“I am gravely concerned that such a large number of people have been killed, and that the Government reaction has been to assure the public that none of these individuals were ‘innocent’ but that mistakes can occur in an anti-narcotics drive”
( June 6, 2018, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday condemned the alleged extra-judicial killings of suspected drug offenders in Bangladesh and urged the authorities to ensure that these serious human rights violations are immediately halted and perpetrators brought to justice.
Some 130 people have reportedly been shot dead by security forces across Bangladesh in the three weeks since 15 May and another 13,000 arrested. The killings began after the Government announced a “zero tolerance” policy to confront the growing consumption of drugs in the country, particularly the spread of methamphetamine.
“I am gravely concerned that such a large number of people have been killed, and that the Government reaction has been to assure the public that none of these individuals were ‘innocent’ but that mistakes can occur in an anti-narcotics drive,” High Commissioner Zeid said.
“Such statements are dangerous and indicative of a total disregard for the rule of law. Every person has the right to life. People do not lose their human rights because they use or sell drugs. The presumption of innocence and the right to due process must be at the forefront of any efforts to tackle crimes.”
“Given the large number of people arrested, there is a high likelihood that many people may have been arbitrarily detained, without due regard for their rights,” he added.
The High Commissioner called on the Government of Bangladesh to investigate the reports of extrajudicial killings, and stressed that there must not be impunity for human rights violations in the name of drug control. He was encouraged by assurances provided by Bangladesh’s Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs at a meeting in Geneva last week that investigations would take place and those found to be responsible for crimes would be held accountable. He urged the Government to follow through on this commitment, stressing that the investigations will need to be independent, impartial, transparent and effective.
Zeid also expressed concern that already vulnerable communities living in slums were particularly being targeted and had been subjected to numerous raids. The crackdown has reportedly also seriously hampered the ability of people who use drugs to access health services, as they fear that they will be arrested or even killed if they seek treatment at Drop-In Centres.
“There is no doubt that the trafficking and sale of illegal narcotics leads to tremendous suffering for individuals and entire communities, but extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and the stigmatization of people who use drugs cannot be the answer,” the High Commissioner said.
“I urge the authorities to adopt a national drug policy that is compliant with Bangladesh’s obligations under international human rights law and international narcotics conventions, ensuring full respect for the right to health of people who use drugs.”*
During its Universal Period Review before the UN Human Rights Council on 14 May, Bangladesh undertook to investigate reports of extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests and other serious violations. The developments since that date, with increasing reports of such human rights violations, are deeply worrying.
“Bangladesh deserves to be commended for its tremendous support for Rohingya refugees, setting an example for the world,” Zeid said. “I urge the Government to build on this respect for human rights in other areas, including in its fight against drug-related crimes.”
From crime to health to business, Canada’s decision to legalize marijuana is a grand progressive experiment that promises to answer a host of questions Marijuana legalization could affect Canada’s crime patterns, health and countless other factors. Photograph: Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Selena Ross in Montreal-
When Canopy Growth opened its first cannabis factory in an old chocolate plant near Ottawa four years ago, it did so predicting a bright future. Canadahad already legalized medical marijuana, and Canopy predicted full legalization for recreational use to be next.
What the company hadn’t predicted, however, was the sudden flood of foreign visitors. Politicians and police authorities from Jamaica, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece and Australia have all come knocking, as well as doctors from New Zealand, Brazil and Chile, along with groups of corporate investors and bankers – so many that Canopy now sometimes splits up the groups according to their birthdays.
“We knew we’d have to give a lot of tours, so we just cut a window into the wall,” said the company spokesman, Jordan Sinclair. “We put windows in all of the doors.”
Each country around the world that has debated whether to relax cannabis laws has had its own priority in mind: from generating revenue to discouraging drug cartels. In Canada, the emphasis has been largely on public health. Cannabis will be sold in fairly plain packaging, and usually through government-run boards that already control liquor sales.
“It won’t be like buying Budweiser or branded alcoholic products,” said Steve Rolles of Transform, a UK drug policy thinktank. “It’s going to be more like buying pharmaceuticals from a chemist.”
Still, it’s hard to know whether Canada, or any similar western country, will be able to stick to that public-health focus, he said.
“We have concerns … that the lessons from alcohol and tobacco wouldn’t be learned, and we might see overcommercialized markets in which profit-making entities would seek to encourage more use and could encourage risky consumption behaviours,” he said.
So far, Canada has allowed a few major players to dominate the industry, and their influence remains to be seen, said US marijuana industry expert Mark Kleiman.
“You don’t want to build up big vested interests that then resist any change,” he said. “If you have commercial industry in cannabis, they’re going to end up writing the laws.”
For epidemiologists, Canada will provide the best-ever data sets on cannabis use.
Colorado’s health results have been encouraging, said Wolk. But overall, researchers lack solid data about cannabis use. Some key questions include addiction levels, how cannabis affects mental health, and effects on young people, said Israeli scientist Raphael Mechoulam, often called the “grandfather” of cannabis research.
“About 10% of the users may be addicted – less than alcohol or tobacco,” he said. “Some users, who are already prone to schizophrenia, may get the disease earlier.” He said he is also keeping an eye on whether heavy use by young people may affect their central nervous system.
Another current Canadian health debate is how many people will be light, casual cannabis users, and how many will be heavy users.
The government still must decide how to approach products that are “very potent” in THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, said Mark Ware, a drug researcher and pain specialist who helped lead Canada’s federal taskforce advising the new legislation. Black-market sellers have produced increasingly strong concentrates, he said.
“Those have not been the subject of studies up until recently, so the question of whether to regulate those, allow them in whatever context, and then be able to study their impacts on health, that would be very important,” he said. But “once they’re out there, it’s very hard to put them back in the box again”.
Canadian police, meanwhile, will grapple with how to crack down on cannabis-impaired driving. That’s already a struggle around the world, regardless of marijuana’s legality, said Rolles. But it’s much more difficult to measure impairment from cannabis than from alcohol, and enforcing a legal limit will prove tricky.
Meanwhile, many investors have already made huge profits from cannabis stocks, and a big question for them is whether the bubble bursts – or the value keeps rising.
“They’re waiting to see if the sky’s going to fall,” said Sinclair of Canopy. One of about 100 Canadian legal producers of medical cannabis, the company owns a third of the medical market, began trading on the Toronto stock exchange in 2016 and last month became the only cannabis producer on the New York stock exchange.
“[Investors] are waiting to see if all the stigma and all the demonization of this product that’s built up in 90 years of prohibition is true,” Sinclair said. “It’s on us to demonstrate that it’s not.”
Australian authorities have linked 24 hepatitis A cases to a frozen pomegranate product
6 June 2018
An Australian woman has died after contracting hepatitis A from a packet of frozen pomegranate.
The 64-year-old died in South Australia last week in a "rare and tragic" case, state health authorities said.
Local officials issued a warning about the Australian-owned Creative Gourmet product in April. It has been linked to 24 cases of hepatitis A nationally.
Australians have been urged to check their freezers and discard packets of the frozen fruit.
About 2,000 packets of the Egyptian-grown pomegranate arils were sold. Fresh pomegranate and locally grown products were not affected, authorities said.
"The woman's death is the only death linked to this recalled product nationally to date," South Australia chief medical officer Prof Paddy Phillips said.
Most other people affected had made a full recovery and no further cases were expected, he said.
Hepatitis A, which attacks the liver, is usually spread through faecal matter, transmitted through sex or by touching contaminated food or objects.
Throughout Europe, racialist groups have used the war on terror to create new racist mono-cultural political platforms. With the collapse of the Soviet bloc in the nineties, uncertainty reigned for some time as free markets expanded and some aspects of bourgeois democratic institutions were established. A neo-liberal social development model started expanding horizontally sweeping through Central and Eastern Europe and was accompanied by structural reforms of economic liberalisation and globalisation.
A quarter century later, right wing populist currents gained ground in Hungary and Poland and then spread into France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In the past decade, new right-wing movements have developed into coalitions between Neo-Nazis and the free-market advocates. In a way, this has brought a superficial normalcy to the right wing fascist ideologies in some parts of Europe and they have even gained more electoral grounds. In countries like Poland and Hungary, such right-wing forces are in power. They used national security as a political platform for introducing racism and introduced systemic intolerance by restructuring education, immigration, and the judiciary.
In Italy, a populist anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) that contested the March 2018 Parliamentary elections under the slogan “Participate, Choose, Change” and a regionalist populist League that contested under the slogan “Italians First” formed an alliance this month to form government. The election environment also focused on the apparently irreversible decline of economy, persistent high unemployment and corruption.1 The campaign of M5S was focussed on anti-corruption and a proposed Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all. The League was an anti-immigrant and anti-EU party like the National Front in France or United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in Britain. It was formerly a separatist party that campaigned for autonomy of Padania, the richer northern parts of Italy.
In many instances, Islamic terror attacks and threats have been used to bolster surveillance and deportation with the tightening of search, arrest, detention and judicial oversight and restraints on ‘suspects’. Young people of colour are increasingly subjected to surveillance and are put on suspect lists and vilified. Immigrants and asylum seekers are threatened and deported even for minor offences. Non-white immigration appears to have been made into a deportable package with their human and democratic rights as citizens being scrapped. Some of the migrants, who do not fall within the scope of the dominant ethnicity or the reigning political ideology, and depending on their race, class, religion, immigration status, pre-internments and political beliefs, have no guarantees of their fundamental rights as citizens.
The right-wing political network advocates border protection, national purity and religious intolerance whatever the cost to life and social cohesion is. Internationally funded human right defenders are demonised as foreign agents; feminists and pro-immigration advocates are censored; offices of political parties, unions and other groups that are critical of the existing regimes are raided and their property detained; civilians and asylum seekers fleeing civil wars and persecution have their freedom of movement curtailed and held under conditions similar to rendition in overseas detention centres. Border protection through patrolled trenches, barbed wire fences and parapets and returning of boats have become the norm in many countries, especially in the west.
New right-wing groups such as neo-fascists openly advocate monoculturalism and hate crimes and maintain odious social media pages, take part in elections, hijack public space and maintain links with vigilante groups. Some patrol their suburbs, threaten business activities of immigrants, harass women wearing hijabs and pick fights at rallies. For example, in Greece, members of Golden Dawn attacked immigrant street market vendors. In Hungary and Bulgaria vigilante border guards target migrants. In others, they openly threaten Jewish communities.
Many extreme right-wing parties and far right groups such as the Front National (FN) of France, the Alleanza Nationale (AN) of Italy, the British National Party (BNP) of the United Kingdom, and the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) of Austria operate within the countries of the European Union. In France, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the previous leader of the Front National (FN) once said, “1 million unemployed - this means 1 million foreigners too many.”2 Currently her grouping - European Union wide called the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) is engaged in a continent wide anti-immigration campaign supported by many far-right leaders of Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Italy.3 This group hopes to win a majority of seats in the European Parliament during the European Parliamentary elections to be held in May 2019.
The far right shares many ideological beliefs with fascism. They believe the issue affecting their nations is immigration with immigrants taking up their jobs. Despite there being no evidence to support their harmful contentions4, they want to advance their nationalist agenda by getting rid of immigration except for some.5 Many of them believe that immigrants commit crimes against them and that immigrants misappropriate welfare benefits that should flow to citizens of their countries. They allege immigrants destroy their national cultures by protecting their own customs and traditions. They want immigrants to adopt the customs and traditions of their host countries. They believe by getting rid of the immigrants, they can stop the ‘cultural erosion’ of the respective nation states.6
Such tensions have given rise to national resentment, which enables the rise of fascism. The national resentment directed towards immigrants appear to be caused by a combination of indignation and fear of the future. However, this national resentment by itself is not a sufficient condition to engender fascism. When these circumstances blend with a weak, democracy, it becomes the perfect political breeding ground for fascism to raise its ugly head.
Far Right in Australia
In Australia, the left is considered to have collapsed in 1975 with the toppling of Labour government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Since then the Australian Labour Party began pursuing economic rationalism with a social democratic façade. However, the right-wing neo-liberal, conservative racialist ideologues continue to foreshadow possible threats from the “far-left” when one talks about the rising cost of living, static wages, crimes and inhumane treatment against asylum seekers. The dominant media and conservative groups continue to launch tirades against a non-existing “far left”. So, when someone is talking about looking after the other compassionately rather than focusing on showering the millionaires at the expense of the poor, that person is branded as a leftie.
Australia’s far-right groups have steadfastly carried out propaganda campaigns of vilification and demonisation of communities such as Jews, LGBTIQ people, Muslims and non-European immigrants, particularly Asians and Africans.7 Some far right anti-Islamic individuals and groups have united with the rallying cry against Islamist terrorism, Muslim immigration and the “Islamisation of Australia”. These groups with diverse objectives based on race and culture have coalesced into online movements and militant localised streams. They can be broadly categorised into three main streams: civic patriots, nationalists and racialists.
(To be continued.)
Footnotes
1 Henley J. 4 March 2018, Italy’s election: who will win and why does it matter?, The Guardian, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/07/italys-election-everything-you-need-to-know
2 Nossiter A 5 October 2015, For Marine Le Pen, Migration Is a Ready-Made Issue, The New York Times: Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/world/europe/for-marine-le-pen-migration-is-a-ready-made-issue.html
3 Stone J 1 May 2018, France’s Marine Le Pen hosts Europe’s far-right leaders to launch anti-immigration campaign, Independent: Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-far-right-france-front-national-geert-wilders-pvv-salvini-lega-a8331396.html
4 Wahlquist C 15 February 2016, Australian population to hit 24 million as migration from overseas drives growth, The Guardian: Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/15/australian-population-to-hit-24-million-as-overseas-migration-drives-growth; and Australian Bureau of Statistics 27 July 2017, Migrants’ total income $84 billion in 2013-14; In 3418.0 - Personal Income of Migrants, Australia, 2013-14: Available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/3418.0Media%20Release12013-14
5 Bolt A 9 April 2018, Picking The Wrong Refugees, Herald Sun: Available at: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/picking-the-wrong-refugees/news-story/74891f8b815bb1191eff519e7ba95a28
6 Kern S 1 January 2018, The Islamization of Britain in 2017 - “I think we are heading towards disaster.”, Gatestone Institute: Available at: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11648/britain-islamization-2017
7 Garton S 2015, Demobilization and Empire: Empire Nationalism and Soldier Citizenship in Australia After the First World War – in Dominion Context, In Journal of Contemporary History, 50, 1.
India’s strategic concerns laced with desire to help Sri Lanka amicably resolve the Tamil issue culminated in the signing of the India –Sri Lanka Agreement 1987. It reflected the holistic Indian approach to building strong bonds between the two countries because it halted the Tamil separatist insurgency, while underwriting Sri Lanka unity.
by Col R Hariharan-
[This is an edited compilation of answers to questions raised by an Indian research scholar on India’s relations with its smaller neighbours.]
( June 5, 2018, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Q: What are the misconceptions about India in South Asia, when it comes to security related issues as a threat to State Sovereignty? Why do these perceptions exist? And how can India move past these misperceptions?
India’s cultural, religious, ethnic and linguistic soft power dominates the entire South Asian region from Afghanistan on the West to Myanmar on the East and from Nepal in the North to Sri Lanka in the South. Its shared historical, political and commercial links spread over two thousand years overwhelms India’s smaller neighbours.
With India clocking over 7 percent growth and emerging as the fastest developing economy in the world, next only to China, its increasing military power and advances in science and technology makes it a dominant power not only in South Asia, but also in the Indian Ocean Region. At times India’s overbearing conduct in dealing with smaller neighbours, due to its domestic political compulsions or in its own strategic interest, has created the image of acting like a “Big brother” among smaller countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. So smaller neighbours of India are wary of Indian domination subsuming their own identity.
India’s military interventions that led to the creation of Bangladesh (1971) and to ensure ethnic peace in Sri Lanka (1987-90) have shown that India was capable of using its military power to achieve its strategic objectives. This has created latent feeling of insecurity among sections of society, who are wary of their own distinct identity, religion, culture and economy from being overwhelmed by India. Political parties in these countries have exploited the anti-India sections among the population to their own advantage; governments in these countries have also leveraged it to gain maximum advantage while dealing with India.
With China making inroads in South Asia, latent anti-India feelings are exploited by China to further its interests. So India has to factor neighbours sensitivities, not only on aspects of security, but in all dealings more than ever before, retain its influence in the region.
Q: Rajen Harshe (South Asia analyst) similarly points out that while the strategic community in India tends to construe India’s military interventions in neighbouring countries in defensive terms, this is not the perception of its neighbours. He argues that India’s neighbours, particularly the smaller neighbours, “have viewed such interventions in terms of the outward projection and demonstration of India’s military might.”(Harshe, 1999) He further adds, “To put it more sharply, India’s military interventions in Bangladesh (1971), Sri Lanka (1987-9) and Maldives (1988) have only added to the insecurity as well as fear of Indian hegemony among India’s neighbours. Do you agree? Is this fair? And how do we move past this? While from India’s perspective, its military interventions were justified on the basis of its own security interests and concerns, this was not how others saw it.
I don’t agree with Mr Rajen Harshe’s contention or understand how he gauged the neighbourhood perceptions. Unless there is empirical evidence, I will question such conclusions. It is absured to call Indian military intervention in Maldives in 1988, at the request of the President to prevent a coup by mercenaries, as Indian show of force. Similarly, in Sri Lanka, troops were sent at the invitation of President Jayawardane (in terms of the Ind0-Sri Lanka Agreement) as he feared the Tamil militants (particularly the LTTE) might refuse to lay down arms, after Sri Lanka army was sent back to the barracks.
I don’t know which “others” you refer to, I presume it is some academic. Nations always intervene in another country, directly or indirectly, to safeguard their own national security interests or to achieve a strategic security objective like protecting their areas of strategic influence. In India’s case areas of strategic influence include Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar and Indian Ocean Region including Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius.
Generally, nations intervene in what is called in strategic terms as “spheres of influence.” So the so-called “justification” is invariably to satisfy international community, lest it draws flak from superpower manoevures in the UN Security Council. This is how conflicts take place when big powers intervene in countries, even in far off places.
Q: In Sri Lanka, India had concerns over the influx of Tamil Refugees, as it did in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971. India was also apprehensive about external powers in Sri Lanka, such as China, Pakistan, Israel and even the US. However, on hindsight, some feel “India’s peace keeping action proved counter-productive, alienating the Tamil community, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government.” (Mukherjee & Malone, 2011).
India and Sri Lanka are geo-strategically linked together, like Nepal and Bangladesh. India and Sri Lanka relations have always related to three major issues: the status of people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka, geo-strategic security of the region including the Indian Ocean, and the Tamil populations’ quest for democratic rights. Issue relating to Tamils of Indian origin occupied a large space in India’s policy horizon till were signed.
The geo-strategic issue dominated Indian thinking in the Cold War era. It was overtaken by the Tamil issue when the ‘Black July’ pogrom against Tamils carried out in July 1983. This triggered a large flow of Tamil refugees to Tamil Nadu. This coincided with the end of single party rule in New Delhi. The new era of coalition rule at the Centre increased the influence of rival Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu as useful allies of national parties. This suited the Congress party that had developed cracks in its monolithic framework.
India’s strategic concerns laced with desire to help Sri Lanka amicably resolve the Tamil issue culminated in the signing of the India –Sri Lanka Agreement 1987. It reflected the holistic Indian approach to building strong bonds between the two countries because it halted the Tamil separatist insurgency, while underwriting Sri Lanka unity. At the same time it ensured the Sri Lanka constitution is amended to create provincial councils in traditional areas of Tamil habitation with partial powers in recognition of their distinct identity, culture and language. To call ISLA a failure is debatable, even after India’s unhappy experience during its military intervention from 1987 to 90 that ended in fighting with the LTTE.
After the LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1992, India’s focus shifted to a more benign and less active approach on the Tamil question. There is no question of alienation of India among Tamils; even now Tamil politicians always seek India’s support just as the government seeks to resolve ethnic crisis.
Q: In the creation of Bangladesh, India’s role “was widely viewed internationally and in the region as primarily an attempt to dismember an arch rival.” (Mukherjee & Malone, 2011) Moreover, contrary to India’s expectations, “the assistance it rendered to Bangladesh did not win it an ally but rather produced a neighbour that has often proved prickly and resentful.” (Mukherjee & Malone, 2011)
I totally disagree with this view point. The Indian intervention in 1971 should be viewed in the backdrop of Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. India did not render “assistance” to win an ally in Bangladesh, nor is it a “prickly ally”. To describe the umbilical relations of the two neighburs in such terms would be trivialising them. India waged war in East Pakistan with multiple objectives:
a. To strategically reduce the potential threat posed by a united Pakistan on India’s vulnerable Eastern flank.
b. To support assertion of Bengali identity and independence against Pakistan’s military authoritarianism, after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman found Bengalis democratic claim for sharing power in Pakistan was not recognised, despite their parliamentary majority.
c. The massive military crackdown by Pakistan army in Eastern wing resulted in a human tragedy with ten million refugees seeking safe sanctuary in India. Mrs Indira Gandhi sought international assistance to tackle the situation politically. The US, then an ally of Pakistan, under President Richard Nixon’s dispensation saw it in terms of Cold War and forced the military option upon India. (See the notorious Anderson Papers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Anderson_(columnist) for details.)
Q: How would you explain the threat perceptions against India in Sri Lanka? Or in relation to Sri Lanka? How should we deal with it? Have these interventions had an impact on India’s neighbourhood policy in the long run?
Already answered.
Q: Why do India’s neighbours see it as more threatening than China? Or is this not so? Why do they lean towards China, is it just balance of power, which happens all the time international relations?
I don’t know whom you are quoting to say neighbours see India as more threatening. If you mean the neighbours feel threatened by India’s huge size army next door and fast growing economy dominating them, then I would agree. Yes, they are unnerved by India’s sheer size. China’s size does not intimidate them the same way because China is a few thousand kilometres miles away. While I understand their concerns, neighbourhood is not by choice but by geography. They also understand it, so they try to manage with India’s presence.
Of course, it is only natural that India’s neighbours try to balance their relations with two big powers, but at times they play India and China against each other to garner maximum advantage. This is what all nations, including India and China, do all the time.
Q: How do we resolve this?
Foreign policy formulations of India should be viewed holistically, one cannot have special foreign policy only for neighbours because it has to fit in India’s national vision. So we need to understand how PM Modi strategizing India’s neighbourhood policy.
Stéphanie Heng, a visiting fellow at New Delhi based Observer Research Foundation, writing on India’s foreign policy formulation last year said: “Today, most countries use a combination of soft power and hard power, together called ‘smart power.’ Since Modi became prime minister in May 2014, India has employed such a blend, but with a strong focus on soft power.
PM Modi, though seen as a strongman at home, has sought to position his efforts abroad as diplomacy by consensus – not bullying – which India’s smaller neighbours have complained of in the past. Modi explaining his strategy in July 2014 said: “Look foreign policy is not about changing mindsets….foreign policy is about finding the common meeting points. Where do our interests converge and how much? We have to sit and talk with every country.”
Q. According to Dhruva Jaishankar of Brookings, Modi’s public articulations, combined with nature, outcomes, and timings of Modi’s diplomatic activities, offer a clear picture of India’s priorities and strategic objectives. They are essentially five-fold:
Prioritizing an integrated neighbourhood; “Neighbourhood First.”
Leveraging international partnerships to promote India’s domestic development.
Dissuading Pakistan from supporting terrorism.
Advancing Indian representation and leadership on matter of global governance.
I agree with him.
Col R Hariharan, a retired MI specialist on South Asia, served as the head of Intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 90. He is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies, South Asia Analysis Group and the International Law and Strategic Analysis Institute, Chennai. E-mail: haridirect@gmail.com Blog: http://col.hariharan.info
There is no rules and regulations in the Ministry to manage postings and purposely the higher authority of the Ministry has avoided introducing a circular with rules to regularize the procedures for appointing officers to the Missions abroad. This has created a very unpleasant situation in the Ministry.
by Our Diplomatic Editor-
( June 5, 2018, Colombo, SriLanka Guardian) The general public is kept in dark in the case of activities and conducts of the Sri Lankan Missions abroad and its headquarters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among many mischievous decisions taken by the higher authority in the Foreign Ministry, appointing of Foreign Service officers to the Missions abroad has always raised eyebrows of many. It is a fact that ultimate aim of any Foreign Service official is to become an Ambassador. To reach this point, they endeavour a lot during their career.
However, some have been using short-cuts such as their “sexy figures,” political affiliations, relationship to politicians, their school friendship with big shots and many other strategies to secure good postings and cross-postings. Those who have no such affluence, accept what is offered and what is available. Except in very rare cases, abilities and capabilities of the officers have never been considered for their appointments to the Missions. From the very beginning, seniors in the Foreign Ministry and some politicians groom their favourites for the prestigious posts in the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and countries in the EU such as Switzerland, France, Brussels, Netherlands. They are often and repeatedly appointed to these places while others are working in the Middle East and some Asian countries throughout their career. This phenomenon did not receive any change even after the establishment of new government in 2015. At present, there are no clear criteria for the selection of officers for postings and period of postings. For example, some officers continuously serve abroad over 10 years while another person is asked to return to Sri Lanka just after three years. Usually, three years is a period of stay abroad during one posting.
There is no rules and regulations in the Ministry to manage postings and purposely the higher authority of the Ministry has avoided introducing a circular with rules to regularize the procedures for appointing officers to the Missions abroad. This has created a very unpleasant situation in the Ministry. In 2015, the Ministry created a record appointing an entire batch to the posts of Ambassadors disregarding the seniors working at the Ministry during this period. The issue was that at that time most of the appointees were already serving abroad and have completed their full three-year term. Thereafter, interview system has been introduced to select officers to the posts in the Missions. This system has also helped selection of favourites. More importantly, country requirements, abilities of the officers and type of relations Sri Lanka has with some countries, type of Sri Lanka community living in some countries have not been considered during the selection process. For example, in Canada, the Consul General in Toronto is a Muslim officer, and the Ambassador and Deputy in the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa are Muslim officers. However, the majority of Sri Lanka community in Canada are Tamils and Sinhalese. Once again they have appointed a Muslim officer as High Commissioner. Since there are sensitive issues among the Sri Lanka community, these appointments have created unhappiness among the Sri Lankans. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not keen on appointing Muslim officers to the Middle East. The reason is they are difficult postings.
At the same time, a very junior officer has been nominated to the UK as High Commissioner. This officer is currently serving as Ambassador in Korea. It appears that the ministry lacks senior officers capable of working in the UK. An insider story says that she has been giving a cross-posting at the request of Mrs. Maithree Wickramasinghe, the wife of the Prime Minister. The officer is said be a school mate of Mrs. Wickramasinghe, which is not a palpable story to cover up the motive behind this appointment. Official of the Ministry has made a request to Mrs. Maithree Wickramasinghe to verify this claim. However, it is ugly in two ways. One is that it is not nice to cook-up stories of this nature to save the ass of someone. Second, it tells a story that bias is the main currency in the Foreign Ministry. This is the ugliest incident experienced by the Foreign Ministry officials in the recent past. Similarly, another very junior lady officer was nominated to Germany as Ambassador while a very senior officer was serving as Consul General in Frankfurt. This appointment was made as the lady officer is a pet of someone. At this point, H.E. the President refused to confirm her appointment.
In the meantime, some officers who have FCID cases have not been transferred to Colombo to save them being arrested. In this manner, the present secretary is colluding with the culprits as they are members of his camp. Unfortunately, the President and the Prime Minister are not in agreement to reshape the Foreign Ministry and make it a better institute that could serve Sri Lanka. Also, they have shown no interest in solving the issues affecting the entire system of Foreign Affairs.
Editor’s Note: This post contains discussion on the topic of suicide. If you feel you may want to take your own life, or are concerned about someone else who is likely to attempt suicide, talk to Sumithrayo (when dialling from within Sri Lanka, phone: 011 269 6666)
The following article is a translation of a story by our sister site Maatram examining the exploitative practises of microfinance companies based in the North and East, which are causing fresh trauma for families already impacted by war.
Those who have traveled along the A9 highway would not have missed the large signboards on either side of the road.
The institutions who are putting up these signboards claim that their focus is to assist the people who suffered for the past 30 years, to regain their livelihood and improve their economic status. The people living in this area obtained loans for several reasons, including to resume farming activities, redeem assets that they had mortgaged, self-employment, house renovation, and so on. They continue to obtain loans.
Nine years after the end of the war, these micro financing institutions have revealed the real motive behind establishing their presence in the North and East. They have managed to create a new culture among the people – the culture of dependency.
View the full immersive story, compiled on Adobe Spark, here, or scroll below.
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers. ~ Nikita Khrushchev
2018-06-06
We are fast approaching the end of the first term of this Presidency. The lofty ideals expressed so abundantly on the Maithripala Sirisena/UNP platform have come out empty. The looming end result of efforts to establish Yahapalanaya seems not only self-destructive, it looks thoroughly unworthy to a set of politicians, who have been nurtured and nursed by a culture, so steeped in corruption, nepotism and incompetence.
A nation that looked forward to a system of governance that could govern the country on the rule of law and ‘discipline of a monastic Monk’ is lamenting without a ray of hope.
The 2015 Presidential Election was a referendum on the First Family
The discipline of the mind is one of the greatest gifts men could grant to himself. That discipline, even though he is not born with it, needs to be cultivated and practised by him with demonstrative dedication and without any reservation.
If that discipline is practised by politicians, who profess to know the answers to all issues and problems the country confronts, Ceylon would have been a more tolerable abode for all its citizens.
It certainly is no utopian dream to expect a nation to aspire to be led by sensible leaders with a sensible practice of sensible policies and principles. What has flown out of the window is that sensibility. An alternate sensibility has crept in. That alternate sensibility is dictating the lives and even deaths of politicos and their henchmen. That alternate sensibility was in evidence in the last decade of the Rajapaksa regime.
The so-called ‘good’ managers (UNP) of the country’s economy became not only mediocre; they too were successful in attaching to themselves the badge of corruption and incompetence
But the current administration now shows that this alternate sensibility has taken hold of them as well. That taking-hold is absolute and final. As penned in my last column, that alternate sensibility is an integral part of the new culture that has set in. It is in this confused context that the performance of the current administration has to be viewed, criticized and judged. Nevertheless, while the judgment that seems to have been made by many a pundit and critic seems to be negative on balance, the verdict reached by the public at large is much harsher than the current rulers could take. Where did they fail? How did they fail? Or to look at a more fundamental question, was the voter-judgment given at the 2015 Presidential Elections flawed?
Let us answer the third question first: Was 2015 Election-Judgment flawed? The easy and obvious answer is no.
The verdict reached by a margin of 3.7% is not flawed. 3.7%, more than half a million, in the context of a total poll of 12 million votes, is no slender margin.
Although this 3.7% is no landslide by any stretch of the imagination, those who were elected after the rejection of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent, are bound to deliver on the various pledges they made on the platform during the election campaign.
The breakdown of the relationship between President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is at the core of this coalition
When the answer to the third question is an emphatic no, it becomes overwhelmingly palpable that those who have replaced the Rajapaksas need to get to work on an accelerated pace and with all the strengths and energies they pretend to have.
Replacing a ruler such as Mahinda Rajapaksa was no mean task. This ruler, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had brought an excruciatingly painful war to a victorious end.
Amongst his exhibitionist development programmes are, among others, developing road infrastructure, building an airport in the jungles of Mattala, constructing a port in the far corners of the land like Hambantota and erecting a sports stadium among the wildlife in Deep South.
Where and how did the current Government fail in dealing with the central issue of delivering on the pledges made on the platform?
Yet, the people rejected this leader. Why? The fundamental argument against the Rajapaksas, the First Family and its wild henchmen and women, was corruption. The grand propaganda campaign that was launched by the practitioners of this insidious fallacy of all humans-corruption and its numerous attendant repercussions- could not be portrayed by its practitioners amongst fellow countrymen as a life-enriching discipline.
Along with corruption and looting the national coffers and distributing it among the cronies of the First Family, the dangerous tendencies developed by one sibling who was purported to be handling Defence of the country, white van fear, alleged killings and sudden disappearances of journalists, callous disregard for accepted norms and traditional way of Executing Government policies, they all were defeated at the 2015 Presidential Election.
In effect, the 2015 Presidential Election was a referendum on the First Family. It was more a defeat of the corruption-ridden Rajapaksa era than a victory for the UNP-backed Maithripala Sirisena. When one comes to power as a replacement of a once-popular leader, whose policies and conduct of governance were clearly overruled by the people, his responsibility is enormous; he and his governing coalition have no time whatsoever to dillydally the machinery of Government when delivering on the promises made.
The bond between the President and Prime Minister seems to have burst asunder
This is where the writer comes to answer the first two questions in this column. Where and how did the current Government fail in dealing with the central issue of delivering on the pledges made on the platform?
The current Government is a two-headed instrument; one is the United National Party (UNP) and the other, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). The UNP is undivided and has accepted Ranil Wickremesinghe as its one leader, whereas the SLFP’s status is one of total confusion and disarray. Ninety-Five per cent (95%) of the SLFP voters voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Those SLFPers who opted to join the coalition Government committed a national sin. Joining a Government merely to hang on to power with the sole aim of self-enrichment is no noble trait of a politician. That is the common denominator of all politicians, barring a select few.
The pursuit of the Rajapaksa-slaughter of our national character and wealth is no task for a politician, who promised to eradicate the nauseatingly stinking practices of the Rajapaksa Government.
Politics as a mere pursuit of power in exclusion to all other sacred practices is not only sinful, it is self-destructive. That aspect of self-destruction has already set in not only among the SLFP Ministers and MPs; it has crept into the skin of the UNP Ministers and their cohorts too.
Failure to pursue the prosecution of the wrong-doers of the last regime played a decisive part in the decision by the voters in the recently held local government elections. While the so-called ‘Bond-Scam’ was a very serious blunder which was rightly portrayed by the Opposition as an outright swindle, the lack of scrupulous attention given unto it by the Prime Minister too may have had a telling effect on the psyche of the voter.
Amongst his exhibitionist development programmes are, among others, developing road infrastructure, building an airport in the jungles of Mattala, constructing a port in the far corners of the land like Hambantota and erecting a sports stadium among the wildlife in Deep South
There is no meaning to an exercise of replacing one corrupt regime by another. This is where the current administration failed so miserably at governance.
The so-called ‘good’ managers (UNP) of the country’s economy became not only mediocre; they too were successful in attaching to themselves the badge of corruption and incompetence.
How they failed too is explained in the foregoing paragraphs. Although volumes could be written on these aspects of the current ruling mechanism, there is one inescapable fact that is destroying the current Government and its effects are felt at the very core of its Constitution.
The breakdown of the relationship between President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is one element that is at the core of this coalition. The moment it breaks down so does the very existence of the Government. The promise of the 2015 Presidential Election was shattered when this relationship could not withstand the pressures of politics.
A new face is the only answer to the winning of the next elections
Human relationships are very complex and could be extremely agonizing when any measures are taken to resuscitate them. The bond between the President and Prime Minister seems to have burst asunder. It is in this context that the writer has been arguing in the last few columns that a new face is the only answer to the winning of the next elections. The UNP has such men in their fold. Both Sajith Premadasa and Navin Dissanayake have the name, prestige and necessary experience and in government to right this meandering boat. It had better be righted sooner than later.
The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com
(Lanka e News – 05.June.2018, 11.00PM) The TNL television network and the broadcasting service belonging to Shan Wickremesinghe who introduced television network in Sri Lanka for the first time were banned by President Pallewatte Gamarala and those stations were sealed .
This action was taken by the Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) under Gamarala .
Already the TNL television station at Polgahawela Broadcasting center had been sealed and the Broadcasting station at Karandeniya is to follow the same fate.
The reason for this is the alleged non payment of levies due to the TRC. After obtaining an injunction order from the Polgahawela magistrate based on a unilateral petition without the other side being noticed , the stations were sealed.
TNL owner Shan Wickremesinghe responding to LeN queries in this connection said , there was no notification regarding the arrears , if any , or about a case pending. For the last over 20 years all payments have been made duly to the TRC , however later some other issues cropped up . When letters were sent to the TRC in that connection the TRC had not responded until today, he lamented.
Shan went on to explain that he does not consider non payment as the issue for this diabolic action . This is only a retaliatory action against the programs which were conducted by his channels referring to the recent outrageous contradictory statements made by the president at the death commemoration of late Ven. Sobitha Thera . Hence it constitutes a media suppression , he highlighted. In any event he will be filing a case and claiming compensation he further revealed.
Shan Wickremesinghe is the elder brother of Ranil Wickremesinghe P.M. It is to be noted , while president’s daughter Chathurika after her father became president had established not one but two advertising firms and is gobbling billions of rupees of government funds and nepotism is at its peak , Shan despite being the brother of Ranil has never gone after requesting government advertisements for his channels .
The crazy contradictory statements made by the president recently at the commemoration ceremony were highlighted not only by the TNL but even by the other channels , yet Gamarala had taken revenge only on the channel of P.M.’s brother .
Even Lanka e news was banned within SL in like manner but there ,even a court order was not obtained.
In the circumstances the grandiose announcements made by the good governance government that media freedom was restored is just to hoodwink all and sundry. By now Lanka e News which first introduced on line Sinhala media , and TNL which introduced television network for the first time in SL have been banned .
Gamarala will go down in history as the only despotic president who banned a television channel in SL .Whither media freedom ?
Might we recall Lanka e News recently revealed that president Gamarala is suffering from a mental disorder. This episode only underlines the need for the president to take immediate psychiatric treatment before he makes a muddle of everything to the detriment of the country.
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( June 6, 2018, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday condemned the alleged extra-judicial killings of suspected drug offenders in Bangladesh and urged the authorities to ensure that these serious human rights violations are immediately halted and perpetrators brought to justice.
Marijuana legalization could affect Canada’s crime patterns, health and countless other factors. Photograph: Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images
