country to achieve food security, President Rodrigo Duterte said.
Speaking yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 2017 AgriLink, FoodLink, and AquaLink Exhibitions 2017 at the World Trade Center in Metro Manila, the firebrand leader from Mindanao vowed to continue cracking the whip on terrorists and drug syndicates to realise Mindanao’s potential as the country’s “Land of Promise.”
Fertile lands, great climate and rich aquatic resources are Mindanao’s key attributes that would lead the Philippines towards food security, Duterte said.
“The greatest promise of food security would really be Mindanao. (We are seldom hit) by typhoons there,” said Duterte, a long-time mayor of Davao City, one of the key urban centres in Mindanao, before he became the president in 2016.
However, Duterte stressed the need to address the region’s decades-old problems on security, particularly terrorism, to fully develop the area’s agriculture potential.
Various iterations of the Moro rebellion have wreaked havoc on the island with their protracted war waged against the government that claimed over 100,000 lives since the 1970s. Fighting for Muslim self-determination in Mindanao, the two key Muslim groups – the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – have separately forged peace agreements with the government in 1996 and 2016, respectively. The MILF is a splinter of the MNLF.
Released Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad, right, watches MNLF chairman Nur Misuari, second left, raising the hands of the three released Indonesian hostages (centre) after being turned over by Abu Sayyaf extremists in the Philippines. Source: AP
The Abu Sayyaf Group has also long been a thorn in the government’s effort to develop Mindanao as a prosperous island. From a separatist group, the Abu Sayyaf has morphed into a criminal group engaged in kidnap-for-ransom to fund its operation. It has abducted and beheaded local and foreign nationals who allegedly failed to pay ransom money.
Mindanao in the past several decades has also seen the growth of the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The communist rebels thrived in areas in Mindanao with mining and agribusiness operations.
Just lately, Islamic State-inspired groups have reared their ugly heads in Mindanao, paramount being the Maute Group that laid siege on Marawi on May 23 that prompted Duterte to put the entire Mindanao island under martial law.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the war in Marawi that continues to rage four months after the first gunfight between government forces and the Maute Group erupted.
The Maute Group resisted the military’s effort to arrest Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the designated Islamic State emir in Southeast Asia, which triggered the conflict.
At least 150 state forces have been killed in the clashes in Marawi and over 700 on the side of the terrorist gunmen, government data showed.
Duterte vowed to rehabilitate Marawi, a good part of which is now in shambles owing to the exchange of gunfire and the aerial bombings and artillery strikes launched by the military.
Marawi – the Philippines’ only Islamic city – hosts Lake Lanao, the biggest lake in Mindanao and the second largest lake in the country
“Lake Lanao, if properly developed and utilised, would feed the nation,” Duterte said.
“We have serious security problems (in Mindanao). And for as long as there is trouble, we cannot initiate programmes that would guarantee a good production for the year. There [are] so much terrorism and a lot of extortion going around.”
Government soldiers from the Philippine Marines 1st Brigade patrol past damaged buildings as troops continue their assault on clearing operations against the pro-IS militant group in Marawi city, southern Philippines, on Sept 14, 2017. Source: Reuters/Marconi Navales
The Chief Executive also lamented that Mindanao has become a “hotbed of shabu” (methamphetamine) in the country, with some local politicians and terrorists getting involved in the illegal drug business.
He stressed illegal drugs fueled the ongoing rebellion in Marawi City.
Duterte assured the people that the government’s war against the Maute terrorists “is nearing its end”, with the military claiming the main battle zone has been reduced to an area “the size of two football fields.”
“Marawi is winding up. I hope that in the fullness of God’s time, Allah’s time, we’d be able to really talk peace. I’m willing to pour everything there. I promised them rehabilitation. They should not support the terrorists there,” he said.
Duterte warned criminals, terrorists, and drug personalities anew not to threaten the future of young Filipinos, otherwise he would exhaust all efforts to go after them.
“Do not do that to my country. I will never allow people to destroy my country, period,” he said.
I am building my country. Do not make it hard for us.”
Mindanao produces 40 percent of the country’s food requirements and contributes more than 30 percent to the national food trade, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said.
During the annual Mindanao Business Conference last month, Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat assured the agency is continuously formulating programmes to develop the island’s agriculture and fisheries industry.
“We have undertaken efforts to enrich the agriculture sector by extending production support, product development and marketing initiatives,” she said.
Duterte guaranteed that the government would spearhead more programmes that would promote the welfare of the country’s agricultural workers not just in Mindanao but the rest of the country.
To increase yield in agriculture, the president said the government is providing climate resilient seed varieties and introducing better production and post-harvest technologies.
Duterte stressed that better programmes should be enforced so the country would not depend so much on neighbouring nations for food sources.
A net rice exporter more than two decades ago, the Philippines has been importing the commodity from neighbouring Asian countries to feed its rice-eating population owing to dwindling production.
The government has launched a consultation today that proposes to ban the domestic ivory trade in the UK.
It’s already illegal to trade ivory internationally, but some countries allow antiques to be sold domestically. At the moment, the UK is one of those countries, and as such, has become the largest legal exporter of ivory in the world.
With 20,000 African elephants killed for their ivory every year, is the UK doing enough? And how does it compare to other developed nations?
Here’s how other major countries and economies handle the domestic ivory trade
Near-total ban in the US: Barack Obama brought in a ban on the domestic ivory trade in the US in 2016. Only antiques more than 100 years old can be sold.
Near-total ban in Canada: The Canadian government passed legislation in 1992 to ban the domestic ivory trade, unless traders could prove that the elephant was taken from the wild before 3 July 1975.
Near-total ban in France. In 2016, the French government banned the domestic trade in France and its overseas territories. It went even further than many international accords, and outlawed ivory trading regardless of age or antique value.
EU regulations are more lenient, and permit member states to trade ivory domestically. The Commission said last year that it wanted to focus on helping countries that have elephants to manage their populations more sustainably. The EU did, however, bring in a ban on importing raw ivory.
Near-total ban in China. The announcement from 2016 was hailed by conservation charities as a source of “greater hope” for elephants.
How does the UK compare?
The new rules proposed by Michael Gove today are only draft regulations. For now, the UK permits the domestic trade in ivory if the elephant was killed before 1947.
But, as the International Fund for Animal Welfare points out, the current rules are very difficult to police because “without carbon dating testing all ivory items that are for sale it is very difficult to positively identify which pieces are antique and which are not.
“Since carbon dating is very expensive it is unlikely this could be rolled out on a large scale for the market. As a result of these identification difficulties, modern ivory is stained and artificially aged by unscrupulous dealers so it can be sold as ‘antique’.”
Will the government’s proposed approach actually help?
Ahead of this year’s election, the Conservatives were accused of silently dropping their previous commitment to cracking down on the ivory trade.
But polling by Populus on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund suggests that three quarters of the public want to ban the trade in ivory.
Today’s announcement sets out the government’s intention to ban ivory trading in the UK – regardless of the age of the item.
On the face of it, that would appear to resolve the issue of authorities identifying – or criminals falsifying – the age of ivory items.
However, the proposed rules would still include four exemptions:
musical instruments
items containing only a small proportion of ivory
items of significant historic, artistic or cultural value, and
sales to and between museums
Three of those four categories seem fairly easy to prove or disprove. But it’s not clear how flexible the rules would be on defining “items of significant historic, artistic or cultural value”.
The government says it will “ work with conservationists, the arts and antiques sectors and other interested parties through the consultation period on exactly how these exemptions can be defined, implemented and enforced so as to ensure there is no room for loopholes which continue to fuel the poaching of elephants.”
Until that detail is finalised, it’s not clear how effective the new rules will be.
The FDA's video about sleep positioners warns that "all can be dangerous"
6 October 2017
Some UK retailers have stopped selling baby sleep positioners amid concerns over their safety.
A US health regulator said they "can cause suffocation that can lead to death" and have been linked to 12 infant deaths in the US.
The positioners, aimed at infants under six months, are intended to keep a baby in a specific position while sleeping.
Mothercare, John Lewis, eBay, Boots and Tesco have stopped sales, but they are still available from other retailers.
The Lullaby Trust, a cot death charity which advises the NHS, told BBC News that there are hundreds of baby sleep products on the market - and "parents assume that if something is for sale, it is safe to use".
Lullaby's Jenny Ward added: "The age-old question that hasn't really changed is: how do I get my baby to sleep?
"And if there's a product that says: 'This will help your baby to sleep', it's obviously something that some parents will want to find out more about."
But she said the Trust recommends a firm, flat, waterproof mattress, in a clear cot free of pillows, toys, bumpers and sleep positioners, because the evidence shows that this reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
The Trust does not recommend wedges or sleep positioners - regardless of other potential benefits.
If, for example, parents are worried about "flat head syndrome" from babies sleeping on their backs, there are techniques that can be used - such as supervised tummy time while they are awake - that will not increase the risk of SIDS.
The Food and Drug Administration in the US released a statement on Wednesday explaining that the items - often called "nests" or "anti-roll" products - have caused some babies to suffocate after rolling from their sides to their stomachs.
It said the two most common types of sleep positioners feature raised supports or pillows (called "bolsters") that are attached to each side of a mat, or a wedge to raise a baby's head.
The FDA first issued a safety warning seven years ago, saying "in light of the suffocation risk and the lack of evidence of any benefits, we are warning consumers to stop using these products".
There is no FDA equivalent in the UK, though the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is responsible for product safety policy, which is enforced by Trading Standards.
A BEIS spokesman told the BBC: "Manufacturers, distributors and retailers must ensure products meet the relevant safety requirements and be able to prove this is the case if asked, before the product is placed on the market."
Products pulled
Mothercare had been selling a sleep positioner for £39.99 but has told the BBC it is no longer for sale.
It came with a warning that it should not be used once a baby was able to turn around on their own.
Tesco, which sold sleep positioners on its website through a third party, said: "We have removed these products from our website as a precautionary measure."
John Lewis, which had one sleep positioner for sale, the Cocoonababy Sleep Positioner, also said it was removing it as a "precautionary measure".
The retailer said it was also removing the Cocoonababy Nest, a sleep pod, while it awaits "further advice and reassurance from the supplier".
A spokesman for eBay said the website would be banning the sale of the products, adding: "Our team will be informing sellers and removing any listings that contravene our policies."
Boots said it is removing the sale of all sleep positioner products "whilst we investigate further with our suppliers".
Sleep positioners are however still available on other websites, including Amazon, which said it would not be commenting on the issue.
A spokeswoman for Jo Jo Maman Bebe said it was still selling the products but was "investigating the issue as a matter of urgency with our suppliers".
'Don't take chances'
The Lullaby Trust said there is no need to use any type of equipment or rolled up blankets to keep a baby in one position, unless parents have been advised to do so by a health professional for a specific medical condition.
It added: "Babies are at higher risk of SIDS if they have their heads covered, and some items added to a cot may increase the risk of head-covering and can also increase the risk of accidents.
"We recommend that while evidence on individual products is not widely available, parents do not take any chances and stick to scientifically proven safer sleep guidelines".
The charity has published a checklist to help new parents which can be found here.
Have you used a baby sleep positioner or any other sleep products? Let us know about your experiences. Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your stories.
The UK’s Foreign Office Minister for Asia and the Pacific met with families of the disappeared in Colombo today.
The British High Commission in Sri Lanka said the visiting minister, Mark Field, met with families of the disappeared from Sinhalese and Tamil communities to hear of their hopes for the Office of Missing Persons.
The Foreign and Commonwealth office said that the Colombo meeting with families affected by enforced disappearances from both the north and south of the country was to hear of their concerns and their hopes for the OMP.
We call him Prem. The editor of the largest selling Jaffna daily, Thevanayagam Premanath, is sitting at a large table with his usual smile. The wall behind him has three bullet marks. Two photographs of slain media workers, probably killed by the same machine gun, are hung on the wall above the round bullet marks.
‘Compared to the Rahapaksa era we have media freedom today. Today there is no one following us behind. Although one cannot say that we have full freedom in Jaffna, we have freedom to write’, says Prem.
The bullet marks that remind us of the terrifying era journalists and media workers went through under Rajapaksa tell the story of impunity for crimes against media and elusive justice for victims of those crimes.
It was in the eve of World Press Freedom Day 2006 that an armed gang invaded the office of Uthayan newspaper and rained bullets in to the office. Two of its media workers died of gunshot wounds on the spot. Some of us media activists were at UNESCO and the Government had organised an event to celebrate the World Press Freedom Day. We received urgent calls from Jaffna asking for help to get the news to the Government and media.
After a quick discussion we decided to make an announcement and leave the celebration in protest. The responsibility of the announcement fell on to me, so I had to take the microphone from the compère to announce the sad news to local and international media workers gathered at the UNESCO event.
By the time the attack on Uthayan took place, the Government had provided security to the premises. The security personnel shot the attackers, injuring two of them. According to Prem, the injured gang members belonged to a para- military political party that was part of Rajapaksa’s coalition. Later, even the names of the attackers came be known.
However, to this date, there has been no investigation in to this attack carried out either by the Police or the Government. Similarly, none of the other attacks that targeted the Uthyan newspaper has been investigated.
‘So why is this inaction by the Government?’, asks editor Premnath.
“We are happy about the investigations on the abduction of Prageeth Ekneligoda, murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and other journalists. That is a positive development. But why is there total silence on killings and attacks on journalists and media in Jaffna?”. A voice of frustration and anger.
Jaffna is the only city in the country where journalists have their own place to gather, and hold press conferences etc – The JPC, the Jaffna Press Club.
You can reach the JPC in five minutes when you walk past the Jaffna railway station. The President of the JPC Thayaraparan Ratnam and Assistance Secretary
Sabeshwaran Arumukarasa both speak with justified anger.
“We, about 50 journalists from Jaffna, went to Colombo to explain our grievances. We met the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Media and many more. We requested them to start investigations in to killings of three Tamil journalists, in the least- the killings of Dharmeratnam Sivaram in Colombo (28 April 2005), journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan in Batticaloa (31 May 2004) and journalist Mylvaganam Nimalrajan in Jaffna (19 October 2000). But until today we haven’t seen any response to our requests”.
“If the Government is genuinely interested in doing justice to killed Tamil journalists, there will be enough information forthcoming”.
A few days earlier, the Government had sent around 300 Army personal to investigate into the ‘Ava’ group. There was a hive of police and military activity to crack down the ‘Ava’ group. Why is it then that this Government cannot show the same urgency to investigate into killings of journalists in Jaffna, was the common sentiment we heard.
A newspaper called ‘Namathu Eelanadu’ was published in Jaffna in war time. It was considered by some to be a pro-LTTE newspaper. Its managing editor Sinnathmaby Sivamaharajah was killed on 20th August 2006. After May 2009, the premises of the ‘Namathu Eelanadu’ was taken over by the Police and their Terrorist Investigation Unit was established there. After the new government came to power, the premises were handed over to its rightful owner. But all the printing machines were taken away by the military to the camp in Palali.
‘Isn’t it the same thing as the selling the machines of Kankesanthurai Cement factory as scraped iron?’, asks Thayaparan Rathnam. The Muslim businessman who bought those Cement factory machines from the military, contested in the 2013 Provincial Council election on SLFP ticket, but he was able to get only 600 votes. ‘At that time, there were rumours that he was the candidate of the military!’, says Sabeshwaran.
Journalists who were covering the STF cordon and the search operation to suppress ‘Ava’ activities were continuously photographed by the Police. “The mind-set of the Police and the military intelligence has not changed. They are still living in the war time and suspect all Tamil journalists as if they were enemies. Do they really think that all the Tamil journalists are terrorists? You come from the South, please tell us if the Police treats journalists there the same way? We have seen southern journalists covering incidents where the Police is using tear gas, water cannons and baton charging students. Do you think we, the Jaffna journalists, have the same freedom? Isn’t there a problem here?”. These questions beg answers.
‘We cannot say that we have full media freedom here in the North. It is true that there are no threats or pressure about what to write or not. But media assassins still roam free. On the other hand, we are being photographed at every turn of events. Government needs to take action to correct this situation’, both the journalist leaders were unanimous.
Nadesapillai Vithyatharan edited the Colombo based Sudar Oli paper during the war. It was the sister paper of Uthayan. He now edits the Jaffna based Kalaikathir.
‘Tell the Government to start with my case, if they are ready, and prove that they are being genuine. There is enough evidence to find the killers of Tamil journalists. What is lacking is the political will from the Government’ Vithyatharan is emphatic.
Vithyatharan was abducted on 09th February 2009 when he was attending a funereal of a relative in Wellawattha. The killer gang, who came in a white van consisted of two policemen in uniform.
The news of his abduction shocked many and spread in a flash. The Government wanted a way out. In few hours’ time, tortured and battered, Vithyatharan was dumped in to a ditch in Dematagoda. A police team ‘found’ him in seconds and announced that he was arrested.
The same evening, then Secretary of Defence Gotabahya Rajapaksa told an Australian TV, “Vithyatharan is a terrorist, so we arrested him. He is an LTTE informer. If you talk about him, you too will have blood on your hands”.
In few weeks’ time Vithyatharan was released without any charges. He says he knows the two policemen who came to abduct him by name: Ranganathan and Wijerathana. Vithyatharan wants the Police to interrogate these two policemen to find out who was behind the abduction. ‘Then the truth will come out’, he says.
‘Why this Government not investigating my abduction? Is it because I am not a Wickrematunge or Ekneligoda?’, was his challenging plea.
Will any one answer these questions?
(Notes form a visit to Jaffna on first week of August 2017)
05/10/2017
In his discussion with visiting UK Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Rt. Hon. Mark Field TNA leader R.Sampanthan has said that if Sri Lanka fail in in finding a resolution to the national question through a new constitution there will be a recurrence of violence. Sampanthan has also highlighted the need for the Northern and the Eastern provinces to function as one province given the fact that the two provinces represent largely Tamil speaking communities.
The Press Statement issued bu the TNA after the meeting between TNA Leader and the visiting UK Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Rt. Hon. Mark Field follows:
The visiting UK Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Rt. Hon. Mark Field met with the Leader of the Opposition and the Tamil National Alliance Hon.R. Sampanthan today (04.10.2017) at Westminster House in Colombo.
Detailing the current political situation to the Honorable Minister Mr. Sampanthan said that the Tamil National Alliance genuinely participated in the processes of framing a new Constitution. Highlighting the Constitutional making process Mr. Sampanthan said from 1957 onwards there had been various attempts made to recognize the pluralism in this country, but unfortunately, none of those efforts came to be realized.
“The need for a power sharing arrangement has been in discussion over 30 years since 1957. Only in 1987 with the involvement of Indian Government for the very first time a power sharing arrangement was recognized in the constitution of this country Mr. Sampanthan said. “From that time, onwards steps were taken by every successive Government to address the National question and evolve a final solution” he added”.
The TNA leader said “we are seeking an arrangement that will enable people to exercise powers related to their Social, cultural, economic, and political matters based on the principle of sovereignty of the people as citizens of this country. The TNA leader also stated, “that this power should not be taken back in anyway”.
Speaking further Mr. Sampanthan Highlighted that need for the Northern and the Eastern provinces to function as one province given the fact that the two provinces represent largely Tamil speaking communities. Further Mr. Sampanthan said “Majority Sinhala community need not be afraid of the merger of these two provinces as there will be a constitutional protection preventing any move towards separation. The power-sharing arrangements will be worked out within a United, Undivided and Indivisible Sri Lanka Mr. Sampanthan pointed out to the Minister.
Framing a new Constitution is an important task in finding a resolution to the national question Mr. Sampanthan said we can’t fail in it if we fail there will be a recurrence of violence he added”. Speaking of the consequences of the violence in the past Mr. Sampanthan said, “fifty percent of the Sri Lankan Tamils live outside the country” and if we don’t find a lasting solution more people will leave the country he cautioned.”
Answering a question regarding the role of the diaspora members Mr. Sampanthan said that the Diaspora is adopting a pragmatic approach, they too would like to see an acceptable resolution to this issue”
Mr. Sampanthan highlighted the importance of the role of the International community at this very important juncture of this country and said “that the United Kingdom must take all efforts to support these processes to see a positive end” and also to ensure that the Government of Sri Lanka delivers on urgent matters like release of private lands, issue of Missing persons and Political Prisoners.
The Minister assured the TNA Leader of the constructive engagement of the UK government and wished the TNA leader all success for all his efforts in framing a new Constitution. Along with Minister Rt. Hon. Mark Field the United Kingdom ambassador to Sri Lanka His Excellency James Dauris and other High Commission officials were present at the meeting.
First govt. to suggest removal of ‘unitary state’ was one led by CBK
UNP, LTTE agreed to explore solution to ethnic problem within framework of federalism
Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara says 13A, which brought in federal structure, should be revoked
Almost all political parties in the country or the leaders of them had at least once in their history been supportive of the federal system
The proposals for Constitutional reforms prepared by that government in 1995 and popularly called ‘package’ described Sri Lanka as “a union of regions.”
Whenever the discourse on Constitution-making came to fore during the past two decades, the bone of contention was the nature of the state with the Tamils wanting a federal mode of governance and the Sinhalese insisting on a unitary state. However, even after more than thirty years since the ethnic problem took a violent turn, both the Sinhalese and the Tamils are fighting over ethnological terms such as federalism, unitary state and right to self-determination.
With Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is also the Chairman of the Steering Committee set-up under the Constitutional Assembly presenting an Interim Report of his committee in the Parliament on September 21, the terminological war with special emphasis on nature of the state has again become the main subject discussed in the political arena and media.
This time, while almost all Sinhalese nationalists are insisting that the country’s unitary state that has been incorporated in the Constitution must be preserved, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara, a strong and strident Sinhalese nationalist, has come up with a different stance in an article published in the Daily Mirror on Wednesday. The essence of his article was that despite almost all other Sinhalese nationalists stressing the need to retain the current nature of the State, Sri Lanka is already a federal state. He stressed that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which brought in this federal structure into the country should be revoked.
Almost all political parties in the country or the leaders of them had at least once in their history been supportive of the federal system though they call others traitors for doing the same
However, the Article 2 of the second Republican Constitution of 1978 stipulates, “The Republic of Sri Lanka is a Unitary State.” The Article was not amended when the 13th Amendment was introduced under the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 in order to create provincial councils with powers to make statutes or provincial laws. In order to prove his point that Sri Lanka is a federal state, Dr. Amarasekara quotes an opinion by Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, the 43rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka who was impeached in 2013 by the Rajapaksa Government. She had expressed this view when the Supreme Court judgment on the 13th Amendment was publicised in 1987.
“Secondly, Article 154, G (B) clearly points out that in a conflict between the statute of provincial councils and an existing law with regard to a matter on the Provincial Council List, the existing law shall remain suspended and operative within the province so long as that statute is in force.
“Moreover, this leads to the further argument that the provisions of the 13th Amendment are contravening Article 2 of the 1978 Constitution. Article 2 precisely announces that Sri Lanka is a unitary state, and in the present circumstances, one could argue that provincial councils, which are empowered to make statutes on par with laws made by the parliament, and to enact statutes that can suspend and render inoperative laws made by parliament. This has made the country federal in nature,” Dr. Bandaranayake had stated.
Even after more than thirty years since the ethnic problem took a violent turn, both the Sinhalese and the Tamils are fighting over ethnological terms such as federalism, unitary state and right to self-determination
Interestingly, this power of the provincial councils that ‘can suspend and render inoperative laws made by the parliament’ contributed to her ouster from the post of Chief Justice and ironically she happened to appear for this provincial council power against which she had expressed her opinion. When the Divineguma Bill was referred to the Supreme Court for its perusal in 2012, the court ruled that it had to be approved by all provincial councils. In the light of the already-soured relationship between Chief Justice Bandaranayake and Rajapaksa, this was viewed as a hostile act and led the regime to take action for her impeachment.
Dr. Amarasekara has also quoted eminent legal expert on Constitutional affairs, H.L.de Silva, as saying that the position of Sri Lanka was ‘not substantially different from the kind of federal system that prevails in India’ after the enactment of the 13th Amendment.
The same point had been more graphically-argued by late Professor Christopher Weeramantry in a paper submitted in 1986 when the provincial council system was under discussion between the leaders of Sri Lanka and India. Professor Weeramantry who later served as the Vice President of the International Court of Justice in Hague argued in his paper that with the devolution of power to the periphery, those peripheral institutions get the power to make laws on subjects devolved to them. His definition was that if there were only one legislature in a country, it would be a unitary state and would be federal when it has more than one legislature.
He had further contended that in spite of the fact that States in Malaysia did not have powers as the powers that were proposed then to be given to the Sri Lankan provincial councils, Malaysia was considered to be a country with a federal form of governance whereas Sri Lanka was not. All these arguments imply that despite the Sri Lankan Constitution describes Sri Lanka as a Unitary State, practically it is not so.
It was on this basis that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) and other opposition political parties vied against the provincial council system initially. However, with their insistence that the term ‘unitary state’ be retained in the proposed Constitution as well indicates that they are now of the view that Sri Lanka is still a unitary state in spite of provincial councils having been instituted under the 13th Amendment.
Besides, almost all political parties in the country or the leaders of them had at least once in their history been supportive of the federal system though they call others traitors for doing the same. JVP might be the first to suggest self-rule for minorities in its policy declaration which was first published in 1977 and still recognised by the party as its official policy document. Wimal Weerawansa and other NFF leaders who were also the members of the JVP had never criticised this policy.
The first government to suggest the removal of the term ‘unitary state’ from the Constitution was the one led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The proposals for Constitutional reforms prepared by that government in 1995 and popularly called ‘package’ described Sri Lanka as “a union of regions.” And interestingly, they were drafted by the then Constitutional Affairs Minister Professor G.L. Peiris, a bigwig of the joint opposition now, together with Dr. Neelan Thruchchelvam, a Constitutional expert and leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) then.
Again, the same government presented a new draft Constitution in August 2000 on the same basis of power devolution with a temporary amalgamation of the Northern and Eastern provinces. This draft too was prepared by Minister G.L. Peiris. Present leaders of the joint opposition including those of the MEP were to vote for that proposed Constitution.
The United National Party (UNP), the members of which set fire to the copies of the draft inside the parliament, agreed with the LTTE to explore a solution to the ethnic problem within the framework of federalism during their third round of peace talks in Norwegian Capital Oslo in November/December, 2002. Unlike the UNP, President Kumaratunga welcomed this agreement. It was again Professor G.L. Peiris who led the government’s team negotiating with the LTTE.
How can federalism then, be anathema to any political party or a leader of it?
Terrence McCoy-October 6, 2017
Committee set-up under the Constitutional Assembly presenting an Interim Report of his committee in the Parliament on September 21, the terminological war with special emphasis on nature of the state has again become the main subject discussed in the political arena and media.