President pressed to find suitable PM Political crisis continues

By Gagani Weerakoon-2018-02-18

The political crisis surrounding the Government stretched into its sixth day, yesterday, after the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna's sweep of the Local Government elections upended the country's governance on 10 February. As of last night, the Government was deadlocked with President Maithripala Sirisena looking for a replacement for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe while the latter was determined to continue in office.

As the crisis continues to deepen, it is posing a severe threat to the political and economic stability of the country. Currently, the two constituent parties in the Unity Government are both trying to find 113 Members of Parliament to support them to form their own Government. If an Opposition Group can cobble this number together, they can force Wickremesinghe to quit. If the PM can find the number he can stay.

Multiple political sources, who spoke to Ceylon Today, said that the issue will be settled latest by Tuesday.

In the past few days, three scenarios have emerged.

The first is for Wickremesinghe to garner another seven to eight MPs from other parties to reach the magic number of 113 and continue the Unity Government under his Premiership. The second is for Wickremesinghe to step down as Prime Minister and be replaced by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and form a Unity Government with the Tamil National Alliance led by Rajavirotham Sampanthan.

In that case the TNA, Ceylon Today reliably learns, will be accepting several Ministerial portfolios. The third is for the SLFP/UPFA alliance to form a Government under the leadership of Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva with backing from the Joint Opposition of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In that case, the JO will be recognised as the Official Opposition and an MP from that group – most probably Chamal Rajapaksa – will be made Speaker. The UNP and the UPFA were having discussions with various parties to get the majority in Parliament even by last evening.

Article 42(4) of the 19th Amendment states that the President shall appoint as Prime Minister the Member of Parliament, who, in the President's opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of Parliament .The President may also appoint a Deputy Prime Minister on the advice of the Prime Minister.

The UPFA, which has now received the support of the Joint Opposition, are to inform the Speaker that they have the majority (113 seats) in Parliament by tomorrow (19) or by Tuesday. Meanwhile, two groups of the UNP were attempting to strike a deal with President Sirisena last evening. President Sirisena was in Polonnaruwa yesterday attending the funeral of a close friend and will return to Colombo today.

The group of UNP deputy and State ministers, who are on a truce mission between the President and the UNP leadership, were hopeful that the Unity Government would continue with Wickremesinghe as PM. They however, said the powers of UNP Ministers will be reduced. "We asked the President to take over several ministries and keep them under his purview," they said.

At the same time, another group of UNPers were attempting to get the consent of Speaker Jayasuriya to be the Prime Minister and continue the Unity Government. However, Jayasuriya earlier declined the offer saying he would not do anything without the party's consent. The legal fraternity is also divided, as one party argues that the Prime Minister will have no choice but to step down if President demands the resignation of Cabinet of Ministers, as he has the power to appoint ministers.

Meanwhile, the other party argues that President has no power to oust the Prime Minister as per the provisions of the 19th Amendment, with the exception of him resigning or Parliament approving a no faith motion against him.

The folly of Ranil

Ranil Wickremesinghe

by Rajeewa Jayaweera-February 17, 2018, 6:11 pm 

The long-awaited local government elections are finally over. There were those who expected the JO to be the winner with UNP a close second and SLFP Maithri wing a distant third. Then there were those who expected the UNP to be the winner with JO a close second and SLFP Maithri wing a distant third. Few if any expected last Saturday’s outcome.

A visit to the Election’s Commissioner’s office to obtain final figures came to naught as they were still being finalized. Only Registered Electors was available. Votes polled by SLMC, EPDP, ACMC, ACTC, and CWC was obtained.

For comparison purposes, this writer has used 2015 Parliamentary results and latest 2018 LG results. A visit to the Election Commission by calculating results extracted from leading newspapers and hence may not be entirely accurate but will suffice for this opinion piece.

A currently prevailing school of thought is, 44.7% (4,941,952)polled by Mahinda Rajapaksa’s (MR) SLPP amounts to less than 47.6% (5,768,090) he polled in the Presidential election in January 2015. That theory has no merit as the Presidential contest was a two-horse race. Minorities voted en mass for his opponent Maithripala Sirisena (MR). In the same token, 13.4% (1,481,846) polled by President Sirisena (MS) amounts to less than 51.2% (6,217,162) he polled in January 2015. A more meaningful comparison is the results of the Parliamentary election in August 2015 which was not a two-horse race. Minorities voted for their minority parties, as was the case in the just concluded LG elections.

That said, LG elections are not comparable with Presidential or Parliamentary elections. It can only serve as a yardstick to measure the current level of acceptance of the government in place.

Minister Mangala Samaraweera termed the UNP electoral defeat as a "Timely wakeup call". That, however, is far from the truth. MS, SLFP (M wing), RW, UNP, Minister Samaraweera and the entire lot kept postponing LG elections for over two years as they considered their chances of a victory as poor. The result on February 10 was only a confirmation of that suspicion.

It is not this writer’s intention to waste valuable space on (MS). Since his entry into parliament in 1989, he has been a nondescript party faithful, contented being a shadow to successive party leaders. He is no visionary leader. However, he possessed characteristics RW and former President CBK (excluding Sobitha Thero) besides our foreign masters considered necessary for the common candidate. He was sufficiently malleable to be made to give up his Presidential powers substantially (19th amendment) and then take a back seat and leave the serious business of governance to the RW. MS was supposed to fade away at the end of his term.

Over 6.2 million voters voted for MS and five million for Mahinda Rajapakse (MR) in January 2015 giving MS a majority of just under 450,000 votes. Five million voters voted for UNGFF and 4.7 million for UPFA in August 2015 giving UNGFF a majority of 366,250 votes, thanks chiefly to some bizarre acts by UPFA leader MS who in fact worked against his party. That said, those who voted for MS in January 2015 and MS+RW Yahapalana group in August 2015 did so due to their desire to be rid of MR, his clan, and cronies for a plethora of reasons. Corruption and absence of the rule of law were high on the list of reasons. They placed their trust in MS, hitherto relatively untainted of bribery and dishonesty and RW, previously known as ‘Mr. Clean’.

Not since 1960 has a political party, leader or a coalition government managed to squander its mandate and political capital within 30 months or mid-point of its term of office. Prime Ministers Dudley Senanayake and Mrs. Bandaranaike, Presidents JR Jayewardene, CBK, and MR all took longer than half their terms of office to make voters feel the way they felt of the Yahapalana government on February 10.

Most if not all-important decisions in the Yahapalana administration are made by RW with MS asserting his authority but occasionally. Over the last thirty months, the government has repeatedly proved its inability to govern as well as manage the economy. Its dismal failure to deliver on some critical electoral promises is another factor.

A key promise, weeding out corruption was derailed due to the Bond scam and compounded by attempts of covering up, i.e., RW’s Pitipana Committee, Footnote group. An extension of service was recommended by RW for the Governor of Central Bank, who with his son in law was at the bottom of the Bond scam. Ministers found guilty of inappropriate conduct either resigned and returned to cabinet after a few months or else given positions within the administration. The National Audit Bill, expected to rectify financial corruption in the state sector is yet to see the light of day even after three years.

Another electoral promise was to prosecute wrongdoers of the Rajapaksa administration. Once again the government’s failure to deliver is hard to ignore. Other than the ‘Sil Redi’ case, little or no progress has been made in a string of corruption and murder cases. Supposedly uncomplicated cases against some Parliamentarians, stalwarts of the previous administration continue to remain in abeyance as with the murder case of Lasantha Wickramatunge and disappearance case of Pradeep Eknaligoda. The accusations against Rajapaksas of stashing away billions of dollars in foreign bank accounts have begun to lose merit, mainly due to the government’s No Action Talk Only policy.

The politically motivated Rs 10,000 pay increase to all government servants besides reduction in the price of fuel and a range of essential commodities during the Hundred Days Program lost its shine a long time ago. What bothers people now is the high cost of living, i.e., a coconut at Rs 100. The shortage of rice some time ago and the more recent shortages of fuel, fertilizer, etc., considered vital items is an indication of the government’s lackluster performance. It has also failed to hold accountable, those responsible for shortages.

Sri Lankan politicians prefer nepotism to best practices. MS favored his brother shortly after winning the presidential election. RW rammed through the appointment of his nominee for the post of Governor of Central Bank, disregarding objections even of some ministers. Yahapalana champions do not believe in advertising such vacancies and selecting the most suited candidate. They prefer friends and family. Despite RW’s panache for Singapore-style governance, he thinks nothing of micromanaging the national carrier by interfering in senior appointments and overturning Board decisions. Notwithstanding promises of good governance, the Police Commission functions as an appendage of the government. The IGP was issued instructions by a Minister, an RW protégé, to refrain from arresting a wrongdoer. The IGP responded with a servile "Yes Sir, yes Sir," did not make the arrest and the matter closed while the Police Commission did nothing.

Education continues its slide and is significantly lacking in the delivery of quality, especially in the periphery. 90% of the time is spent in administering national schools instead of focusing on policy and monitoring which should be the primary functions of the center. Parents and children suffer due to the lack of high-quality schools, teachers and an overloaded curriculum unsuitable for the country’s needs.

The GMOA continues its charade against a weak and ineffective government at the expense of the sick, especially the poor. It would not be incorrect to wonder how many such inconvenienced patients and family members would have voted with the SLPP last Saturday.

During the last three years, RW has surrounded himself with a group of octogenarian former administrators besides a few corrupt party members and clueless old schoolmates as his principal advisors, disregarding competent and capable persons found in the country.

The Hambantota Economic Zone project, a progressive initiative for which RW deserves credit is moving at snail’s pace.

The narrative briefly encapsulates the state of the nation under RW’s watch. From a political standpoint, RW’s performance has been abysmal. Having taken over the party leadership in 1994, he has been Prime Minister for approximately six years. The remaining 18 years has been as Leader of Opposition, possibly a world record. The UNP has suffered many electoral defeats under his leadership. In any self-respecting democracy, no party leaders would/would be permitted to remain party leader after one or at the most, two electoral defeats. Despite airs of a liberal democrat, RW presides over the UNP with an iron fist, supported by a working committee packed with loyalists, with little or no tolerance for dissent.

The need of the hour is not the future of the Yahapalana government.

What is critical is not if Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva or Speaker Karu Jayasuriya should be Prime Minister.

A new leader to take the UNP forward is the need of the hour.

And let him not be a septuagenarian either.

Failure to act now is bound to culminate in bringing back the horrors of pre-January 2009-2015 era in the not too distant future.

Beyond Party Politics, three crucial issues for Lanka

2018-02-17

Whatever the party political changes in the aftermath of the February 10 local council elections, Sri Lanka needs to focus attention on three crucial issues – poverty alleviation, the battle against global warming and a commitment to resolve crises through dialogue without resorting to war or violence.   

As part of the mission for poverty alleviation, President Maithripala Sirisena in 2016 launched a countrywide programme for Sri Lanka to produce our own nutritious food. We have hundreds of varieties of grains, vegetables and fruits which could be grown here at an affordable cost, instead of spending hundreds of millions of rupees on the import of junk food or fake milk. Unfortunately one of the worst ever droughts and regular floods at different times hampered this programme and Sri Lanka was even forced to import rice this year. Another problem is that unscrupulous traders are using various preservatives, some of which are toxic to preserve their stocks for a longer period. This problem also needs to be tackled effectively and stern action taken against those using toxic preservatives including Malathion.   

In addition to what the government is doing, most families could also cooperate with this mission by starting home gardens or developing what they have already started. This is one way to ensure that the vegetables and fruits we eat are non-toxic. For instance Murunga is known to be one of the most nourishing vegetables and could be grown easily for lots of Murunga to obtained within weeks.

Murunga Kola is also known to be nourishing. In ancient times when our people ate vegetables and fruits from the jungles and found some of them to be toxic, they used Karapincha, which has the effect of detoxifying the food items. Although most people now think Karapincha is only meant to add flavour to curries, it is a poison remover, most of the time we are forced to have meals with toxic vegetables or fruits, it will be helpful if we use more Karapincha. Starting or developing home gardens was proposed in the 1970’s but it was thrown into the garbage bin when the globalized capitalized market economic policies were swallowed wholesale in 1977. Now is the time to start home gardens again. It is the duty of responsible citizens who put the country first.   

As for the battle against global warming, we have repeatedly proposed that there are simple ways in which we could cooperate. Saving electricity and saving fresh water are two of the simple ways. We could switch off unnecessary light bulbs and reduce the use of other electrical appliances including electric irons which are known to consume a lot of electricity. Some eco-friendly citizens are known to have gone back to the old pol katu irons. It may be more difficult but it is certainly a good way to help in the battle against global warming.   

As for fresh water we need to train ourselves to open taps only halfway or less when washing our hands or utensils. This will save a lot of water. We could also cut down on the time we take for our shower baths. The water used to wash rice, vegetables and other food items could be used to water the plants instead of using fresh water for that purpose. Some enterprising citizens have also found ways of diverting shower water to the toilet cisterns or installing rain water harvesting equipment.

Thousands of years ago our great king Parakramabahu proposed that every drop of rain should be used instead of being allowed to go waste. For this purpose we built the Parakrama Samudraya, and more than 10,000 Wewas which are known to be marvels of ancient engineering. About a decade ago, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, when it was in the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga government outlined a plan to restore these wewas. But when the JVP quit the government in a dispute over the ethnic issue, the “wewa” restoration plan was also drowned.   

Along with these meassures, the government needs to give incentives to our experts to find renewable sources of energy. For instance, one hour of energy directly from the sun, is known to be sufficient to provide all the fuel the world needs for one year. With high technology at our disposal, Sri Lanka also needs to develop the use of solar energy, as part of the battle to prevent the world being destroyed by the catastrophic effects of climate change or global warming.   

Sirisena-backed putsch fails as Ranil rallies dissidents

17/02/2018

ECONOMYNEXT – A last ditch attempt by President Maithripala Sirisena to oust Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has failed due to a constitutional hurdle and more significantly the lack of parliamentary support, sources close to both sides said.

President Sirisena had agreed to continue working with Wickremesinghe, but had a sudden change of heart on Thursday after meeting with his United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) seniors.

The two general secretaries of the parties, ministers Mahinda Amaraweera and Susil Premajayantha told reporters that neither of them could work under Wickremesinghe and insisted that they would not be in a cabinet with him.

The duo raised Sirisena’s hopes of forming a SLFP/UPFA government with Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva as Prime Minister. Sirisena’s

dream of being the leader of an unadulterated UPFA/SLFP cabinet was reinforced by his nemesis Mahinda Rajapaksa pledging conditional support.

The charismatic former president controls at least 56 members of parliament out of the 96 elected under the UPFA ticket, but even together they do not have an absolute majority of 113 seats required to constitutionally topple Wickremesinghe.

A senior official close to Sirisena said the president had been misguided by a senior lawyer who had advised him that he had the power to sack Wickremesinghe the same way he unceremoniously dismissed D. M. Jayaratne in January 2015.

However, he was told that the President’s power to dismiss the Prime Minister was taken away by the 19th amendment to the constitution. Some have argued that the president could sack the entire cabinet and thus the PM too would lose his job, but there is no provision to under Articles 48 (as specified in the 19th amendment) to remove the cabinet in toto.

Aides have argued that Sirisena could have pressed ahead ignoring constitutional provisions if he had an absolute majority as in the case of Mahinda Rajapaksa who used his executive power and the huge parliamentary majority to impeach chief justice Shirani Bandarayanake in 2013 using highly questionable means. In less than three weeks into office, Sirisena’s administration in January 2015 overturned the impeachment of Bandaranayake using equally controversial means, but thanks to a steamroll majority in the House.

Realising both the legal impediments and the lack of a parliamentary majority, the once gung-ho UPFA ministers went silent over the weekend with their efforts at a constitutional putsch backfiring and raising questions about their tenure in the National Unity government.

UPFA general secretary and minister Amaraweera had told the president in writing that no SLFP/UPFA member, himself included, could be in a cabinet with Wickremesinghe, a sentiment articulated over national television by Premajayantha.

While President Sirisena cancelled his meeting with senior editors on Friday, Wickremesinghe hosted senior journalists to tea at Temple Trees after a no-holds-barred press conference where he categorically declared that he will remain but with changes in his party and the cabinet.

In sharp contrast to the president’s camp, Wickremesinghe was careful not to criticize the president or his SLFP ministers. When asked how he could have Messers Premajayantha and Amaraweera in a future cabinet, Wickremesinghe said: “It is coalition politics. We have to get used to it. It was a little difficult for everyone at the beginning, but not anymore.”

He said the president had told him that he was spending the weekend at his home constituency of Polonnaruwa and they would discuss the composition of the new cabinet in the coming week. He expected the process of finalizing a new cabinet of ministers to take over a week.

Parliament meets on Tuesday for the first time after the February 10 local government elections and should the UPFA and the SLFP have sufficient numbers to oust Wickremesinghe they have no impediment to submiting a no-trust resolution against the premier.

Despite UPFA attempts to push Nimal Siripala de Silva as a successor to Wickremesinghe, the somnolent transport minister made no public comments about accepting high office. Instead, he was attending temple ceremonies and offering poojas for good luck, a source close to him said.

Dissent within

Shortly after the local government election results showed that Wickremesinghe’s UNP had suffered a drubbing, the premier was under pressure from within the party to step down.

However, the final results were not as bad as initially feared and Wickremesinghe was slowly able to rally support and keep disgruntled elements under check. A party senior said he also earned sympathy from the rank and file after a private media channel went out on a limb to personally attack him.

“The media campaign against Ranil was an overkill and many people who saw the live coverage ended up feeling that he was unfairly targeted and began to rally behind him,” the source said.

Wickremesinghe himself told reporters on Friday that he accepted responsibility for the electoral humiliation and was carrying out a restructuring of the party. He said the leadership was in “transition without disruption” and wanted younger members to take a leading role.

He also admitted that the fallout from the bond scandal and his government’s failure to prosecute high profile members of the previous regime accused of corruption were key factors.

He said he had taken on board the powerful warning from the electorate and was on a course correction to swiftly deliver on electoral promises made three years ago to bring to justice those responsible for killings and corruption. (COLOMBO, February 16, 2018)

Maharāja’s Concubines – Killer At Play

MTV/Sirasa owner Raja Mahendran with Mahinda Rajapaksa

By Granville Perera –FEBRUARY 17, 2018

The just concluded local government has thrown electoral reforms in to a quagmire. The women’s quota seems unachievable and the loser takes most of it may prove to be the biggest hurdle in bringing stability to the local government entities. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s impressive win cannot be discounted, but it should not be forgotten that this was an election to local bodies only and not one that will change a regime. If the government needs to be changed every time a party loses an election, we would end up changing regimes every year.

Election time media prostitution reached its peak with certain media networks blatantly breaking election laws and campaigning against the incumbent government in these Local Government elections. One particular media network even went to the extent of openly calling on the general public to vote against the United National Party (UNP) in their news broadcasts. The loud-mouthed Chairperson of the elections commission Mahinda Deshapriya was a mere spectator to this blatant breach of election laws by a broadcast network that has been loaned broadcast frequencies to provide unbiased broadcasting. This particular network has even promoted some of their journalists and staff to take to politics and enter parliament to lobby and protect the commercial interests of its business empire. There are also many politically ambitious public servants and civil society activists who have been recruited and made pawns at the hands of this media Mudalali who is attempting to force the government to bow to his dictates with his power to influence public opinion and money to bribe. The absence of the white van has now reached a stage where the wild ass rules, especially the media prostitutes.The important independent commissions set up by the Yahapalanaya with much fanfare seems to be becoming impotent, especially the elections commission. Some of them including the constitutional council and police commission seem to be disastrous.

President Maithripala Sirisena’s attempt at targeting the United National Party (UNP) with stinger missiles loaded with the bond scam failed miserably. He as the head of the good governance government was screaming from platforms during the run up to the Local Government Elections that he would take action against the corrupt UNP, the party that made him President. This was given maximum publicity by a few media networks in the hope of shifting their votes to the Presidents SLFP. He probably expected the disgruntled floating voters to vote him, but they all voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Pohattuwa. An Aappa eating traitor will always be one, said a die-hard UNP stalwart.

It is often alleged that Killi Rajamahendran of the Capital Maharajah Network (Sirasa) has now for a decade tried to destroy the current Prime Minister and replace him with a Capital Maharajah lackey Sajith Premadasa. In their dangerous game of political character assassinations, this network has used many prominent politicians to its advantage. They include Milinda Moragoda, Sajith Premadasa, Ravi Karunanayake, Harsha De Silva, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Faizer Mustapha, Azath Salley to name a few. Some of them have been flushed after use like the proverbial toilet tissue. He also uses his Tamil channel to target Tamil and Muslim politicians, notably Rishad Bathiudeen who kicked the shit out of his favorite protégé, Sri Ranga of Minnel fame. Sometime back, video evidence was shared in social media showing how he was trying to target a particular politician during the recording of the Minnel programme. One of the technical staff had recorded it even though he was ordered to “cut” the cameras. No one dared to sue for misinformation and media bias fearing the wrath of the Maharaja. Shamelessly Sri Ranga continues the Minnel Programme as a wheeler-dealer journalist with the full backing of the killer Maharaja.

Ranjith Keerthi Tennakoon, the Executive Director of Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has been portraying himself as a warrior and defender of good governance, human rights and free and fair elections. He was an active member of late Venerable Sobitha Thero’s National Movement For Social Justice, which to a great extent orchestrated the regime change in 2015 by defeating the then incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Keerthi Tennakoon also heads the CaFFE, which has been playing an important role as an election monitor during many previous elections. 

The CaFFE website claims “Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) was established in April 2008 with an aim to conduct a sustained campaign to monitor and observe elections and to create a broad forum to address issues related to the failure of democratic norms in Sri Lanka. Today CaFFE is a people’s organization, which encompasses members of civil society, lobby community and religious groups, trade unions, members of political parties and opinion makers”

During this local government election and several months before, Keerthi has chosen to go on the offensive against the Yahapalanaya government, especially its main constituent party the United National Party through mainstream and social media. As the head of an independent elections monitoring institution that promotes good governance, human rights and free and fair elections, he seems to have over-stepped his official responsibilities and ethics to target a person of the incumbent government.

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Welikada Prison Riot Web of deception New eyewitness comes forward

BY Kavindya Chris Thomas and Ruwan Laknath Jayakody-2018-02-18

Ceylon Today tracked down another eyewitness to the Welikada Prison riot of 9 and 10 November 2012, which claimed the lives of 27 prisoners. This is the first time Sahan Hewadalugoda has spoken about what he saw and heard on those two days.

How and why were you incarcerated?

A: I was imprisoned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act as a political prisoner in 2007 together with fellow political prisoner W. Sudesh Nandimal Silva (another eyewitness to the riot and the first to publicly testify). We were arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division. I was eventually released after being cleared of all charges in 2014.

What happened on the day of the incident?

A: On the morning of 9 November 2012 we saw Security Forces deployed outside the Welikada Prison gates. We thought it was a routine inspection. However, in the evening, a battalion of armed Special Task Force (STF) Officers entered Prison and commenced a search operation in the L Ward, ignoring the protests of the Prison Guard at the gate. Eventually the Prison Officials allowed them to carry on because they were told they were there on orders from senior Defence Officials. We were in the Temple Ward and heard that several hundred STF Officers had stormed the Chapel Ward. We learned that they were searching for drugs and mobile phones.

Prisoners and Prison Officials protested as this is against Sri Lankan and International Law. Then the STF assaulted the inmates as well as Prison Officials who attempted to intervene. The inmates fought back as they outnumbered the STF. We also heard that the STF were armed with a Court order.

This is why we believe that many of the Prison Officials were previously aware of the incursion which was obviously planned. The fight between the inmates and the STF escalated and the prisoners were forced to the back of the Chapel Ward, the doors locked and tear gas fired at them. We could hear the shouts and the screams of those inmates and we rushed there. We were also assaulted by STF, along with those who were pleading with the troops to stop the attack.

The distraught prisoners took bricks that had been brought for building construction and began a violent reprisal. They had surpassed their breaking point and the violence was inevitable.

The ferocity of the counter-attack by the inmates forced the STF and several Prison Officials to retreat. The officials were showered with rocks, bricks and stones thrown from the roof of the Prison complex. The former Superintendent of the Welikada Prison and incumbent Commissioner of Prisons (Supply), J.A. Gamini Jayasinghe tried to calm down the situation. But it was already too late.

STF Officers who retreated, fired tear gas canons from outside, and were only met with jeers and hoots. The inmates, including myself, who were out in the open within the Prison premises, quickly went into our wards.

Jayasinghe spoke to us, promised justice and urged the prisoners to assist in bringing this situation under control. It was Silva and I who brought the inmates together to listen to him. Since he wanted to talk to the STF Officers who were still firing tear gas at the complex, we let him go. However, he didn't come back for a long time.

I had two phones with me at the time, even though it was against regulations. It was one of the many luxuries we had because we were on good terms with most of the Prison Officials including Jayasinghe. When Jayasinghe didn't come back, I called him from one of these phones. He answered saying he cannot stop the Security Officers' assault, as they are here with orders from 'higher authorities.'

Then matters got worse and the situation escalated into a full-scale riot. A group of inmates broke into the Prison Armoury while another climbed the roof. Inmates grabbed weapons but they did not have the ammunition and that is why, although they had T56 Guns and Rifles, not a single weapon was fired that day.

By 6:00 p.m. the tear gas attack stopped and was replaced by the firing of weapons. By then, all the inmates were tired. We could have held the Prison for at least two days, but we were all very hungry and thirsty. This was also when some of the injured inmates were being escorted outside in a three-wheeler. They were not trying to escape but they were shot at nevertheless. By 8:00 p.m., the prisoners started shooting blanks into the air with the weapons they had acquired. Other prisoners broke into the Prison dispensary and helped themselves to the various drugs stored there. Others had started getting high on the narcotics that had been smuggled in.

Using the mobile phones, we notified the media, and others outside, of what was going on inside. I called Jayasinghe and told him that we were fed up and we wanted this to end. Our only demand was that the Security Forces do not enter the compound again. Jayasinghe told us to collect the weapons and hand them over to Chief Jailor, P.K.W. Kudabandara. He agreed to our conditions and said that he will inform the authorities outside. Since we had reached a decision, Silva, E. Thushara Chandana a.k.a. Kalu Thushara (Remand 4230) and I went outside the wards to collect the weapons that had been obtained from the armoury.

How many weapons were taken out of the armoury? Did you find them all?

A: I don't know how many weapons were stolen but we recovered almost all of them – some from the ground and others from the inmates – and handed them over to the Chief Jailor. When I called Jayasinghe to say that the weapons had been collected and were kept safe, he said that the STF wouldn't allow the Prison Officials in and warned us to return to our wards because the military was planning to storm the premises at midnight. Just before mid-night another barrage of bullets was fired into the Prison by the security forces demanding that the prisoners hand over any remaining weapons. However, by this time the prisoners did not have any weapons in their possession as they had handed everything over. When the military and the STF barged into the Prison, Kudabandara tried to safeguard the inmates but it didn't work.

What did the military and the STF do?

A: Once the inmates surrendered and the shooting stopped, the Prison Officials who ran in during the initial stages, Jayasinghe and several plain clothed officers entered the Prison and called out names of certain prisoners and gathered them one by one.

The officers who entered first asked the remaining Prison Officers to kneel down. All seven of them amidst protests followed the military orders. They were ragged (ordered to jump up and down, kneel and crawl on their bellies). And then they were instructed to find several inmates. They called out certain names and the Prison Officials pointed them out. First they looked for former Basnayake Nilame of the Vapikaramaya Temple in Galgamuwa in the Kurunegala District, Pathirage Harsha Manjushri Manikeerthi Perera a.k.a. Manjushri (R 662), who was incarcerated for his alleged involvement in the murder of two Buddhist monks at the Kotte Rajamaha Viharaya with a sword. We heard him being assaulted and dragged outside by the plain clothed officers. Earlier we were told that he was going to confess to his act, that the crime he was alleged to have committed was a political contract that went wrong. His body was found later that day. There were many such inmates whose names were read out of a list and were taken out.

We didn't see them being shot but we saw our Prison Officials witnessing the incident and we heard the gunshots.

Security personnel demanded to be shown where Kalu Thushara was hiding, at the time, he was under the desk that Silva and I were sitting on, but no one gave him up. We were sharing a cigarette when this Police Narcotics Bureau Officer called Rangajeewa came looking for Thushara (Attempts by Ceylon Today to obtain a contact number for Rangajeewa were unsuccessful).

And it was another Prison Official who saw him under the desk and dragged him out. Rangajeewa didn't recognize him at first until the Officer pointed him out. Thushara was kicked several times and dragged outside. He was begging not to be killed. We heard him crying and pleading for his life and for his child. His body was found shot and killed outside later that day.

Can you identify any of the Officers who were present that day?

A: Rangajeewa was present. We believe that he had a personal vendetta against the inmates on this 'kill list.' Most of the inmates had filed fundamental rights cases and petitions against him, prior to their killing.

I saw former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Anura Senanayake that day. He was the one who dropped weapons – weapons that were returned to the armoury – near the bodies of the 27 dead inmates in the early hours of 10 November 2012. We heard him ordering: "Hema ekatama weapons daanna (put a weapons near everybody)." (Silva has confirmed this story. However, when contacted by Ceylon Today, Senanayake was not available for a comment.)

Prison Officials and some of the Jailors who witnessed these murders have the responsibility of coming clean with the truth. But they are silent, as they are occupying higher places now, having climbed to the top of the Governmental hierarchy. I remember that on 10 November, many of the Prison Officials left the Prison in a hurry once everything ended. They told us that they had been summoned to the Defence Ministry for an urgent meeting. We could only guess what happened during that meeting because none of these individuals are prepared to speak the truth today.

What do you think is the ulterior motive behind this incident?

A: The primary goal of the incident, as we learned, was to kill Manjushri. He had told all of us what had happened and as to who had given him the contract. He was going to confess that he was politically contracted for this job by politicians and when it went wrong, he was taken out in the most extreme way possible.

Then there were the others in the kill list. Rangajeewa wanted to remove all the Court cases against him.

We believe that there was an attempt to take over the narcotics business from criminal gangs by someone powerful in political circles. Therefore, this was the best way to get rid of those who could not be controlled by the then hierarchy.

Therefore, this entire Welikada incident has layers and layers of agendas and motives overlapping each other. This whole operation was to kill two birds with one stone.

Why have you not come forward with this evidence?

A: When the Criminal Investigation Department initially took statements from me and all the other inmates, we were forced to say what the officials wanted.

When the new Government commenced its fresh inquiry in 2015, I tried to give evidence before the new Committee (the Committee of Inquiry into the Prison Incident 2012/C.I.P.I.). But a Prison Official called Madushanka who I believe had been tortured by certain military officers for leaking photographs to the media of the deceased prior to having had weapons being placed on their persons, gave false information about me to a popular radio programme, in an attempt at a cover-up and to deflect the blame. I was branded as a Sinhala Kotiya (Sinhalese sympathetic to the cause of the Tamil Tiger rebels) once again in that radio programme. I filed a Police complaint but nothing happened. Because of that, I didn't bother testifying before the Committee.

To be honest, I knew my testimony would be abused and manipulated to the advantage of a political agenda. It will be diluted beyond recognition and I will be yet another joker under unintentional servitude of the Government in power. I didn't want that to happen. However, if a just Court case into the Welikada incident is ever heard I will come there and give my testimony.

Gaza in a vice

Palestinians wait for permission to cross into Egypt at Gaza’s southern border after it was exceptionally opened on 8 February.

 Mohammed DahmanAPA images

Omar Karmi The Electronic Intifada 13 February 2018

They say there is no color darker than black.

It is a Persian proverb that applies well to Palestinians’ current situation.

A US decision to cut funding for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency, the body that caters to Palestinian refugees who in Gaza number 1.3 million or some two-thirds of the population, could push the situation there over the brink.

One million Palestinians in Gaza depend on UNRWA for food and other basic aid, while 300,000 study in UNRWA schools. The decision will unavoidably exacerbate an already desperate situation. Unemployment tops 46 percent, with more than 60 percent of those in the 15-29 age group going without work. With precious little progress in rebuilding Gaza’s devastated infrastructure or homes destroyed in three destructive Israeli offensives since 2008, an easing of the blockade is the only slim hope to avoid a full-blown humanitarian crisis that has long been forewarned.

That hasn’t happened and does not appear to be on the horizon. Despite Hamas transferring control of crossings in and out of Gaza to Palestinian Authority security forces, there has been no change in the amount of people allowed through to Israel or Egypt. Indeed, ongoing, and largely fruitless, reconciliation talks between Hamas and the West Bank PA have had little discernible effect in general. In early January, the PA did relent on the punitive sanctions it imposed on Gaza last April, agreeing to pay Israel for electricity supplied to Gaza, but there are still 16-hour daily power outages.

Nowhere to turn

Compounding the problem, the party mediating reconciliation talks, Egypt, is relying on the Israeli military to fight an insurgency in the Sinai that conflagrated from low-level violence when Abdulfattah al-Sisi ousted Egypt’s first and only democratically elected president in a 2013 military coup.

With such dependency, Cairo’s ability to be an honest broker between the Palestinian factions is highly questionable, not least since Egypt appears more keen to curry favor with the White House than supporting Palestinians in Gaza or anywhere else.

But where do you turn when you’ve got no room to move? In Gaza, Palestinians are surrounded by Egypt and Israel, in collusion. In the West Bank, the European Union proves time and again to be ineffectual, Jordan has little to offer and the US has declared its hand unequivocally for Israel.

Further afield, a Saudi crown prince plots war with Iran that demands US and Israeli support and unquestioned loyalty from other Arab states in a slow-motion car crash of self-fulfilling Sunni-Shia conflict prophecy. Palestinians are told to stand aside as the big boys flex their muscles.

Clarity

The Trump proclamation on Jerusalem has laid bare all these fault lines. By unilaterally and illegally giving Jerusalem to Israel, Washington has clearly told Arab countries what price US support comes at and demanded unconditional surrender from Palestinians.

To underline the point, the US decided to withdraw funding from UNRWA and the most destitute Palestinians, rather than the PA and its security forces, which continues its security coordination with Israel. Do what Israel wants, is the message, and we will continue to allow you some funding.

A similar message has been relayed to Hamas in Gaza, though more brutal. Whatever you do, whatever powers you give up, goes this message, it’s not enough.

Hamas has given over control of crossings and administrative duties to the PA to no avail. There is little armed resistance left in Gaza, whatever the movement’s rhetoric: bar a flurry of rockets after Trump made his Jerusalem announcement in early December, there has been nothing for Israel to worry about all of last year.

What the situation does offer is clarity: The US has given up on even a pretend peace process. And simply waiting for Trump to go away will not do: Israel has in effect been given a green light to take what it wants now, and it is considering its options.

Arab countries, meanwhile, may step in to avoid absolute catastrophe, but only at the last minute and only with the green light from Israel. Politically, there is neither the will nor the drive to help Palestinians achieve any of their minimal claims.

Palestinians are on their own.

There is a flipside to that Persian saying. When things can’t get any worse, you are freed from the worry that what you do will have negative consequences.

Time to make a virtue of weakness and tear up the script.

Decades-long battle continues, as Susiya braces for more Israeli demolitions

The latest demolition order has been handed down to the residents of Susiya, who have been embroiled in legal battles for decades

Jihad Nawajaa, head of Susiya’s village council, has urged the international community to prevent the demolition of the homes in his village (MEE/Yumna Patel)

Yumna Patel-Friday 16 February 2018 14:54 UTC

SUSIYA, Occupied West Bank - For the Palestinian villagers of Susiya, a small herding community of around 350 people tucked into the south Hebron hills, daily existence is marred by the unsettling reality that, at any moment, their entire livelihood might be bulldozed to the ground.

"Every day we wait; we wait for the Israeli bulldozers to come," Jihad Nawajaa, 49, the head of the local village council, told Middle East Eye as he sat outside a tent in the centre of the village, which is composed of dozens of tents and agriculture structures sprawled across an area of around 500 dunums (50 hectares). 

"Can you imagine the psychological effects this has on the people, on the children, who are always wondering when the next demolition order or settler attack will come?"

The latest demolition order to be handed down to the residents of Susiya, who have been embroiled in legal battles with the Israeli state for decades, came on 1 February, when the Israeli High Court gave the government a green light to move forward with the demolition of seven structures housing 42 people, half of them children.

The move came despite widespread condemnation from British MPs and international activists. The latter maintain an almost constant presence in the village to assist villagers in the event of attacks from Israeli settlers or forces.

A Palestinian girl stands amid the tents in her village of Susiya, overlooking the illegal settlement that shares the same name, built on the village’s lands in 1983 (MEE/Akram al-Wara)

"This decision could not have come at a worse time," Nawajaa said, pointing out that the geography of Susiya makes the village prone to strong winds and harsh conditions all year round but particularly in the winter time, when temperatures frequently drop below zero.

"More than 40 people, most of them children, will be made homeless in the freezing winter rain and wind," Nawajaa said. "We cannot let this happen."

Read more ►

How Israel is 'cleansing' Palestinians from Greater Jerusalem

Now Nawajaa, along with the rest of the village council, has put out a call to international activists for emergency action in what they are calling a "last-ditch effort" to save their homes.

In a statement released earlier this week, the village council insisted that demolishing Susiya would be a war crime, and quoted British Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, who said in a recent speech to Parliament: "This is not an issue of Arab, Muslim or Jewish people. It is about upholding our basic values of justice and human rights, and it is about holding to account those states, governments and duty bearers that violate those principles and laws."

Decades of demolitions and threats of displacement

While the looming threat of demolition has grown stronger in recent weeks, the story of Susiya and the people's fight for their land dates back more than 30 years.  

According to Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem, the village of Susiya can be found on maps dating back to 1917, decades before the state of Israel was created in 1948.

The original land of Susiya spanned about 300 hectares and belonged to some 26 families living in caves.

In 1986, the Palestinians of Susiya were expelled from their homes to nearby lands, after Israel designated the area an archaeological site, following the discovery of ruins of an ancient Jewish synagogue.

Responsibility for the site was turned over to the Jewish settlers from the nearby illegal "Sussiya" settlement, which was built on the village’s lands in 1983. All settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal under international law.

In 2001, the Israeli army, with the help of settlers, destroyed the entire village after Palestinians (not from Susiya) killed an Israeli settler from the neighbouring settlement.

The original village of Susiya, now an Israeli archaeological site, is managed by the Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement (MEE/Akram al-Wara)

By the time the residents rebuilt their village on the area they live on today - situated between the settlement of Sussiya and the archaeological site - Israel had designated the land as Area C, leading Israel to deem it an "illegal encampment". Area C is the more than 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli security and civilian control, as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

The residents have tried on numerous occasions to get building permission from Israel's Civil Administration, but like most of those from Palestinians living in Area C their requests were denied.

In 2012, the villagers commissioned a master plan in the hope of creating a more stable living environment, only to have that plan rejected as well.

Can you imagine the psychological effects this has on the people, on the children? Who are always wondering when the next demolition order or settler attack will come

- Jihad Nawajaa, head of Susiya village council

Since then, all new construction of houses and vital water and electric infrastructure, as well as essential repairs to the fragile tents the villagers use as homes, has been banned.

"We have not built anything new on the land since then," Nawajaa told MEE, insisting though that, even so, it is their land and they should have the right to build on it.

"All that has happened is we changed the covers of our tents occasionally over the years because of the wear and tear from the harsh climate, Nawajaa said.

"When some of the people changed the covers of their tents, they changed the colours from black to white because that was what was available to us. After this, the Israeli authorities came and said we had built new houses."

Including the seven homes under imminent threat, Israel has plans to destroy some 20 houses, equivalent to one-fifth of the entire village.

According to Nawajaa, in the next six months the court can decide at any moment, like it did earlier this month, to move forward with the rest of the demolitions.

'We are not alone in this fight'

Azzam Nawajaa, also known as Abu Murad, 56, was one of those informed that his home will be destroyed this month. He lives in a small tent, set up before 2012, with his family of six.

Abu Murad, like most of the Palestinians in Susiya, admits that life in the village under Israeli occupation is not easy.

"Here in Susiya, we suffer under the constant threats of the Israeli occupation," Abu Murad told MEE, "but we are not alone in this fight." He  highlighted the cases of several Palestinian villages throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, such as Khan al-Ahmar, Abu Nuwwar, Silwan, and many others that are also under threat of demolition by the Israeli state.

Azzam Nawajaa (Abu Murad) stands in front of his family’s home, which has been ordered by the Israeli High Court to be demolished, along with six other homes in Susiya (MEE/Yumna Patel)

As with the Palestinian Bedouin community in Khan al-Ahmar, which Israel has attempted to forcibly transfer to other Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank, Israel has told the Palestinians of Susiya to move to lands in the nearby town of Yatta.

"They have tried to present this to us as a generous offer, but it is not even their land to give to us," Abu Murad said, pointing out that the land in question in Yatta already belongs to Palestinians from that town.

"Our rights to this land are not only written in the centuries-old deeds that we have proving our ownership of the land, but they are also enshrined in international law," he said. "Yet Israel continues to ignore these laws for the sake of expanding their illegal settlements."

How do you think we feel? When the people that are trying to kick us off our land come and ask if we are happy. Do they think we are happy that they will destroy our homes?

- Abu Murad, resident

Earlier that morning, Israeli authorities had come to take pictures of Abu Murad's home and the six other homes set to be demolished later in February.

"They came to taunt us, asking us 'How are you doing? Are you happy?'," Abu Murad said.

"How do you think we feel? When the people that are trying to kick us off our land come and ask if we are happy. Do they think we are happy that they will destroy our homes?"

When asked what his family's plan is in the event that they do lose their home, Abu Murad chuckled, and sat back in his chair.

"For 30 years, we have been moved around from place to place. First they came for my village, now, they have come for my house. Do you think, after all these years, I will let them destroy my house and give up my rights?" he asked.

"The answer is no, there is no alternative plan or option, because I will stay here on my land no matter what."