Cat-And-Mouse Games & The Political Implications Of MR-Modi Meeting

By Rasika Jayakody –SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Rasika Jayakody

China’s entry into the rural infrastructure and plantation sector in Sri Lanka is an indication of what the Asian superpower is becoming, or has already become, to Sri Lanka: a rich friend slowly buying you over by throwing money at your every problem.

In the first three years of this government, China’s involvement in Sri Lanka was confined to several mammoth development projects in Colombo and down south. China also acquired operations of the newly constructed port in Hambantota on a 99-year lease. Although China’s move to acquire Hambantota alarmed India, there wasn’t any explicit show of resentment by New Delhi, at least on diplomatic and political levels.

This year, however, China advanced into two other sectors in Sri Lanka – rural infrastructure development (in the North) and the plantation sector. It is no coincidence that Northern development and the plantation sector are two areas that India, China’s greatest contender in the region, is deeply sensitive about.

In April, state-run China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co Ltd won a more than $300 million project bid to build 40,000 houses in Jaffna, with China’s Exim providing the financing. Although the project has been halted due to residents demanded brick houses instead of the concrete structures planned by the firm, China’s presence in Jaffna sent an alarming sign to India.

Then last month, China committed to investing US $30-40 million to assist Sri Lanka’s rubber industry – still a fraction of the overall investments planned for the plantation sector of Sri Lanka. Although unclear whether the investment will be limited to the rubber industry or if China will pump money into the tea industry as well, it is clear that China is eying Sri Lanka’s plantation sector and the Sri Lankan government is willingly holding the door open.

It is immaterial whether or not the current Sri Lankan government is deliberately playing the ‘China card’ against India. The reality is that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government – desperate to show some ‘results’ on the ground before an all-important Presidential election in 2020 – has limited options when it comes to financiers. And although the current government is described by the opposition as neo-liberal and exceedingly Western-oriented, the West has been of very little help in terms of FDIs and foreign aid. In China, they have found a lavish spender, willing to lead the government out of this perceived ‘lack of development’ before the next election, and in this, it seems, investment partners are chosen on a ‘first come -first served’ basis.

How is it that China has gained an edge over India? It has, in my opinion, something to do with the pace at which the two countries move on the investment decision making and delivery fronts. India has frustrated the Sri Lankan government more than once by taking too long to deliver results, whereas China has been quite consistent with delivery and with meeting the deadlines – deadlines which are, too often, tied to political realities. Therefore, with a crucial election around the corner, leaders of the government cannot see a better partner than in China, to prove ‘rapid development’ to their electorate. China, understandably, is using this increasing dependency on it, to position itself strategically in the Indian Ocean, right under the nose of India.

China’s growing presence in new areas of the Sri Lankan economy is a discomforting for India. But, how can India fight it? India is clearly no longer in any position to beat China on the aid front. The only possible way New Delhi can ‘counterbalance’ China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka is through political manoeuvring – in a cat-and-mouse game India and Sri Lanka have been playing for more than four decades now.

It is against this backdrop that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was invited to New Delhi by his long-standing friend Subramanian Swamy, a BJP MP and the leader of the Virat Hindustan Sangam. The former Sri Lankan President’s presence in New Delhi has sparked a debate on if the Modi administration orchestrated the invitation extended by Swamy.

Rajapaksa, it must be pointed out, had a rocky relationship with India at the time he fell out of power in January, 2015. He even publicly accused the Indian intelligence agency of conspiring to topple his government. The dynamics, however, have shifted over the past three years and Rajapaksa’s proxy party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, won the Local Government election earlier this year and have vowed to return to power at the next national election.

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Namal and the Sinhala Crown Prince Syndrome

2018-09-14

Janabalaya Kolombata mass protest that immediately had many post-mortems conducted on it, was concluded as one engineered to project young Namal Rajapaksa as the Crown Prince of the Rajapaksas.

Some insanely anti-Rajapaksa social media activists, including those planted for that very purpose, went on a blitzkrieg displaying their ignorance and indecency more than any other.

There was nothing unusual with Namal taking the lead with other JO and SLPP stalwarts sitting around him at media briefings.

Mahinda and Shiranthi as parents planned to make Namal the Crown Prince over a long time. Could that come as reality is a different discussion.

The Hambantota District was ear-marked and reserved for Namal from day one. Thus Chamal Rajapaksa’s eldest son Shashi Rajapaksa was moved to Moneragala and made the Uva Province Chief Minister.

Basil Rajapaksa, who was Private Secretary to Mahinda, when Mahinda was elected Beliatte MP in 1970 and managed all Hambantota election campaigns for Mahinda, went to contest the Gampaha District. Hambantota was from where Namal had to enter politics.

In politically intelligent democratic societies, with democratic political parties and democratic traditions, this is not how leaders are elected.

Yet, in our society where democracy is the namesake, procedural and dysfunctional, and continues with feudal values, traditions and bondages, what else can there be?

Nothing but feudal

The Anuradhapura kingdom was handed over by King Mutaseeva to his four sons, Devanam Piyatissa, Uttiya, Mahasiva and Mahanaga, who ruled Anuradhapura one after the other, except Mahanaga.

Devanam Piyatissa’s consort Ramadhatta conspired to kill Mahanaga to have her son on the throne after Mahasiva.

The conspiracy failed but made Mahanaga flee Anuradhapura with his family and establish himself as the first king of Ruhuna.

Mahinda and Shiranthi planned to make Namal the Crown Prince over a long time

After King Dutugemunu, the Anuradhapura kingdom was handed over to brother Saddhatissa. His four sons LanjaTissa, Thulattana, Kallata and Walagamba ruled Anuradhapura.

Once deposed by Dravidian rulers, Walagamba who regained power the second time, was succeeded thereafter by his nephew Mahachula Mahatissa and son Chora Naga.

This remained the tradition till the fall of the last kingdom in Kandy. The only deviation was when Queen Anula decided who would sit on the throne as she pleases and that only for a very short period of five years.

Modern feudalism

Feudal as we are, this tradition continues to date in our mainstream political parties in post-Independence Sri Lanka.

The first PM of independent Lanka Mahamanya D.S. Senanayake was the first to have his son ascend premiership, after his demise. In 1947, the first Parliament of independent Ceylon with D.S. Senanayake as PM had leading figures like R.G. Senanayake and Sir John Kotalawala, both close relatives of Senanayake and also J.R. Jayewardene and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike as formidable leaders in his UNP Government.

Bandaranaike having bargained for leadership and disappointed, left the Government in September 1951 to form his own SLFP.

Six months later, PM Senanayake had a tragic death riding his horse at Galle Face Green in March 1952. This created a tussle for Premiership that was intervened with stealth by the then UNP General Secretary Sir Ukwatte Jayasundera, a very respected criminal lawyer, Sir Oliver Gunathilake, always granted to be a top manipulator, and by Sir Ivor Jennings, respected by all parties to have Dudley Senanayake, the son, as PM.

The SLFP differs less. Bandaranaike came to power in a popular coalition with Philip Gunawardena in 1956.

Most tragically he was assassinated in September 1959.

W. Dahanayake was then appointed PM and he dissociated himself from the SLFP forming his own political party the Lanka Prajathanthrawadi Pakshaya (LPP).
After four months of survival politics, a general election was held in March 1960.

Dudley Senanayake had returned to politics to lead the party (Bothale Walauwa had a very strong claim for leadership in UNP), but could not win a majority. The SLFP led by that astute politician C.P de Silva, born in Randombe, Balapaitiya, reduced UNP to 50 seats, winning 46 for the SLFP.

Governor General Sir Oliver Gunathilake, who could have asked C.P de Silva to form a Government (Was possible with many anti-UNP groups counting around 15 MPs) instead called for another election in July 1960.

The SLFP leadership that included very influential politicians like T.B Ilangaratne and Badi-ud-din Mahmud wanted certain victory and believed Sirimavo, the widow of late Bandaranaike, would be the answer.

She was brought on stage and having won the elections, was appointed a Senator to be the first woman PM in the world. The SLFP thus came to be sealed as the property of Bandaranaikes.

Their son Anura Bandaranaike, who came to politics in 1977 contesting the multi-seat Nuwara-Eliya electorate, was made a Senior Vice President of SLFP over and above Maithripala Senanayake, who was even senior to Madam Bandaranaike in the SLFP.

Almost 20 years junior in politics to even Mahinda Rajapaksa, Anura was promoted as National Organiser of the party without any objections.

In 1994 Chandrika Kumaratunga, who defected with her husband Vijaya Kumaratunge, the popular film idol to form the SLMP in 1982 was brought back to the party to lead the 1994 August elections.

Her only qualification, being the daughter of the two Bandaranaike Prime Ministers.

When a dynasty folds up

The ancient tradition is such where a dynasty ends with none to succeed, another influential family steps in. With the demise of Dudley Senanayake in 1973 April, J.R. Jayewardene, with a strong claim to UNP leadership took over the party.

In 1975 with amendments to the party Constitution he became its almighty leader.

While promoting young lawyers like Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake, he also brought his nephew Ranil Wickremesinghe into party hierarchy.

Young Wickremesinghe was never seen in politics until he was elected to Parliament for the first time from Biyagama in 1977.

He was immediately appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and President Jayewardene felt he should be further promoted and was made a Minister be the youngest in Jayawardene’s Cabinet.

Wickremesinghe’s rise to UNP leadership, no doubt, was due to the untimely and tragic deaths of President Premadasa and 1994 Presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake.

Yet, it would not have been possible without his kinship to Jayewardene.

Lined up again for UNP leadership is Wickremesinghe’s close relative Ruwan Wijewardne, who was made State Minister of Defence in Ranil Wickremesinghe’s present Government.

The only exception to this long historical tradition is President Premadasa. He left his family totally outside his politics.

That being a very rare exception, the old feudal tradition wasn’t lost even in the Trotskyite Sama Samaja Party.

Having lost all its rich democratic traditions by 1970s, Prof Tissa Vitharana was made Leader of the LSSP as he was a nephew of Dr N.M Perera.

With Indian feudalism

Feudalism isn’t absent even in Indian mainstream politics. The Indian Congress that grew with the Indian Freedom Movement formed the first Government in independent India in 1947, with Jawaharlal Nehru the most respected Congress leader as PM.

His stature bound with India’s feudalism brought his daughter Indira Gandhi to Congress leadership and was twice PM of India.

When she was assassinated by a Sikh soldier, the Congress brought her eldest son Rajiv Gandhi to fill her vacancy. The repeat was when LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi.

His Italian born wife Sonia Gandhi was made the Congress leader and their son Rahul Gandhi succeeded as Congress leader.

Seventy years after independence, feudalism in India has Nehru’s great-grandson carrying the family leadership in the Congress.

Now with Rajapaksas

The Rajapaksas too have a long political history. Hambantota came to be their bastion of power with D.M Rajapaksa elected to the State Council in 1935. His sudden demise brought his younger brother D.A. Rajapaksa, an idling petty landowner to fill his vacancy.

D.M’s sons, Lakshman and George were still schooling. They both entered politics on their father’s heritage, while Mahinda entered politics after his father’s demise, followed much later by elder brother Chamal.

From D.M’s lineage, Nirupama, the daughter of George Rajapaksa came to politics long after George passed off and Namal is already lined up behind Mahinda.

This is no rural tradition though. Urban professionals in Colombo who believe Gotabhaya should be the next Sinhala Buddhist Presidential Candidate picked on him for his Rajapaksa lineage.

The right to decide who the Crown Prince will be is no responsibility of the urban Sinhala Buddhist Professionals. That is the sole responsibility of the Rajapaksa family.

Though not the eldest in the family, Mahinda is their most popular undisputed political King.

It was Mahinda who therefore decided on the Crown Prince. Once Mahinda decided, though, with reservations, others did accept.

This is no family arrogance as diehard anti-Rajapaksa urbanites keep saying. It is the old feudal heritage this blinded society carries along.

It thus allows political parties to drive along without any answers to the most demanding issues in society. There is no effort made to understand what goes wrong, where and how. In short, this society feels satisfied with a new leader brought on feudal traditions, whatever the shade of the candidate.

Unless this ancient feudal tradition is challenged and concrete answers are demanded on major social issues, Sri Lanka would have to live with lesser mortals every time a leader is selected and elected.

True story behind Mahinda and Namal Sept.12 th Indian tour..! Mahinda burns his own cash on workshop in India..!!

(Lanka e News - 12.Sep.2018, 6.45PM) Indians are well noted for fattening on others’ deaths and despair. They will eat, drink and rejoice even right in the midst of ‘three deaths ’ . It is a well known fact that there exists an endless conflict over India’s territorial borders with Pakistan and China. In order to continue its business monopoly it also has conflicts with Nepal and Bhutan. There is also the issue of Bangla Deshis jumping over the fence . Catching them is like catching frogs .

Following the exit of Congress party of Manmohan Singh, it was Bharathi Janatha party (BJP) that took over the reins. . Narendra Modi is an individual capable of plucking an eye of another even if he just passes by him. He is pioneering all fields of disciplines enlisting the assistance of many racketeers. Subramaniam Swamy is one such racketeer .Swamy is a ‘hunting dog’ of Modi but known to the Indian mass media as just a ‘joker’. He is another court jester and a thug not second to our own rascally Mervyn Silva when it comes to conduct, habits and affinities.

Mahinda who forgot his origins before China’s Yuan

Mahinda was the political leader during the war in the North. Because Sonia wanted to avenge the death of her husband on the murderers Mahinda received tacit support from the Indian government. After the war Mahinda was showered with extraordinary support by India . India even went as far as to refuse visas to journalists trying to visit India who were anti Mahinda government.

During the 2010 presidential elections , Fonseka sought to meet the Indian state leaders, but at the request of Rajapakses, India declined to have any diplomatic exchanges with him. After Shirani Bandaranaaike was expelled from the post of chief justice by Rajapakses , India which was in the ready to invite her to deliver a lecture at an Indian University halted that move because it might offend Rajapakses .

When Indian Congress government told , K.P. is wanted by India , SL gave a tough reply and asked, whether he cannot be interrogated in SL ? which answer India calmly accepted. Nevertheless Mahinda forgot the goodness of and the good India did to him .

Mahinda and Swamy, the Raigamaya and Gampolaya

Mahinda instead of showing gratitude to the Congress government tried to hoodwink it. He went to Jaffna and said , ‘ you Dhemala (Tamil man ) ,you can stay or get out, ’ without creating an environment for reconciliation .He mortgaged the country to China and gave permission for Chinese military submarines to stay.

The attachment between Mahinda and Subramaniam Swamy is like that between Raigamaya and Gampolaya . Swamy who can be an out and out cut- throat if that suits his selfish agendas , taught Mahinda well and thoroughly how to dupe India , and motivated him on the sly to put through deals with China.

Mahinda unwittingly became a pawn of Bharathi Janatha party, whereby the Congress government which was eating , drinking and enjoying amidst ‘three deaths’ acquired another dead body . The Congress which was running in all directions amidst crises, lost its popularity among the people. When the elections came in the heels of this unpopularity BJP registered a historic triumph. Modi became the prime minister and 71 years old Swamy secured a powerful minister post .

How Modi and Subramaniam Swamy screwed up Mahinda in 2014…

It was Mahinda himself who announced that India’s RAW espionage service was behind his defeat in 2014. Indian P.M. Narendra Modi is RAW’s top rung commander .

Swamy is the assistant to Modi , and his play mate in Modi’s gunny sack deadly ‘games’. No sooner both came to power than they got together and screwed up Mahinda wholesale . They carried out all the underhand treacheries against Mahinda. The latter was made to grope in the dark so much so he did not know anything at all until Sirisena appeared on the opposition platform suddenly , soon after the most cordial and convivial ‘hopper clout’ with Mahinda.

The outcome : Sirisena was put on the presidential throne with fresh expectations . With the victory of the good governance government, it was Indian High Commissioner in SL who went and greeted Sirisena on 2015-01-09 morning with a bouquet ,and the first State leader to congratulate Sirisena was Narendra Modi, the Indian government leader at that time. Yet to the consternation of all, Sirisena turned ungrateful much faster than Mahinda. Sirisena even before the ink used in the swearing in ceremony of his had dried- he cut and bit the very hand that fed him . He then started having nocturnal get together sessions daily with the Rajapakses who were sent on pension by India.

The best phase of the story series of the Rajapakse –Sirisena discussions has now been reached.

Rajapakse and Sirisena eat together in same house…

Mahinda Rajapakse ‘s attitude towards his brothers is analogous to that in relation to underworld members .That is , to eliminate one , he uses another. Finally he ‘liquidates’ the other too. This is how he dealt with Basil , Gota and Chamal . Right now Mahinda is at the brink of isolation. The day following the Janabalaya protest , he began installing a lift in his Colombo residence. This is because he is now unable to climb stairs. His ambition is, before he is pushed into oblivion and isolation , to project Namal as his successor before the Sri Lankans and internationally.

Mahinda who was secretly sharing the ‘meal’ secretly so far is now ready to do it openly , that is he is prepared to concede the presidency to Sirisena in 2020. As a reciprocation Namal is to be made the P.M. Sirisena of course is in concurrence with that in all eagerness.

The Janabalaya was got down to Colombo to demonstrate Namal’s capability . The first round of Mahinda –Sirisena 2020 story which is all about Namal being popularized locally is over. The next episode relates to India .

Mahinda’s workshop at his own expense designed to ‘galvanize the henchmen’

The task of popularizing Namal in India in this Rajapakse –Sirisena 2020 drama is entrusted to Swamy. Leaving for India immediately after the Janabala ‘show’ in Colombo to meet Narendra Modi is the foremost plan .

The ‘janabala’ which was to be staged in August was postponed until 5 th September in order to somehow grab an appointment with Modi . The excuse given for the postponement that it was because of the GCE ord. level examinations is an absolute lie .During a time when there was no opportunity for Mahinda to meet Modi , by this Mahinda managed to secure an opportunity to deliver a lecture on the 12 th pertaining to the history and the future of the Indo Lanka relations.

Namal and G.L Peiris along with Mahinda are to attend this event. This workshop is organized by the ‘Virath Hindu force’ which is a group who are followers of Subramaniam Swamy. Mahinda saying to the local stooges this workshop was organized by the BJP is therefore another blatant lie.

This is organized by a group of hangers on of Swamy – the PTs (patriotic tweeples -Swamy’s followers) and VHS (Virat Hindu Sena Swamy’s followers) . The BJP had nothing to do with this program. The biggest ludicrous and ridiculous part of this comedy drama is , all the expenses of this workshop is being met by Mahinda. He is to be finally awarded the title ’Lankaratne’ out of his own money. A mendacious megalomaniac will tell any lie , spend any amount and stoop to any deceit if only he can get himself ‘crowned’ even if he knows he is being treated as a clown by the very crowd crowning him.

RAW will only want its own horse to win , it will not bet on horses running on the track.

Swamy is one who is possessed by a mania to address media briefings and make a selfish cheap ostentatious display even if he hasn’t anything to eat or drink. Swamy is glad he can kill two birds with one stone at Mahinda’s expense on 12 th September, while Mahinda on that occasion can give the impression to Modi that China knelt down before him .Vaiko the bankrupt politico who was without a rope even to hang himself can also now find a berth. When Vaiko agitates , Mahinda will get an opportunity to scream and shout ‘ tigers are rising’ , and use that to achieve his dastardly and despicable goals.

However , Mahinda and Sirisena may have forgotten the final crucial part of the story because Mahinda and Sirisena are now behaving as though they were dead and were reborn. In any event , the ‘knock out’ punches Mahinda and Sirisena dealt to Modi after getting together with China can never be forgotten by Modi any day.

Though Mahinda and Sirisena are thinking they would receive the blessings of Modi for their unholy wedding out of wedlock in 2020 , there is no possibility at all for such blessings truly. Whether the crowd that gathered for the Janabala in Colombo was 25,00 or 250, 000 , means nothing to cunning Modi. RAW does not bet on horses running on the track . Rather it is an organization that makes horses of its choice to win .

By Keerthi Ratnayake

A former officer of the intelligence service of the forces.

Translated by Jeff

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by     (2018-09-12 13:21:58)

Sri Lanka: Conspiracy against the head of intelligence and senior officers exposed

Senior Police officers, Nilantha Jayawardena, M R Latheef and Nandana Munasinghe are being targeted by the head of TID, Nalaka de Silva

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by Our Defence Correspondent-Sep 13, 2018

Sep 13, 2018

(September 13, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In a rare press conference held in Kandy, yesterday, by one of the anti-graft social activists Namal Kumara, director operation of a social movement called, Anti-Corruption Force ( Dushana Virodhi Balakaaya) has disclosed an ugly part of the ongoing internal rift within the Department of Police in Sri Lanka, one of the largest state entities in the island.

According to the alleged audio records of the telephone conversations played during the press briefing, the activist was ordered by a senior police officer who is heading the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), to tarnish the reputation of certain highly regarded officers in the department.

“What you have to propagate is that it was not the senior DIG Kandy but the director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) is the one who instigated the mayhem in Digana, Kandy, [where the tension between Sinhalese and Muslims were taken place by the following assassination of a Sinhalese unarmed driver by a group of Muslim youth],” Director of the TID ordered.

Excerpts (translated from Sinhala) of the telephone conversation played during the press briefing follows;

DIG Nalaka de Silva: Can’t you instigate Buddhist monks against him?

Namal Kumara: You meant, against SIS Boss?

DIG Nalaka de Silva: Yes

Namal Kumara: No problem at all; what I need is accurate information.

DIG Nalaka de Silva: I shall pass the information to tarnish his reputation. Especially, the case of Amith Weerasinghe, [who is heading the Mahasohon Balakaya, main responsible party for the ethnic tension in Digana]. What you have to propagate is that it was not the DIG Kandy but DIG SIS is the one who played the pivotal role in motivating him against Muslims.

Namal Kumara:  What was his name, I don’t remember

DIG Nalaka de Silva: Nilantha Jayawardene

Namal Kumara: Ah… Nilantha Jayawardene

DIG Nalaka De Silva: Yes

Namal Kumara: Does Prime Minister trust him?

DIG Nalaka de Silva: Not only Prime Minister but also the President trusts him

Namal Kumara: Ah… they trust him

DIG Nalaka de Silva: But if you spread these rumours then the Prime Minister will drop him

Namal Kumara: Ah…

DIG Nalaka de Silva: Whether information is correct or wrong it doesn’t matter

Namal Kumara: No worries, give me anything

Namal Kumara: I came to know about Mr Latheef. (Head of the STF Senior DIG M R Latheef )

DIG Nalaka de Silva: He must be removed from the STF then all power accumulated by him will be demolished. He has power as long as he is with the STF. I must sit on his chair, so then I can exercise all my duties without hesitation. There is another man called Nandana Munasinghe.

Namal Kumara: Yes, DIG Nandana Munasinghe, he was DIG Colombo; but now, I guess, he is in the East.

DIG Nalaka de Silva: Yes, he is the main troublemaker. He is the one who helped Buddhist monks to get bail.

DIG Nalaka de Silva: It is known that the President and Prime Minister are having a sort of internal crisis.

Namal Kumara: Yes, That’s true.

DIG Nalaka de Silva: In this situation, we must extol the Prime Minister. We can’t praise President because no one close to him is trustworthy. All those who are with the President is working for Gotabaya (Former Secretary to the Ministry of Defense)

By concluding the media briefing, Namal Kumara says, “I decided to come forward as I believe the media is the only way to protect the outspoken voices and defend them.”

“ DIG Nalaka De Silva was introduced to me by the incumbent Inspector General of Police, Pujith Jayasundara, introducing him as a good man. Therefore, I don’t think I can trust Police in this instance,” he further claimed.

It is clear; this exposure indicates the ongoing serious internal crisis within the Department of Police.

According to the media reports, “the National Police Commission is investigating the qualifications of DIG Nalaka de Silva.”

The investigation “follows a written complaint by DIGs Ranmal Kodithuwakku and Priyantha Weerasuriya and ASPs Nihal Thalduwa and Prasanna Alwis to the commission that there were questions with regard to the TID director’s educational qualifications and his height,” reports added.

Meanwhile, reliable sources in the Department of Police told the Sri Lanka Guardian, that immediate investigation against these type of pathetic and destructive practices of the certain officers must be conducted and those found to be guilty must be prosecuted to the maximum.

IGP ORDERS PROBE AGAINST ALLEGATIONS

Conspiracy to tarnish image of high ranking Police officers

 

Camelia Nathaniel-Friday, September 14, 2018

Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara has instructed the Police Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to investigate the allegations levelled against DIG Nalaka de Silva, who heads the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID), Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekera said. The allegations were levelled against the DIG at a press briefing held in Kandy last Wednesday by a social activist named Namal Kumara, director operation of a social movement called, Anti-Corruption Force (Dushana Virodhi Balakaaya).

During the conversations, both individuals allegedly conspire to tarnish the image of several high-ranking Police officers and also other conspiracies within the government.

During the press briefing he had allegedly revealed to the media certain audio recordings of alleged phone conversations between himself and the DIG.

According to the audio recordings of telephone conversations played during the press briefing, the activist had been allegedly ordered by the Head of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), to tarnish the reputation of certain high ranking officers in the police department.

In the recoded conversation that was played at the press conference, DIG Nalaka de Silva gives instructions to tarnish the image of DIG STF blaming him as the one who played a pivotal role in motivating Amith Weerasinghe of the Mahasohon Balakaya,against Muslims. There is another man called Nandana Munasinghe,” DIG Nalaka de Silva says in the recording.

He blames Nandana Munasinghe accusing him of being the main person who helped Buddhist monks to get bai

Dumping On Sri Lanka Culture

By Christopher Rezel –SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Christopher Rezel

A female payment hawker forcefully voices her revulsion on a video clip doing the rounds regarding excrement on the pavement where she conducts her business.

Her complaint follows the recent Janabalaya Kolombata.

The clip contains other protesting voices but I focus on the woman’s complaint and the neglect at providing facilities for the large numbers of people that regularly come together to march or accumulate to demonstrate.

Organisers never have the foresight that people need to perform their natural functions when they gather for extended time periods.

Or is the assumption that people will somehow find a place, which of course means the nearest laneway, a convenient pavement, the Galle Face seashore, or wherever they are passing or standing at any moment?

The concept of providing portable lavatories does not seem to exist. Perhaps what’s left behind is for shit-eating stray dogs.

Consequently, after any major gathering in Colombo or elsewhere, the stench of urine and shit overpoweringly marks where people have marched or accumulated.

And the excuse that contaminated milk was secretly passed around has never been needed.

Such behaviour is repugnant. It is suggestive of Sri Lanka’s dumping on their proud centuries-old traditions and culture.

Public toilets

Perhaps this is an occasion to discuss public toilets. Most city councils, including Colombo, are unaware that transiting masses need to regularly evacuate bladder and bowels.

If ever someone is brave enough to approach one of the few public toilets scattered far and wide, the stench will usually drive them to seek out a concealed open-air location.

If compelled however to enter for say Number One, they are forced to approach on a urine flooded floor.

If it’s Number Two, readers will easily recall the state in which they have found public squatting pans or toilet bowls.

How our women manage their requirements is not even up for discussion in our male dominated society.

A dearth of public toilets, male and female, is not the only problem. Regular and proper maintenance cycles is another.

Added to that is bad toilet training and indifferent adult usage.

Most people are happy to go into a clean toilet but leave it with their signature splattered everywhere. They’ll piss on the floor and leave their evacuations for someone else to flush away.

Or they will clog up the toilet bowl by chucking into it anything and everything. After all, they know they will not return for a second use of that particular toilet until another day.

In Fort, even the few toilets in commercial cafes and firms open to the public fail the stink and befouling test. Toilet facilities provided usually meet all general requirements. But it seems no one bothers with supervising upkeep.

They usually look and stink as if they are cleaned but once before closing time. It is ignored that 15 minutes after opening time, there will be urine and shit everywhere.

This goes for toilets in the Dutch hospital shopping precinct and that provided by an esteemed café famous for cakes and pastries. Again, indifferent usage and lack of upkeep the problem.

There seems to be another problem with Sri Lankan males using toilets. Most ignore washing their hands on completing their business, whether One or Two.

In addition, because of an exaggerated notion about organ size, they’ll stand a yard away from urinal or toilet bowl, assume their hose pipe to be a foot long, and spray surrounding walls, floor, shoes and feet.

To overcome such haphazard showers, washrooms in the Fort Hilton lobby have fresh, gleaming white bathmats under each of its urinals.

The Hilton’s extensive, gleaming and fragrant smelling washrooms provide all facilities for proper hygiene – toilet rolls, washing sinks, soap, paper towels.

In addition, a male attendant is on hand should there be an inadequacy.

But notwithstanding all such Hilton planning, this writer once stood next to someone we would not hesitate calling a gentleman, a mahatmaya. He was in expensive western suit and tie. He finished his business at the urinal, shook himself off vigorously, then left the facility without washing his hands, leaving behind all his drippings and other impure deposits on the exit door handle.

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The irreparable loss

Forests-Beyond The Wood - VII

by Dr. Ranil Senanayake-September 10, 2018, 9:31 pm 

Sri Lanka’s Rainforests can be traced back to the mountains of Gondwanaland some 20 million years ago. They moved across the island in response to climate changes through this time but because of the shape of the mountains always had refugia in the South Western quarter. The biodiversity developed as a response to the mountains acting as ‘islands’ during times of drought and desiccation. Thus, the rainforests contain elements of a relict fauna, once shared with Africa. The bizarre horned lizards of the Genus Ceratophora are an example.

These forests remained generally inviolate since their formation, the Sinhalese civilizations who maintained historical records going back over 2200 years do not indicate the use of the mountains and rainforests for settlement or agriculture. It was only towards the 15th and 16th centuries that the montane zone became populated, but even then, the only anthropomorphic landscapes of consequence were in the flood plains of the river valleys, which were turned into rice fields.

The Rainforests began to be impacted and the ‘’Continuous Forest’ landscape gave way to the ‘’Colonial’ landscape’ around 1700-1800. Forests were felled for timber export and plantation industry was in its infancy with small monocultures of Cinnamon. The large scale felling of forests began after 1820 when all land without title was deemed 'crown land' and sold to commercial interests in the West. The 'coffee boom' of 1835 was a rush for land that was only equalled by the rush for land during the gold discoveries in the U.S.

The early colonial landscapes saw the creation of new ecosystems or 'agro ecosystems' that usually had exotic organisms as the dominant species. They contained large areas of monoculture, first coffee, then tea, rubber and coconut; these ecosystems replaced the more diverse indigenous forms. Coffee and tea replaced montane forests, rubber replaced lowland rainforest and coconut replaced lowland rainforest and evergreen forest. A further problem with these crops was the fact that large quantities of firewood were required in processing for export. The source of firewood was from the forest ecosystems of the landscape. Thus this period saw a reduction of indigenous landscapes not only as a consequence of forest clearing, but also as a consequence of timber and firewood extraction. Much of the original agricultural endeavour at this time did not pay any heed to good management practices. Thus large areas began to loose topsoil, became impoverished and were abandoned to become fire maintained grasslands. Indigenous landscapes were transformed, the new landscape containing far less natural forest.

The late colonial period saw landscapes that were being managed to sustain some element of ecological stability. The lessons of land degradation were learnt early and sound land management practices were instituted. Shade trees, windbreaks, contour planting; terracing and draining began to emerge as management characters. Even at this time the loss of indigenous species and ecosystems was occurring,

The loss of rainforest biodiversity in the last two hundred years is incalculable. Simply in terms of soils alone the loss is not confined to nutrients and organic matter, the loss of species specialized for life soil ecosystems is suggested by the existence of a large number of genera and species of earth snakes, such as Rhinophis, Aspidura, Thyphops and Aspidura suggest the diversity of the ecosystems that they once evolved in.

Currently most of the existing patches of rainforest come under the purview of the Forest Department, which has already stated that ‘reaching the target of 32% of forest cover would be an impossible task’, in the face of ‘ongoing development activities particularly with launching new irrigation projects and improving the infrastructure with highways and expressways’. The forests they hold do not enjoy any protected status in law and could be designated ‘multiple use’ indicating that timber extraction or ‘development’ is a valid activity in these forests. Protection from timber extraction and clearing for ‘development’ must become a feature of such patches. All Rainforest Patches need to be identified and strict conservation status conferred upon them if the massive loss of biodiversity is to be slowed.

The rainforest has also left some relict populations on the eastern side of the land to remind of its once massive spread . The Dipterocarpus forest in Uda Kirawa at Lunugala in the dry eastern side of the central mountain is such a remnant fragment of the rainforest. Nestled between two mountain ridges such protected valleys have manged to retain much of the tree and shrub species, but due to the felling and clearing of the watershed has lost all of its native fish fauna. There are moves to restore this loss in a combined project with the Depts of Zoology, Forestry , Wildlife and the private sector, but many other fragments remain.

Thus the assessment of species within restricted or fragmented must be undertaken quickly. The recent fragmentation of the rainforests into small patches means genetic isolation and drift has already begun. This not only means local extinctions due to the ‘Island Geography’ effect come into effect, but also marked differences in their gene frequencies creating ‘chimeral’ patterns that are easily confused with new species. Thus, new non destructive methonds of mapping biodiversity within such patches needs to be developed as collecting and preserving specimens may lead to extinctions in small, isolated populaions. Confusing taxonomy with conservation may have serious national repercussions.

The conservation challenge is how to connect the isolated patches through the creation of corridors or by developing homegardens to be more ‘analagous’ or similar to the forest. In this manner it might be possible to win back some of the massive output of Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) that we lost with the destruction of our rainforests. The great rainforests of Sri Lanka are gone, can we think about a forestry programme that seeks to build back at least some of it and create space for native biodiversity within antropogenic ecosystems.

In our national effort to reach the goal of 32 percent of forest cover, we should appreciate what a forest is, so that we cannot be taken for a ride with all new ‘forestry’projects . This is a contribution seeking to inform that appreciation.

Conservation (picture courtesy: PTI)

How Israel’s bogus definition of anti-Semitism shuts down free speech

Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn gather outside Labour Party headquarters in London ahead of a 4 September meeting at which the party’s national executive fully adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism favored by the Israel lobby. Ben CawthraSIPA USA)

Steven Garside-12 September 2018

The fierce campaign to cajole, bully and shame the UK Labour Party into adopting a controversial definition of anti-Semitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) – along with its 11 working examples – has been waged all summer long by pro-Israel lobby groups inside and outside the party.

It has finally come to a head with Labour’s official acceptance of the document at a meeting of its ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) on 4 September.

One of the most insidious tactics employed by Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) and the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) – the two organized vocal Zionist campaign groups inside the Labour Party – has been to claim it is an innocuous and uncontroversial document.

It is, in the words of John Mann, a Labour parliamentarian and arch critic of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a “very humdrum, mundane definition of anti-Semitism that left parties across the world have been happy to accept along with everyone else.”

It would have no impact on the right to campaign for Palestinians, Mann has maintained as, after all, the IHRA “has got absolutely nothing to do with the rights of Palestinians … It’s got to do with abuse, attacks and racism against Jewish people.”

This lie has been repeated time and again. Labour Friends of Israel lawmaker Jess Phillips – who once infamously laughed about “stabbing” Corbyn “in the front” – also flippantly waved away any free speech concerns before the crucial NEC vote:

“I want the IHRA adopted in full. I think the current Israeli government are racist [sic] who are currently doing all they can at home and with their allies in the US to isolate and cripple Palestinian lives to the point of both hopelessness and retaliation. Look how easy that was.”

Influential pro-Israel commentators in the mainstream media have been happy to peddle this dishonesty.

The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland said the charge that “the IHRA conflates legitimate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism … makes plenty of Jews want to slam their heads on their desks in frustration.” You can, he argued, “if you want, say everything the state of Israel has done since its birth has been racist.”

Against free speech

Suddenly, things have changed. The decision of the NEC to adopt the IHRA definition and examples in full on 4 September while at the same time issuing a statement claiming that those examples will not stop criticism of Israel has brought howls of outrage from the Jewish Labour Movement, Labour Friends of Israel and their supporters.

First out of the block, cautiously, was Margaret Hodge, the Labour member of Parliament and former minister who reserves for herself the free speech right to call her elected leader a “fucking racist and anti-Semite” without providing any evidence.

The free speech clarification was, she said, “an unnecessary qualification” that would only “dilute” the adoption of the IHRA examples. It was “two steps forward and one step back.”

More stridently, Simon Johnson, the Jewish Leadership Council’s chief executive, said the free speech caveat “drives a coach and horses” through the IHRA definition.

Labour Friends of Israel director Jennifer Gerber also waded in, calling the NEC’s free speech clarification an “appalling” measure which “totally undermines the other examples the party has supposedly just adopted.”

They Jewish Leadership Council and Labour Friends of Israel are of course right for once. The IHRA and free speech are – contrary to the pre-vote dishonesty of the Corbyn haters – completely incompatible.

This much has long been established by independent legal experts and affirmed by parliament’s cross-party home affairs committee which looked at the issue in 2016.

This stunning about-turn on the compatibility of free speech and the IHRA definition would be amusing if it was not so offensive to the intellect. The IHRA definition clearly attempts to police the discursive boundaries of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a way that places core, foundational issues off-limits.

For sure, under it one can still criticize elements of Israeli government policy and actions. What one cannot do is identify Israel as a racist, settler-colonial project, the original sin of which was to ethnically cleanse the indigenous population of Palestine.

Soft Zionist commentators such as Jonathan Freedland can, under the IHRA framework, continue to offer up liberal criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warm-sounding platitudes on the need for a two-state solution.

Questioning Israel’s claims of a moral and legal right to exist as a Jewish ethnocracy, which denies the right of Palestinian refugees to return, is a different matter altogether.

Rays of hope

So where does the NEC’s capitulation over the IHRA definition leave the cause of Palestine in the party? After the despair of the vote it is just possible to discern rays of hope.

Firstly, it would be foolish in the extreme if the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel thought full adoption of the IHRA definition provided any automatic mechanism for a war on pro-Palestine activists.

Outside the ranks of Labour Zionists, the frantic demands over IHRA and the anti-Semitism story have been propelled more by hostility to Corbyn’s leadership and his wider progressive agenda than sentimental attachment to Israel or a principled commitment to fighting anti-Jewish racism.

Another key variable is the balance of forces in the party beyond parliament and elite political circles, which are strongly in the left’s favor. There has always been far more skepticism of the anti-Semitism hysteria in Labour’s membership – which has resoundingly elected Corbyn twice – than has been reported.

Research in March by respected private pollsters YouGov found that 77 percent of responding party members believed the anti-Semitism crisis has been manufactured or exaggerated.

In addition, for all but the most hardcore anti-Corbynites – now openly threatening to split the party – there is a desire to move on.

Transparent attempts to use Labour’s revised code of conduct against Palestine solidarity activists risks antagonizing layers of the party hitherto receptive to the claims made by the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel.

It could backfire spectacularly.

Moreover, the most dramatic evidence of a fightback against Labour’s Israel lobby and the war on Corbyn came within days of the NEC meeting; the no-confidence vote by Enfield North Labour Party against Labour Friends of Israel chair and member of Parliament Joan Ryan for “smearing” the Labour leader and “inflaming” his “trial by media.”

The timing of the vote is hugely significant. It comes as the left’s campaign to ensure all sitting Labour MPs face compulsory reselection from local parties – driven by the relentless attacks on Corbyn – gains strength. This would mean that a member of Parliament has to win nomination in a potentially contested primary among party members, rather than automatically being chosen as Labour’s candidate before every general election.

There are also grounds for pessimism. The move against Ryan does not negate the most likely immediate impact of the IHRA definition’s full adoption: self-censorship. Having a disciplinary rule book that now conflates anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism can only have a chilling effect on all but the most bold and committed.

Unfortunately, Corbyn has done little to alleviate anxiety over the code. At the time of its adoption he made a commendable effort to secure a more robust free speech guarantee than actually agreed.
Yet, he has uncritically accepted the lobby’s narrative that there is a major “anti-Semitism crisis” in the Labour Party.

No time for defensiveness

Worse, given the space that has opened up in the mainstream media to talk about Israel, Palestine and Zionism since being elected in 2015, Corbyn has squandered countless opportunities to reframe the debate.

As an example, when recently attacked for saying that a certain group of Zionists present had lacked a sense of irony at a 2013 meeting, Corbyn offered the most minimal, unhelpful defense that he used the term “in the accurate political sense and not as a euphemism for Jewish people.”

Where was the attempt to talk about Zionism? Where was the story of historic and continuing Palestinian dispossession? These maddening silences do nothing to arrest the lobby’s offensive or further the cause of Palestine beyond those already convinced.

Continued apologetics after the adoption of the IHRA definition will leave members dangerously exposed and cement self-censorship.

Thwarting the cause of Palestine in the party is for the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel a war without end. It can only be repelled by a muscular, vigorous counternarrative, one based on unqualified support for the Palestinian cause and emphatic denunciation of Israel’s past and present crimes.
This much was evident before the NEC vote.

Margaret Hodge said Labour’s adoption of all IHRA examples on Israel would no longer satisfy her, only Corbyn’s removal.

Similarly, Stephen Kinnock, another Labour parliamentary enemy, demanded a show of “remorse” from Corbyn at the upcoming Labour Party conference.

This echoes former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ arrogant demand that Corbyn “repents and recants” for past Palestine campaigning associations.

Defensiveness will no longer do. Minutes after the NEC meeting Carwyn Jones, the first minister of Wales, told Channel 4 News he expects all Labour members who describe Israel as a “racist endeavor” to be subject to automatic disciplinary proceedings – regardless of any caveats the party has contrived.

When pressed if this was so, Tom Watson, NEC member and deputy party leader, cryptically said, “the caveat is what it says – you can make your own mind up about that.”

Watson’s response betrays the fundamental unsustainability of the NEC’s linguistic contortion.

As members of Labour’s Israel lobby now admit, inside the party either free speech or the IHRA’s “working definition” of anti-Semitism will have to give way.
We must make sure it’s the latter.

Steven Garside is a member of the UK Labour Party and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. This article is written in a personal capacity.