Facebook Staff to Learn Sinhala Insults After Sri Lanka Riots

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Facebook is training its staff to identify inflammatory content
• Authorities blocked Facebook in Sri Lanka in March
• We did make mistakes and we were slow: Facebook

Agence France-Presse, 07 June 2018

Three months after Sri Lanka was rocked by deadly anti-Muslim riots fuelled by online vitriol, Facebookis training its staff to identify inflammatory content in the country's local languages.

The social network has been seeking penance in Sri Lanka after authorities blocked Facebook in March as incendiary posts by Buddhist hardliners fanned religious violence that left three people dead and reduced hundreds of mosques, homes and businesses to ashes.

Until the week-long ban, appeals to Facebook to act against the contagion of hate speech had been met with deafening silence, at a time when the California-based tech giant was reeling from unprecedented global scrutiny over fake news and user privacy.

"We did make mistakes and we were slow," Facebook spokeswoman Amrit Ahuja told AFP in Colombo.

The dearth of staff fluent in Sinhala - the language spoken by Sri Lanka's largest ethnic group - compounded the issue, with government officials and activists saying the oversight allowed extremist content to flourish undetected on the platform.

Ahuja said Facebook was committed to hiring more Sinhala speakers but declined to say how many were currently employed in Sri Lanka.

"This is the problem we are trying to address with Facebook. They need more Sinhala resources", said the island's telecommunications minister Harin Fernando.

Since the violence broke out in March, two high-level delegations from the company have visited Sri Lanka, where ethnic divisions linger after decades of war, to assure the government of its intent.

Ahuja said Facebook was working with civil society organisations to familiarise its staff with Sinhala slurs and racist epithets.

Complex local nuances have added to the challenge. The word for "brother" in Tamil - also an official language in the country - can be a derogatory term in Sinhala when a slight inflection is used.
Desperate measures

Fernando said the decision to impose an island-wide blackout on Facebook - used by one in three Sri Lankans - was taken as a last resort to prevent an escalation of violence.

Buddhist monks freely shared images of masked men attacking mosques and urged others to do the same in the weeks before the riots erupted in Kandy.

Sinhala extremists used the social network to recruit rioters and organise their travel to the troubled area, from where violence later spread.

A meme in Sinhala, which remained online for weeks, urged death to all Muslims, including children.
A man who reported it to Facebook was told it did not violate "specific community standards".

In addition to government warnings, Fernando told AFP that Facebook users lodged thousands of complaints over extremist content, but were met with silence.

"It was not something that I liked doing. But if we didn't block Facebook, the violence would have spread out of control," he said.

Eventually the army was given special powers to restore order under the first state of emergency declared in the 21-million-strong nation since the end of the civil war in 2009.

'Action needed'

Ahuja said Facebook has since taken down "hate figures and organisations" in Sri Lanka including the Bodu Bala Sena, a radical Buddhist outfit that is blamed for attacks against Muslims in recent years.

Its spokesman Dilantha Withanage complained the group and its leader - the notorious extremist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara - were being unfairly targeted.

"We can't even post a photo of venerable Gnanasara on Facebook," Withanage told AFP.

But videos of his sermons can still be seen on the social network. Other extremists have also slipped through the cracks, activists say, despite repeated requests to have their accounts removed.

Last year another extremist Buddhist group, Sinhale Jathika Balamuluwa, urged followers via Facebook Live to storm a UN compound sheltering Rohingya Muslims. Police had to be called in to protect the refugees from the mob.

Several Facebook pages for the group have been blocked in Sri Lanka but the same content can be viewed under alternate names, activists say.

"Facebook is only now being held to account over things that since 2013 were evident...(to) us," said Sanjana Hattotuwa, a researcher who has studied Islamophobia on Facebook in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's Centre for Policy Alternatives said Facebook needed to offer more than "cookie cutter" pledges to clean up its act.

"The time for promises has passed. Action is what's needed, and transparency and accountability," said Hattotuwa.

Government mustn’t ‘play hide and seek’

JUN 08 2018

While the current Government has been criticized for its lacklustre approach on economic development, the other factor that has irked several segments of the community is the move towards signing various trade agreements with other countries.
Over the past few years, we saw protests pertaining to the Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA) and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), both of which were to be signed with India.

There were also protests against various stages of the Port City as well. The protests continued even after the current Government decided to go ahead with the project.
Recently, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe accused the members of the Joint Opposition for trying to sabotage the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore.

On most occasions, the main allegation against these agreements is that the stronger party would take advantage of Sri Lanka’s resources whereas Sri Lanka would fall victim as a result of the pact.

The current Government opposed the Port City agreement with China and came into power promising to halt such projects which would be detrimental for the country.
But, the project went through with some changes in the agreement despite facing protests.

ETCA was heavily opposed owing to speculations that Indian professionals would be brought into the country and local professionals would lose out on jobs to the Indians.
In the current context of globalization, it is difficult for a country to survive on its own.
Therefore, mechanisms such as trade agreements work as a tool for countries to benefit from each other. Indeed, there are instances where the country which is slightly more powerful takes advantage of the other. But on the whole, there are benefits for all parties concerned.

When it comes to the reactions of the public to these agreements, there are two sides among many that are of importance.

One is the fact that the Government has failed to discuss the content of such agreements and projects in the open. It is the responsibility of any Government to be transparent about any project regardless of its sensitivities. The people have to know what their representatives are up to.

Secondly, it is important for protestors to know what they are protesting against.
In 2015, when the anti-ETCA campaigns had gained momentum, one of the aspects that came to light was the fact that most of the protestors had no idea about the content of the agreement.

The protests were mostly on the assumption and speculation that Indians were going to take over the country. We also have to keep in mind that there are parties with vested interests that trigger such paranoia among the people.

But, on such cases, the protests should not be against the agreement, but against the Government for not revealing it to the people.
It is the right of the people to know what the leaders, who were elected by the people, do mainly because these agreements are of national interest.

A healthy discourse of such moves would not only enlighten the people, but would also improve the content of the documents so that no party would have to compromise.
The people also have to be proactive. There is the Right to Information (RTI) which is in place. Whether it is functioning the way it is supposed to is a different question, but, the people should make use of these facilities.

You could decide on your next step based on the response to your efforts.
But the Government too should not wait until the public takes to the streets to divulge information. The Government has the responsibility towards the people to do so out of its own volition.

Dire need of investment for reaching prosperity

Friday, 8 June 2018

The purpose of this article is to point out the great need for investment, especially foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka, and to indicate how it could be attracted.

Why do we need investment?

We need investment to create jobs to alleviate poverty and produce goods and services, especially for export, to earn the foreign exchange required to pay our massive external debt ($51.8 million, or 59.5% of Gross Domestic Product, 2017). We need to save about 35 to 40% of GDP to invest, but our domestic savings were only about 29.3% of GDP, 2017. We also need modern technologies to help in value addition to goods and services, as well as to obtain world market access. These are the reasons for the great need to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).

It may be noted that it is mainly because of high inflows of FDI that the ‘tiger’ economies of South East and East Asia have prospered. As of 2016, the stocks of FDI inflows in billions of dollars to some of these economies, particularly of the ‘little tigers’, were: South Korea, 185.0; Hong Kong, 1,690.8; Taiwan, 75.0; Thailand, 188.7; Malaysia, 121.6; and Singapore, 1,096.3, whereas in the case of Sri Lanka it was only 9.7, according to UNCTAD. This is the main reason for the economy of Sri Lanka to lag behind.

The need of a small economy like Sri Lanka is for FDIs that produce manufactured goods and services mainly for export, as production for the small local market only cannot generate sufficient jobs and earnings for the country to prosper. The stock of $ 9.7 billion that has been attracted by Sri Lanka, particularly in recent years, has been mainly for construction and described as non-tradable goods and services; it is for this reason that exports have not taken off (13% of GDP in 2017, whereas it was 33% of GDP in 2004).

Another result is that manufacturing employment has not been created to reduce poverty (34%, on the basis of persons earning less than $ 2 per day, in 2008 according to the World Bank) and absorb the excess employment in agriculture and in the public service (27% and 17% of total employment, respectively). It is the excess employment in agriculture that has destroyed some of the forest cover due to encroachment, especially in steep slopes, causing landslides and floods, as well as diminishing the water catchment area and resulting in water shortages during droughts.

Why have we failed to attract sufficient FDI?

This is the next question to be asked. According to the World Bank’s Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2017/18, a sample of 238 FDIs that was surveyed on the type of investment destinations they look for, indicated a) 50 looked for political stability and security; b) 40 for legal and regulatory environment; c) 42 for large market size; d) 34 for macroeconomic stability (consistency of policies); e) 28 for skilled labour; f) 25 for physical infrastructure; and g) 19 for low tax rates. Thus, 21% look for political stability plus security, but only 14% for macroeconomic stability or consistency of policies, showing that it is only one of the reasons, and not the main reason, as claimed by our authorities.

The main reason for avoidance of Sri Lanka by FDIs is clearly political instability and the absence of security. In fact, the OECD Country Risk Classification for Sri Lanka was previously 6 and is currently 6; we are just behind Afghanistan, the risk classification of which was previously 7 and is currently 7. Political instability in Sri Lanka began in 1956 with the election of a leftist government with emphasis on state control of the economy. Its failure was marked by an uprising by Marxist/Guevarist-oriented youth in1971. Another leftist youth rebellion took place during 1987 to 1989. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), claiming independence for a Tamil ‘Homeland’, started a civil war in 1983 that ended in 2009. The causes for the demand for a Tamil homeland or the ethnic conflict were never really examined properly and settled even up to this date; the Tamils and other minority communities may maintain that the main cause of the conflict was racial hatred on the part of the majority community, fuelled by a certain group of politicians who have been greedy for power and giving rise to discrimination against other communities. This racial hatred, which has been simmering below the surface since 2009, erupted again in March this year against Muslims in the Kandy area.

Thus, foreign investors may fear that history could repeat itself, and affect the security of their assets and personnel. Even local investors may entertain such fears. Worse, there have also been reports about the increase in various types of harassment, including demands for bribes, ransoms and even bodily harm, meted out to both local and foreign investors as well as tourists.

In the meantime, the skills produced by our outdated system of education have failed to meet the technical and soft skills demanded by investors and businesses. To make things worse, thousands have been leaving the country – especially professionals and skilled persons – looking for ‘greener pastures’ or better living conditions abroad, as the quality of life in Sri Lanka has been deteriorating steadily.

The physical infrastructure needs of investors have also not been met adequately. The roads, particularly in cities and towns, are clogged with traffic. There are frequent breakdowns in power supplies, even in the administrative capital of the country. Infrastructure development could be worse in the rural areas where essential investment in agricultural value chains – such as cold rooms for storing perishable products, investment for provision of irrigation and for prevention of droughts and floods – has not been made, while there has been feverish activity for building highways probably because of the ‘low hanging fruit’ of massive illegal commissions.

Another problem faced by investors has been the cumbersome procedures and documentation with regards to approvals and registration of projects, customs regulations regarding clearance of imports and exports as well as the management of labour about which there are supposed to be 45 pieces of legislation including the Termination of Employment of Workmen Act, the worst of the lot. The inefficiency that results is reflected in the two indices concerned: The Ease of Doing Business Index rank Sri Lanka 111, Malaysia 24, Singapore 2 out of 190 countries, World Bank 2017; the Logistics Performance Index rank Sri Lanka 113, Singapore 5, Malaysia 32, in 2015 out of 160 countries, World Bank 2016). These regulations also reduce the efficiency of the public service and incentivise bribery and corruption among politicians in charge of the various agencies and the officials.

Talking about corruption, it is wide spread; there is no doubt it increases the risk faced by investors; the main cause of corruption is the election campaign expenditure incurred by the parliamentarians as the unit of election under the present system is a district instead of the smaller constituency .

Countries with small domestic markets such as Sri Lanka also do not attract FDI that look for large markets. Such small countries have to attract efficiency seeking FDI. Sri Lanka does not possess an enabling environment of such efficiency as stated above nor a population that welcomes investors with open arms; they will claim that Sri Lanka’s assets are being ‘sold’ to foreigners or will seek to harass them in various ways as mentioned above.
So what has to be done to attract investment?

The first need is to create a positive enabling environment of socio political stability for attracting investment. This is best achieved by creating new constitution including the grant of full equal rights to all citizens of Sri Lanka, devolution of power to the regions, separation of power among the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, a new system of elections where the members of parliament are elected to constituencies/not districts, an educational qualification like the GCE/A Level from candidates for election and the recognition of all three languages, etc., on the lines of those of India or the USA, to set up a well integrated nation as soon as possible i.e. before the next general election.

The leaders of all political parties may have to convince the people why a new constitution is necessary. They will have to address the various groups who are against the idea like the Buddhist clergy by convincing them that grant of equal rights, etc., to all members of various communities and devolution of power to the regions for instance will not lead to separation of the North and the East; if these rights are not granted not only will separation actually take place, but also will drag the entire Sri Lanka community including the Sinhalese to a state of confusion and poverty equalling that of a failed state like Somalia.

The other step is for all leaders of the country to adopt a social market economic policy where the engine of growth is the private sector and the state is the protector of the rights of the citizens, the regulator of private sector activity, in addition to maintaining law and order and development of social and physical infrastructure. To enable the private sector to operate efficiently, the state will have to remove all the constraints mentioned above and in addition grant incentives to attract investment for creation of jobs and production of value added goods and services especially for export. The task will become easier if the leaders as well as the professionals and the clergy explain to the people what the path to prosperity which begins with investment; they will have to be convinced that the best way to attract investors as well as tourists is to treat them as our customers who will help us to earn the foreign exchange we need instead of driving them away by harassing them.

The leaders have so far failed to carry out this task of educating the people, as most of them have been busy with politics and robbing the tax payer; so the professionals and the clergy have to take over from them in this task. This may seem to be a difficult effort; but not now due to the emergence of social media and techniques such as ‘crowd culture’ which is superseding branding; the message to be delivered by way of a video to be posted in the social media has to be carefully prepared by a team including an economist, a sociologist and a marketer.

Conclusion

If we can attract substantial investments especially FDI for production for export by improving the enabling environment particularly by educating the people regarding the importance of investment and setting up a new constitution and also if the state could invest in rural development, education to produce the skills needed by the private sector, for upgrading the physical infrastructure and simplify the cumbersome procedures and documentation, Sri Lanka could be on the way to prosperity. But if these things are not done, Sri Lanka could be on the way to be a failed state and poverty will become worse.

It’s the development, stupid

• The lunacy of chasing behind 2020 Presidential Candidates
• We have to question the greed and selfishness of these urban middle-class political brokers

2018-06-08 

We have hit the rock bottom and cannot afford to go after odd personalities again
Everything national is everything that is decided as important to Colombo
None of these brought by Colombo middle-class had anything to do with serious issues of the people
Their burden is how he could be slotted in as a candidate for Free Market Economics
What is the most important issue or issues in Sri Lanka today? Going by mainstream and peripheral online media, one is the hype over a list of 118 MPs supposed to have received money from Perpetual Treasuries, now speculated to be around 164.

Another is what President Sirisena said about the 100-Day -Programme.

Yet another is the sealing of a transmission tower of TNL on alleged illegal transmissions.

There is yet another that keeps revolving around all these and that is about who the 2020 Presidential Candidates should be. They are all fringe issues of little importance to people’s daily life. What is wholly absent is the discourse on major issues that led to a socio-economic crisis.

This is a country where everything “national” is everything that is decided as important to Colombo. That too, to the Colombo middle-class.

They are the largest segment in urban life with a surplus income for shopping.

This urban middle-class is politically divided on ethno-religious affiliations showing how primitive they are despite their professional qualifications and exposure to the modern world.
Their hasty search for a Presidential Candidate for the 2020 Presidential Election proves beyond doubt that they are also selfish and greedy for political power with Sinhala Buddhist dominance.

In the absence of Mahinda Rajapaksa for the 2020 Presidential Election, the extremist Sinhala Buddhist sentiments within the Colombo middle-class believe Gotabhaya could fit in well as another ‘Rajapaksa’.

Their burden is how he could be slotted in as a candidate for Free Market Economics.

Thus his ‘compassionate preaching’ about a peaceful society, that can promote investments and market freedom.

Yet, the self-appointed civil society activists representing the moderate and compromising Sinhala Buddhist Colombo middle-class would not want to get thrown out from their jockeying saddle on this Yahapalanaya Government.

Three and a half years gone and they still continue with the ‘Rajapaksa phobia’ with small talk about Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe being their 2020 Presidential Candidate.

Three and a half years gone and they still continue with the ‘Rajapaksa phobia’ with small talk about Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe being their 2020 Presidential Candidate

There is also the battered and bruised SLFP, wanting to contest 2020 Presidential Election, not knowing how and with whom. Sadly, all these claims for 2020 Presidency are about individuals; about picking and presenting another presidential candidate to suit the urban middle class. One who they believe could win the Presidential Election and provide them with the governing saddle to continue with this free market economy.

In 1994, Chandrika Bandaranaike who with her popular Sinhala film idol husband Vijaya Kumaratunga broke off from parental SLFP and was thereafter stranded was brought back to the party to replace Sirimavo Bandaranaike as a ‘new face’ for the Presidency.

After two terms as President that had nothing for the people, she was forced to nominate Mahinda Rajapaksa for the 2005 Presidential Election.

Even her closest cabinet allies like Mangala Samaraweera backed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the most preferred candidate of the Sinhala Buddhist constituency.

In 2010, the same urban middle-class thought Rajapaksa could be ousted by a uniformed war-veteran. But for the ordinary Sinhala Buddhists, it was the ‘ever-smiling’ Rajapaksa with his maroon shawl, who remained their Sinhala King.

Again in 2015 January, Colombo civil society activism backed by international interests wanted a candidate who could defeat ‘Rajapaksa the dictator’.

Thus a ‘single issue Common Candidate’ emerged as a Sinhala Buddhist.

That Sinhala Buddhist Common candidate Sirisena won in 2015 January, not because the Sinhala Buddhists wanted Rajapaksa defeated, but because the Tamil people who made him president in 2005, wanted him ousted in 2015. So did the Muslim people.

None of these candidates brought by Colombo middle-class activism ever had anything to do with serious issues the people needed answers for.

Their campaigns to choose candidates never had any discourse on major issues that need far-reaching solutions.

None of these candidates brought by Colombo middle-class activism ever had anything to do with serious issues the people needed answers for

Education is a total mess from school curriculums to teaching staff, from horribly competitive exams to university education and academia. Health Services, the medical mafia has turned into a sickening racket has preventive health miserably left out for a thriving private health industry.

So, is unplanned commuter transport with flyovers at a heavy cost to people leaving city traffic at snail pace. Housing is a massive private construction sector that pushes out poor people from the city.

The Plantation sector is left at the mercy of extremely corrupt and rowdy politicians, who exploit the poor labour, election after election.

The State, including law enforcement, the Judiciary and the Public Administration are inefficient, lethargic and corrupt at every level. The war-affected in the North-East is left without answers to their immediate issues and at the mercy of Sinhala Buddhist extremism.

There is no discourse in finding answers to these major issues that had gradually and continually grown within the ‘free market economy’ and is never challenged by any political party including the JVP.

These are never seriously discussed for answers by the Colombo civil society leaders, including professionals and the academia. Let us remind ourselves, we have been with this free market economy for 40 out of the 70 years, since independence. During these 40 years, beginning with the IRDPs in 1978 from Kurunegala, all district programmes carried out in two phases with foreign donor assistance had been complete failures.

From President R. Premadasa’s Gam Udava through Foster Parents’ Scheme for poor rural children’s education, from the 200Garment Factory Programme to the first direct focus poverty alleviation scheme Janasaviya turned Samurdhi under Chandrika Kumaratunga Presidency-everything had flopped on the rural poor. They remain poor within this free market economy, which is essentially city-centric. In short, rural development cannot get rooted in a city-centric free market economy.

It is in such context, this Government is once again promoting the same old free market theory in yet another new dressing – “V2025”.

It is in such context, Finance Minister Samaraweera believes he could revolutionise the village with his Gam Peraliya.

The irony in all this is the ignorance of urban professionals and the academia, who want to maintain the status quo within this free market economy.

They, therefore, want people to continue believing FDI is what helps ‘development’. Yet they fail to say what this society has gained during the past 40 years from trillions of rupees the people had to forego on incentives given to these investors as duty waivers, tax holidays, tax and duty concessions and billions spent on special infrastructure development with electricity
provided free.
Added to all that is the violation of Workers’ Rights and environmental disasters.

There is no balance sheet on that.

This hazardous free market economy is only a city-based, city-centred market growth and it is so in all countries that tied up with the global free market economy.

It is so even within the mega growth that China is spoken about. During the past four decades after Deng Xiaoping opened the gates, the Chinese political bureaucracy has turned into one of the most corrupt leaderships on earth.

With that corrupt leadership, the Chinese economic growth is limited to urban areas along the South-Eastern coast. There is no discussion about massive poverty in rural China that would question what ‘development’ is, in a free market economy.

The 2015 Year Book compiled by the National Statistical Bureau of China says the major urban areas like Beijing and Shanghai on the SE coast have an annual per capita income of 48,532 and 48,841 Yuan respectively.

Neighbouring Jiangsu and Zhejiang record an annual per capita income of 34,346 and 40,393 Yuan respectively.

In contrast, rural provinces like Gansu (6,277), Qinghai (7,283), and Xinjiang (8724) far interior in West China, and Guizhou (6,671) and Shaanxi (7,932) in Central China have less than 9,000 Yuan annual per capita incomes.

Meanwhile, a research organisation based in Shanghai that tracks the wealthy in China published their Hurun Report in 2016 that said 153 members of the Chinese National People’s Congress are worth 650 billion US dollars in terms of wealth acquired.

At an average, it is 4.2 billion US dollars per member. In the US Congress in 2015 the wealth of a Congressman was only 3.5 million US dollars.

Official Chinese reports accept, of the 3,000 members National People’s Congress 20 per cent are billionaires. On March 1, (2018) the NYT published an article titled China’s Parliament is a growing billionaires’ club.

Quoting Victor Shih, an Associate Professor at the California University, San Diego who is an expert on money and politics in China, it said, is a member of the National People’s Congress affords “considerable protection” to the wealthy.

Such is growth achieved by the new imperialist giant that is China.

In very comparative terms this degenerating growth that has little to do with decent development, is more or less the same in India and in other countries including ours in Sri Lanka.
We have to ask ourselves is this the ‘development’ we want?

We, therefore, have to question the greed and selfishness of these urban middle-class political brokers.

Those who are promoting handpicked characters for 2020, should be asked how they define development and how different will their economic model be from this free market economy.

We have hit the rock bottom in socio-economic and cultural life and cannot afford to go after odd personalities once again, at another election.

Vote for a stupid, who knows next to nothing about development and major issues people need answers for. It is ‘development’ and not Presidential candidates we need to discuss.

Two Police officers sentenced to over 20 years in prison for raping two women 

Sri Lanka arrests police over Tamil student deaths

Thu, Jun 7, 2018, 10:00 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


June 07, Colombo: Colombo High Court today sentenced a two police officers who were convicted for abducting and raping two women, to over 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.

Colombo High Court judge Gihan Kulatunga sentenced the former Sub Inspector of the Sapugaskanda Police Station and the security assistant of police each to 20 years and six months of rigorous imprisonment

In addition the judge fined each convict Rs. 77,000 and ordered to pay Rs. 200,000 each to the two young victims.

The Attorney General had filed the case against the two suspects on charges of forcibly abducting the two girls from Bambalapitiya area on 18th February 2003 and raping them.


After a long trial, Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga ruled that the suspects were guilty of the charges and imposed the sentences.

Gamarala’s plot to oust Poojitha and appoint Wickremesinghe as IGP is to enlist the police in sabotage activities planned !

(Lanka e News – 07.Jume.2018, 10.50PM) While the present government is comprised of the UNF in a majority and a minority SLFP , the president Gamarala has hatched a plot to oust the present IGP Poojitha Jayasundara and replace him with S.M. Wickremesinghe DIG who is his  stooge. This is with the aim of destroying  the faith the people have on  the UNF and government , and  to alienate  the masses ,  after taking out the SLFP minority group in the government to form an alliance  with the group led by Mahnda Rajapakse.

The replacement move of Gamarala is to enlist the police with a view to facilitate the massive sabotage and disruptive activities to be staged during the next two months  .

To accomplish this goal , it was a statement made by IGP Poojitha without  naming anyone that was used as a pretext  ( LeN along with the video footage published this on the 6 th in Sinhala edition) . What Poojitha said was , an individual who is within   an excreta pit is condemning a passer by  on whom   a drop of urine is stuck  .This was construed by Gamarala as an insinuation made against him . Gamarala after wearing the cap which was not meant for him but because it fitted him anyway is getting ready  to slit the throat  of Poojitha.

President Gamarala with this objective in view had summoned a group of UNF ministers including minister of law and order Ranjith Madduma Bandara on the 5 th night , and told them Poojitha shall be ousted from the IGP post , and therefore to extend assistance towards that. In addition he had summoned the IGP and scolded him most insolently. 

After the introduction of the 19 th amendment which divested the president of powers in this connection , an IGP is appointed by the president on the recommendations of the Constitutional council. If  the  IGP does not resign , he can be removed after tabling a resolution in parliament pinpointing his lapses and getting it passed on a simple majority. Otherwise than that  the president cannot oust or appoint an IGP whimsically. This law was introduced to extricate the police force from politicization.

What Gamarala is seeking  now is , use   all  his overriding  evil traits in order  to resume his  despotic  powers  and  chase away the IGP while turning his back on the most sought after democracy for which the masses voted on 2015-01-08 , as well  as  reject  the 19 th amendment which is an intimate and integral part of that.

The IGP may have his  faults , but under no circumstances can the effort of the president be condoned or allowed which aims at  dismissing  the IGP merely to gratify  the president’s  personal whims while  invoking  his previous  powers which had now been   withdrawn,. It  is because if that is permitted even the small avenue of Democracy which was opened by trimming president’s powers with great difficulty will get closed. If the president is allowed to have his way ,that can create a most pernicious precedent in the future..

Though LeN criticized Poojitha then and nicknamed him Police Koloma , at this  crucial juncture he must be safeguarded because at present , he is sought to be ousted not due to his faults but because  of countless faults of president Gamarala.

President Gamarala  who is by now confirmed as afflicted with a mental disorder is moving no stone unturned to appoint Wickremesinghe who accompanies Gamarala in latter’s vulgar secret  tours playing the role of  a pimp. It cannot be forgotten Wickremesinghe was one of those who made a major contribution to fan the flames of communal violence in Kandy in the recent past.

Lanka e News was the first to expose  how this ‘pimp’ allowed the violence to escalate deliberately without giving orders to control it . In connection with the misconduct of this pimp in the Kandy violence , two investigations are under way against him. One is by special investigation unit (SIU) of the police, and the other is by the Human rights Commission, and until now he has not been exonerated  of the grievous charges.

The  eagerness of Gamarala to chase out Poojitha and replace him with Wickremesinghe as swiftly as possible is because of the sabotage activities which are to be staged conjointly with the Rajapakses in another two months, that is to enlist the necessary assistance of the police in that connection.

We are exposing these diabolic plans and aims taking absolute responsibility. We are stating this so confidently because we are fully aware ,  by now discussions had been held between Pallewatte Gamarala and Mahinda Rajapakse in this connection , and it is Maithri Gunaratne’s father Herman Gunaratne who is acting as the intermediary ( we shall by another report furnish these details) .

It is the incumbent duty of not only the UNP , but even all other Democratic loving parties and civil organization  leaders to join together to defeat the most deadly conspiracy of embattled president Gamarala, now a name synonymous with betrayal, ingratitude and treason.

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by     (2018-06-07 17:28:42)

Perpetual Treasuries Paid Millions To Arjuna Mahendran And Sujeewa Senasinghe

JUNE 7, 2018

Perpetual Treasuries Ltd (PTL) the outfit run by Arjun Aloysius gave former Central Bank Governor and Aloysius’ father-in-law Arjuna Mahendran a total of Rs 3.2 million, the Attorney General’s Department revealed at the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Colombo, today. Apparently the money had been given in three separate cheques.

Mahendran

It is not clear why such a payment was made, although Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Yasantha Kodagoda told court that Mahendran might have used the three cheques to settle off the bill of his unlimited credit card.

PTL was the principal beneficiary of the controversial Central Bank Bond Issues in 2015 and 2016. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the time defended Mahendran, the man he hand-picked for the Governor’s post.

Meanwhile, a B report filed in Court today by the Attorney General’s Department in relation to the bond scam revealed that State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe had received three cheques of Rs.1 million each in 2015 and 2016 from W.M. Mendis & Company Ltd., a subsidiary of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd.

Senasinghe was also very vocal in claiming that there was no wrongdoing in the relevant transactions. When mobile phone records showed that he had had dozens of conversations with Aloysius, Senasinghe pleaded that this was to obtain information for a book he was wring on the subject. However it was revealed that many of the calls were made after he had published the said book.

Senasinghe

The three cheques, received in 2015 and 2016 had been cashed by members of Senasighe’s security detail.

Senasinghe has stated that he was unaware that his election campaign teams had received money from W.M. Mendis & Co Ltd., a business that Aloysius acquired after he made a billions through the bond scam. He stated ‘had I known (that the contribution was from W.M. Mendis and Co Ltd) I would not have allowed the teams handling campaign donations to accept it.’

Senasinghe, however, has not explained why anyone would contributed ‘campaign donations’ in 2016, a year in which there were no elections.

Dayasiri

Meanwhile Kodagoda also informed court that the CID would obtain a statement from Senasinghe as well as UPFA MP Dayasiri Jayasekararegarding the cheque of Rs.1 million he is alleged to have received in 2015 from Walt & Row Associates, a PTL-related Group Company. Jayasekera admitted that he had indeed received this amount but said that he did not know where the donation had come from.

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Another child found at Talawakelle-Lindula UC member's home

KAVINDYA CHRIS THOMAS-04:53 PM JUN 07 2018

An 11-year-old boy was found at the residence of the Talawakelle - Lindula Urban Councilor, previously accused of kidnapping and trafficking a child, by the Nuwara Eliye Police.

Police Media Spokesperson Superintendent of Police Ruwan Gunasekara noted that the child was found by the investigating officers, at the residence of the accused, Ishara Anuruddha Manchanayake. Police suspect that the child was held in captivity to be sold.

The Urban Councilor was among the four suspects arrested on 3 June over the kidnapping and trafficking of a five-year-old girl in 2017. Among the arrested suspects was Chairperson of the Talawakelle - Lindula Urban Council Ashoka Sepala, Manchanayake and two others.

The suspects were produced before the Nuwara Eliya Magistrate’s Court and were remanded till 11 June.

Twitter hits back at Israeli attempt to smear slain Gaza medic Razan al-Najjar

Misleading official Israeli videos slammed as 'abject dehumanisation' of the young Palestinian paramedic to 'retroactively justify' her killing

Volunteer medica Razan al-Najjar was shot and killed by Israeli forces on 1 June while treating wounded protesters in southern Gaza during the Great March of Return

Thursday 7 June 2018

Israeli officials were criticised on Thursday for claiming Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar was acting as a human shield for Hamas when she was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Friday.

The Israeli army's Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, shared a video on social media that used truncated footage of an interview in which the 21-year-old Palestinian stated: “I am medic Razan al-Najjar, I am here on the front lines and I act as a human shield”.

The video cut the remainder of the sentence: "...as a rescuer for the injured on the front lines."

It also showed Najjar grabbing an Israeli tear gas cannister and throwing it away from protesters. Adraee claimed Najjar was aiming the cannister at Israeli soldiers stationed hundreds of metres away behind the fence separating Gaza from Israel.

Social media users denounced the video as part of a broader Israeli strategy to discredit Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

#رزان_النجار لم تكن #ملاك_الرحمة كما تحاول دعاية #حماس تسويقها فاعترافها بأنها شكلت درعًا بشريًا للمشاغبين المحرضين يثبت كيف تستسغل حماس جميع فئات المجتمع الغزاوي لصالح أهدافها وأهداف #إيران. فهل المسعفون في العالم يلقون قنابل ويشاركون في أعمال شغب ويسمون أنفسهم دروعًا بشرية؟ pic.twitter.com/kJ89kf9PN2

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) 7 June 2018

Translation: Razan al-Najjar was not as an angel of mercy as Hamas propaganda is trying to present her. She recognised that she was a human shield for troublemakers, which proves that Hamas exploits all segments of the Gazan community in favor of its goals and objectives. Do medics in the world throw bombs, participate in riots and call themselves human shields?

Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also shared an English-language version of the video.

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Activists disrupt Israeli ambassador in Chicago

Dozens of activists protested Israel’s recent massacres of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip outside Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer’s event in Chicago on 5 June. 

 Tamara Nassar

Tamara Nassar- 6 June 2018

Activists disrupted a speech by Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer in Chicago on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile outside the synagogue where he was speaking, dozens more, among them many Palestinian and Jewish activists, protested Israel’s recent massacres of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Several people were barred entry to the venue apparently because they were of Arab ancestry.

Yesterday members of @ChicagoJVP @jvplive protested Israeli @AmbDermer. After the second interruption, you could tell the audience and the ambassador were getting frazzled and angry. Little did they know, there were several more disruptions to come... pic.twitter.com/z9sy3zhfyo

— Eli Massey (@EliJMassey) 6 June 2018

Eli Massey@EliJMassey

Yesterday members of @ChicagoJVP @jvplive protested Israeli @AmbDermer. After the second interruption, you could tell the audience and the ambassador were getting frazzled and angry. Little did they know, there were several more disruptions to come...

2:49 PM - Jun 6, 2018

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• 38 people are talking about this

Dermer’s visit to Chicago was part of what organizers called “a damage control PR tour” to several Midwestern cities in the wake of growing outrage over Israel’s killing of more than 120 Palestinians and the injuring of thousands more since the beginning of the Great March of Return rallies on 30 March.

“We stand here today to challenge the Israeli ambassador’s attempts to rally Americans to give blind support to the Israeli army,” Jennifer Bing, of the American Friends Service Committee, said at the protest. “The same army that shoots and kills Palestinians in Gaza and continues an immoral and unjust blockade.”

Bing’s group, along with the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace called for the protest.

There was a heavy police presence in and around the Anshe Emet Synagogue on Chicago’s North Side as activists chanted and listened to speeches demanding an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza and killings of Palestinians.

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Reaction as former Cambridge Analytica CEO is grilled by MPs

Andy Davies-6 Jun 2018Home Affairs Correspondent
Alexander Nix said he was “tricked” into boasting to an undercover reporter – working for this programme – that his political strategy firm used honeytraps and bribery to smear political opponents.

The former Cambridge Analytica boss Alexander Nix said he had lied to impress our reporter, who was posing as a potential client.

He blamed the “global liberal media” for attacking his company – which has since closed down – because he had worked for Donald Trump’s election campaign.

OBOR, CPEC Track-II Diplomacy and Neglected Kashmir issue

On this political design and economic map of the region, only one important variable, the geo-strategic one, is missing as always and that is the leadership of Jammu Kashmir residing at Srinagar, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit.

by Nayyar N Khan-Jun 7, 2018

( June 7, 2018, Califonia, Sri Lanka Guardian) China in December 2017 said that its ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is not directed against India and the project should not be influenced or disturbed by any third country, the day Beijing offered to extend the USD 50 billion project to Afghanistan. The corridor, which came into operation last November, passes through Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in Pakistan-administered Kashmir – a territory claimed by both India and Pakistan. Both the South Asian neighbors claim the disputed Kashmir region in full, but control parts of it.

China also hopes CPEC can help address its own concerns related to the Uighur population in Xinjiang province, where the corridor begins. Xinjiang has been the site of repeated flare-ups between Chinese authorities and the Uighurs. The Chinese government hopes CPEC will invigorate the region’s economy, and therefore diminish tensions with the Uighurs and fascinate a more diverse population.

After negotiating border stand-off at Doklam Plateau (China-Bhutan disputed border) both India and China indicated that they wanted to build peaceful relations by solving the bilateral disputes through persuasive negotiations instead of armed conflicts. By having unceasing tensions at its western border with Afghanistan (2430 Km. Durand Line), civil and political unrest in Pashtun and Bloch territories, Pakistan feels the need to ease the tensions with India and negotiate the disputes. It is because the fact that CPEC is passing through the disputed territory of former State of Jammu Kashmir (Gilgit Baltistan), Pakistan does not want to emphasize on her long stand for plebiscite under United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan’s (UNCIPs) resolutions. It is because of the fears, if, the outcomes of proposed plebiscite go against the perceived results by Pakistani authorities or any other developments by inviting the United Nations to the territory.

Therefore, diplomatic and policymaking institutions at Islamabad came to the conclusion to sit on the negotiating table with India and solve the issues in accordance with Shimla agreement of 1972. Question then arises why Pakistan was reluctant to declare GB as her 5th province instead of introducing “Order 2018”? Apparent response from Islamabad is that due to its disputed nature for being part of former State of Jammu Kashmir, it could not do so. But the reality is quite different. After the 18th amendment passed by Zardari government all the federating units (provinces) got internal autonomy and if GB would be given the Provincial status, it would have been internally autonomous i.e. it would control all the economic and administrative institutions and would claim royalties for water, electricity, minerals and also control the revenues and taxation. In that scenario Islamabad would become crippled in collecting the benefits of CPEC passing through GB and it would also lose control on Bhasha Dam and other hydro projects’ ownership. Secondly and more importantly, the population of GB is hardly 2 million. If, in case, Pakistan would have given provincial status to GB (only 2 million population), it would have created a frenzy among the people of FATA, Southern Punjab, Potohar region and Karachi for the demand of separate provinces. Thus by issuing Order 2018, Islamabad, has played two folded game both internally and externally. As GB, according to Order 2018 would be under Federal government, thus all the economic benefits and administrative powers would rest with Islamabad instead of GB government and GB government would be firmly controlled from Islamabad and virtually GB would be a de-facto province too.

On the other hand, in this emerging prospect, China has got some sort of relief on her investment, because it has not to be worried about negotiating with GB, instead all the matters would be handled through Islamabad. In case of Azad Jammu Kashmir, Islamabad simultaneously introduced a new document by amending Interim Act of 1974. The legislative, monetary and administrative status of Kashmir Council is tumbled to advisory one by accumulating the real powers to PM office at Islamabad. By reinforcing section 7 of the Interim Act 1974 and adding an additional clause 7(2) Islamabad has practically back stabbed and constrained the freedom and independence movement in AJK for the reunification of entire State of Jammu Kashmir, while virtually disenchanting the local rulers at Muzaffarabad.

In October 2017, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani categorically said that his country would join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) only if Islamabad allows connectivity between India and Afghanistan. Mentioning sovereignty issue raised by India, Ghani also warned that if Afghanistan was not given transit access to Wagah and Attari for trade with India via Pakistan, then Kabul would also restrict Islamabad’s access to central Asia. Here if we look at the architect’s route of CPEC, that passes through GB, KPK and instead of going direct to Baluchistan (Gawader), it lengthens to Punjab passing through Lahore. Was the extension of CPEC route passing through Lahore (near Wagah) an already established indicator on behalf of Islamabad and Beijing that they would finally give an access to Delhi for joining the mega project of OBOR (One Belt One Road) reaching to more than 70 countries in the world through CPEC passing near Wagah (Indo-Pak International Border)? By looking at the chronicle history of events, the apparent answer is yes but visualizing it through the strategic microscope, the stance taken by powerful establishment against Nawaz Sharif, this matter needs some more details. Because, it was the stance of Nawaz Sharif to build friendly relationships with India, in order Pakistan wanted to grow and prosper.

India, on the other hand, was hopeful to negotiate the possibilities with the democratic government at Islamabad. In fact, back door or Track-II diplomacy between two nuclear rivals of South Asia also suggested the same. The vital deterrent was the powerful establishment at Islamabad that outstrips the legitimate powers of any elected government. Focusing at the centers of power and enmity at Islamabad, China apparently remained calm on the internal situation at Islamabad, but, diplomatically dealt with the establishment and persuaded it to negotiate with India through backdoor channels. Sudden appearance of Indian delegation on 23rd March parade at Islamabad and then at Shanghai Co-operation summit again at Islamabad in May 2018 was the result of the same backdoor diplomacy and China’s diplomatic muscles.

Now, that there is an interim government at Islamabad and it has limited powers to act as a neutral body for the transfers of powers to next elected government, if elections are to be held as announced. Mighty establishment has free hand during this interim period to negotiate the external affairs with any country including India. As a first step the ISPR (Inter Services Public Relations) on 29th May 2018 (soon after the announcement of interim PM) tweeted the first sign of establishment’s anticipated strategies that the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both the countries have agreed to implement the ceasefire agreement of 2003 on working boundary and LOC in Jammu Kashmir. India, on the other hand has realized that it failed time and again to achieve any results for peace building with Pakistan over the last 7 decades by negotiating with democratic representatives of Pakistan. Only when it negotiated with General Musharraf, there was a hazy ray of hope in the bilateral relations. Now, the political actors at Delhi are willing to avail the opportunity to deal with establishment at Islamabad and would possibly be taking the advantage of the small window created in the absence of democratically elected government at Islamabad. If, it is true, in next few months India would be given a green signal to join the CPEC via Wagah and in turn, India would definitely do so because it wanted a fair share to export her products to a wider international market using the affordable land route passing near her immediate borders. As a matter of fact, to validate this hypothesis, timing of “The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace” by A.S.Dulat and Asad Durani is a very important variable for the experts of Track-II diplomacy in bilateral negotiations and International affairs.

Apparently, OBOR is all about building massive stuff, mostly around transport and energy: roads, bridges, gas pipelines, ports, railways, and power plants but internal to this mega economic initiative are the political designs of the region. On May 15 Chinese president has indicated at Beijing by saying “We have no intention to form a small group detrimental to stability. What we hope to create is a big family of harmonious co-existence.” “Harmonious co-existence” in its core is a self-explanatory doctrine that needs no further explanation if we look at the political and strategic demography of the region.

On this political design and economic map of the region, only one important variable, the geo-strategic one, is missing as always and that is the leadership of Jammu Kashmir residing at Srinagar, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit. If there were a wise and unified leadership in Jammu Kashmir, considering the geo-political importance of their country in this mega economic voyage, they would have negotiated their prime concerns of basic human, civil, cultural and economic rights with the trio of China-India and Pakistan and would have used this opportunity as a “political economy”. The politically naive administrators at Muzaffarabad and Gilgit have shown their unskillfulness, inability and parasite nature by compromising on a small chunk of personal benefits with Islamabad. While, Srinagar government on the other hand would also be following the same suit if they are to be taken aboard by Delhi in coming future. Absence of collaboration between resistance movement in all the divided regions of Jammu Kashmir and Kashmiri diaspora creates vacuum for both India and Pakistan to discuss the issues bilaterally ignoring the primary party to the conflict. Proxies on both sides would be taken aboard and once again negotiating and solving the Jammu Kashmir conflict per wishes of citizens of former Jammu Kashmir State would be swept under the carpet of doubted political history of two nuclear giants of South Asia. This colossal error and political dishonesty on behalf of so called leadership of Jammu Kashmir would, once again politically impel the entire State of Jammu Kashmir in protracted situation where wishes for lasting peace associated with human freedoms and political independence would be dishonored and another generation of proxies would be in making to safeguard the economic and strategic interests of India and Pakistan at the cost of 20 million citizens of Jammu Kashmir.

(Nayyar N Khan is a US-based political analyst, peace and human rights activist and a free-lance journalist of Kashmiri origin. His area of concentration is International Peace and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at globalpeace2002@hotmail.com)