Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Prez Sirisena probably doesn’t know that Philippines’ drug traffickers run past Dutert

Harsh crackdown methods have failed to solve the drug problem in the Philippines

Duterte said that Sri Lanka could be a partner in addressing the trafficking of illegal drugs
Almost four million out of 106 million Filipinos were classified as drug addicts*The drug lords have managed to dodge the police
prevalence rate” of drug use by Filipinos is 2.3% which is roughly half the global average
According to practicing psychologists, there is no such thing as an “incurable drug addiction

2019-01-22

It is disconcerting to read that Sri Lanka has sought the help of the Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte to control the drug menace in the island when it is well-known that Duterte’s lawless and murderous approach has been condemned by human rights groups and psychologists both within and outside the Philippines.

Furthermore, Duterte’s methods have failed to deliver the goods. The street price of a popular drug like Shabu (methamphetamine or meth) had come down even as an estimated 12,000 lives were sacrificed at the altar of the drug elimination drive between 2016 and 2017.

“The war against crime and drugs carried out by you (Duterte) is an example to the whole world, and personally, to me. The drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel that we should follow in your footsteps to control this hazard,” President Sirisena had said in his speech at the State banquet given at Malacanang last week according to CNN Philippines.

In his speech, Duterte said that Sri Lanka could be a partner in addressing the trafficking of illegal drugs.

And sure enough, the matter figured in the Joint Statement issued on Sunday. “Both sides acknowledged the threat that crime and illegal drugs pose to society and affirmed their desire to strengthen cooperation and to share relevant experiences and best practices,” the Joint Statement said.

Duterte’s methods

Since Duterte was elected President in 2016, the Philippines police and state-backed vigilante groups have eliminated 5,000 to 12,000 suspected drug dealers and users. Exact numbers cannot be ascertained because most of the killings are unofficial and extra-judicial.

Apparently, the drug menace in the Philippines in 2016-2017 was indeed appalling. As per the US State Department’s 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, addiction to Shabu (methamphetamine or meth) was the most significant drug problem of the Philippines. A UN World Drug Report tagged the Philippines as the country having the highest rate of Shabu use in the whole of East Asia.

The Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines released a pastoral letter expressing concern about the proliferation of the drug problem in the country and the alleged involvement of Government officials.

“While people would only whisper about police officials being drug protectors in connivance with Mayors or Governors, President Rodrigo Duterte had taken the unprecedented step of disclosing the names of high ranking police and Government officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs,” the Philippine Star reported.
Estimates of the annual drug trade ranged from Peso 350 billion to Peso 500 billion (US$ 66.3 million to US$ 94.7 million). According to a report by the Philippine National Police, about 27% or 11,321 of the total 42,026 Barangays (the smallest administrative units) in Philippines were infiltrated by illegal drugs, with the situation being worse in Metro Manila. Almost four million out of 106 million Filipinos were classified as drug addicts, the paper said.

Drugs like Shabu were smuggled from China and the Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Laos and North Thailand. Given its enormous coastline and porous borders, the Philippines had become an international transit point for drugs.

To combat the menace, President Duterte allowed the police and even civilians to kill drug dealers and users. According to Amnesty International, the Government pays policemen and vigilantes for killing suspected drug users and dealers.

“We always get paid by the encounter.The amount ranges from 8,000 pesos (US$151) to 15,000 pesos (US$ 284). That amount is per head. So if the operation is against four people, that’s 32,000 pesos (US$ 606). We’re paid in cash, secretly, by headquarters.There’s no incentive for arresting. We’re not paid anything. It never happens that there’s a shootout and no one is killed,” a Metro Manila police officer told Amnesty.

According to another estimate, in any raid, 97% of the suspects were killed. Hundreds of innocents, including children, have been killed in the shootouts. Most of the dead are small time operators if not innocents. The drug lords have managed to dodge the police.

Duterte has been continually criticised for his methods by Filipino human rights activists, the Philippine Association of Psychologists and the media, but his answer would always be the same: that his strategy has worked, that it has the backing of the masses (according to a survey 85% back him), and that those who protest deserve to be killed.

He once told a journalist in an open press conference: “Just because you are a journalist it does not mean that you are exempted from assassination!”

Despite threats, critics maintain the chant that Duterte’s murderous strategy has not worked. Davao city, where the anti-drugs campaign was started when Duterte was Mayor for 22 years, is even today the crime capital of the Philippines.

If the President’s strategy has been working, why are prices of Shabu and other dangerous drugs going down and not going up, his critics ask. In 2016, the street price of a gram of Shabu was US$ 24. But in 2017, it had come down to US$ 20.

It is also pointed out that the criminalisation of the drug trade and drug use has driven the activity underground. Once it goes underground the difficulties in effectively curbing it mount. Because it has gone underground, those still in the business are the hardcore and the hardened elements who know how to dodge the long arm of the law. In other words, the problem is more intractable now than before.

Critics also say that Duterte has been exaggerating the drug problem. According to a report in The Guardian the “prevalence rate” of drug use by Filipinos is 2.3% which is roughly half the global average.

The Philippine Association of Psychologists has been urging Duterte to switch over from brutal suppression to capturing addicts and rehabilitating them. The latter technique has worked in many countries, including those of the Third World, they point out.

According to practising psychologists, there is no such thing as an “incurable drug addiction”. There are various kinds of drug users. Not all are drug dependent or drug “addicts”. In most cases, OPD treatment would suffice with community and family support, they say. The Philippines authorities are a good 30 years behind the West in understanding the real nature of the drug problem. Drug use is still seen as a law and order issue, not as a medical condition which can be treated.
There is a need for improvement in the rehabilitation centres which now house about 96,000 surrendees. They are of very poor quality.

Sri Lanka to be cautious

Though President Sirisena has a good impression of Duterte’s drug menace suppression program and though he is seeking the help of the Philippines drug control authorities, it is certain that he will not replicate Duterte’s unlawful methods, especially extra-judicial killing.

An official of the Government of Sri Lanka clarified that the President’s team was interested in the detection methods and detection strategies used by the Philippines police. Sri Lanka is a democratic country where even a death sentence given by the highest court is not carried out, the official pointed out.

Of course, President Sirisena had announced that he would sanction the carrying out of death sentences against drug traffickers who continue to run their drug trade from the death row itself. But till to date, no such convict has been identified and hanged.

And drugs are not a major problem in Sri Lanka. According to the Alcohol and Drug Information Center, there are an estimated 80,000 drug users in a total population of 20 million.

But as in the Philippines, drug abuse is criminalized in Sri Lanka. Drug addicts and traffickers fill Lankan jails. And as in the Philippines, little or no attention is paid here to rehabilitation and treatment.

Inadequate and ineffective rehabilitation has resulted in 70-80% of the addicted getting back to addiction after rehabilitation. This calls for a holistic approach which includes the involvement of the addict’s peer group, his family and the surrounding society in the rehabilitation process.

Women's frozen eggs 'should be stored for longer'

Frozen embryos being removed from storage

By Josephine McDermottBBC Victoria Derbyshire programme-21 January 2019

Women who freeze their eggs should be allowed to keep them for longer than 10 years, fertility experts are telling the government.

Legislation says frozen eggs must be destroyed after this time, unless a medical condition has left the woman prematurely infertile.

Experts told the Victoria Derbyshire programme that the limit was arbitrary and had not kept up with technology.

The government has said an extension "would be a significant policy change".

Campaigners say the method of freezing has changed since the law was created, and the current method, vitrification, means eggs can be frozen without deterioration for an indeterminate period of time.

They say the limit means a growing number of women face losing their chance of having a baby, or rushing to find a sperm donor so they can re-freeze an embryo.

Sarah Norcross, director of the Progress Educational Trust, which helps people with infertility issues, is one of the three experts due to meet junior health minister Jackie Doyle-Price on Monday.

"There's absolutely no biological reason for this law," she said. "It's discriminatory against women and removing an option for them to take charge of their reproductive system.

"If you want to freeze your eggs in your late 20s, you might not then have decided you want to use them by your late 30s."

'It was terrible and unnecessary'

Sabrina Maydew had her eggs frozen in her late 20s after a cancer scare and a family history of cancer.

"I didn't realise how fast the 10-year limit would come up, I always thought I'd get the chance to use them.

"In December last year I would have reached it.

"I reluctantly chose to use donor sperm - I was literally crying on the computer trying to choose.

"Right before the deadline I had scan results which showed thinning of the uterus lining and shrinking of the ovaries.

"So, in November I had a stay of execution - I was potentially prematurely infertile - it allows me to freeze my eggs for 55 years.

"I'm probably the only person who found out she was prematurely infertile and jumped for joy.

"I think now that I've actually chosen a sperm donor I may well go on with that, but the process was terrible and unnecessary."

Ms Norcross will be joined at the meeting by Baroness Deech, the former chairwoman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, who raised this debate in the House of Lords last year, and Prof Emily Jackson, who specialises in medical law.

In the debate last year, Conservative Lord O'Shaunghnessy said any extension to time limits for egg storage "would be a significant social policy change, with far-reaching impacts on decisions that women make in starting families. It would require a broader public debate before any change could be contemplated".

The Department of Health and Social Care said concerns would be taken into account by Ms Doyle-Price during Monday's meeting, and any decisions made would be set out accordingly.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Jaffna protest against Sri Lanka's anti-terror laws

190120 Jaffna protest PTA NC 2.jpg

21 January 2019

Civil society organisations and women's rights group protested in Jaffna on Sunday against Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the planned Counter Terror Act (CTA).

"Say no to PTA & CTA" and "don't take away rights by PTA & CTA", protesters demanded, as they gathered by Vempady junction in Jaffna town, and marched towards the main bus station.

Protesters also called for the "release the political prisoners" and urged "don't portray civilians as terrorists via PTA and CTA".

International pressure continues to be important for Geneva commitments

By Jehan Perera-January 21, 2019, 9:07 pm

In March this year Sri Lanka will report back to the UN Human Rights Council on its implementation of Resolution No 30/1 which it co-sponsored in October 2015. This is not going to be an easy session for the country as there is a considerable amount of international dissatisfaction with the slow pace of progress. This report back will be important as it will determine whether or not international scrutiny of the country on human rights issues will continue or come to an end. However, during the past three and a half years the government has implemented several of the commitments it made in terms of the resolution it co-sponsored. These include establishing an office of missing persons, legalizing the international conventions against torture and enforced disappearances and returning military occupied land to the civilian population.

The most damaging propaganda against the government is that it committed the country to make unacceptable compromises to national sovereignty. By co-sponsoring the UNHRC resolution the government gave the international community the opportunity to formally scrutinize the government’s implementation of its commitments. Some of these commitments, such as to set up a judicial mechanism with the participation of international judges and investigators to ensure accountability in war crimes cases have been especially controversial. Subsequently both the president and prime minister have been compelled to make repeated public announcements that they will not permit such an international presence.

Any decision on the part of the UNHRC to accept the final report of the Sri Lankan government and close the chapter on the resolution will be a significant political achievement for the government. With crucial elections around the corner it will be able to show the electorate that its strategy of co-sponsoring the resolution has not been damaging to the country’s national interests or sovereignty. What it has implemented so far has not been overly controversial in the country. What it has not implemented are the controversial parts of the resolution. As a result, one of the opposition’s main weapons against the government would be denied to it.

FLEXIBLE APPROACH

So far the international community has shown flexibility towards the government. In March 2017 at the request of the Sri Lankan government the UNHRC adopted Resolution 34/1 that extended for a further two years the monitoring mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with a request for a comprehensive report in March 2019. It is likely that the next session of the UNHRC will give rise to criticisms that Sri Lanka has still to make sufficient progress in implementing its commitments. An international lobby group, the International Campaign for Peace and Justice noted in March 2018 that out of 25 major commitments, the government had made little or no progress on 17 of them.

Considerable tracts of land still remain to be released. Prisoners held without trial and under the Prevention of Terrorism Act still continue to remain incarcerated. The PTA itself has not been replaced as promised to meet with international standards. Only one of the four reconciliation mechanisms, the office of missing persons, has been established while three others remain to be set up. The government has also to deliver on its promises to hold accountable those accused of human rights violations and crimes outside of the battlefields, such as journalists, and take them before the law.

Adding to this list of things to be done, is the limited progress made by the government in implementing constitutional reform. Although the government took much efforts to appoint a constitutional committee consisting of all parliamentarians and set up various sub-committees, it appears that the process of constitutional reform has got stuck. The government has yet to formally state its own stance on the controversial issues of devolution of power, the nature of the state and the place of Buddhism. Instead there is a draft constitutional document which appears to have no political party claiming ownership.

RENEW COMMITMENT

With presidential elections to be held before the end of the year, and the possibility of provincial elections before it, it seems unlikely that the government would be able to speed up the constitutional reform process. The government has pledged to place a draft constitution before parliament by February 4, which is Independence Day, but there is a question whether the government will wish to take ownership of this product and seek to push it through parliament and a referendum. This seems unlikely with the government itself divided on the issue and with the president not cooperating with the government.

Indeed, the government’s future is by no means assured. At the local government elections held a year ago the government parties suffered a resounding setback. The clash between the president and the government has done nothing to improve the situation on the ground for the government. In this context any significant implementation of UN Resolution No 30/1 of October 2015 is unlikely by March deadline that the government is expected to report against. With the opposition denouncing the government’s co-sponsoring of the resolution right from the beginning and denouncing it as a betrayal of the country, its implementation will become even less likely in the event of a change of government.

The commitments made in October 2015 are difficult ones for any government, but they are necessary if there is to be justice in terms of dealing with the past and in creating a better future for all in the country. For the past three and half years, the strategy of the international community has been to encourage the government to implement the commitments it made in terms of UNHRC resolution 30/1. The extension of the resolution by a further time period will enable the international community to keep the issue of the resolution on the table while giving whatever government is in power the time and space in which to implement those commitments.

Eelam by referendum: Latest plot?

by Y. Fernando-Jan 21, 2019

An article by Adam Taylor in the Washington Post on September 16, 2014 gives a descriptive breakdown of the “newest” countries in the world.

Majority of these nations were split based on so-called racial and/or religious requirements. The feuds in these countries seemed maneuvered and the majority forced to concede to bullying tactics by various Western nations.

The “bullies” have a vested interest in causing such chaos in susceptible countries, i.e. the requirement of large quantities of weapons for prolonged conflicts and related resources provided by the West at a price, abundant natural resources which could be bartered for the weapons and pilfered at no cost and strategic geographical location etc.

This bully then takes on the role of “moderator” and appeals on behalf of the “new potential nation” to the United Nations. Recognition granted by the UN enables these “new nations” to “rebuild and be independent” with the support of the relevant “moderator”. This moderator can then cunningly seek stakes in the new nation as in the case of Palau that hosts a large American military base in the Pacific region.

Sadly, since separation, a majority of these “new” nations such as South Sudan, Kosovo, East Timor, Eritrea, The Czech Republic, Slovakia and South Ossetia have struggle economically, with border disputes, wars and an untold amount of grief for the people unending. The tensions and struggles continue along divided borders, even for nations so assisted by the Imperialists decades ago, as in the cases of North and South Korea, Pakistan and India.

Sri Lanka had a 30-year conflict with terrorism rearing its ugly head and causing untold suffering, mainly for the very people on behalf of whom the “war” was carried out. Now there is a demand for a new constitution to address the “national problem”, enable “devolution of power” and create ethnic harmony.

First of all, what is the “national problem”? It is yet to be clearly defined. As for “ethnic harmony and reconciliation” – when the “brothers-in-arms” were fighting for their rights, the people of the North and East fled to other parts of the country for safety, where they were accepted by other “ethnic” Sri Lankans and continue to live to this day without a hindrance. Some left our shores to avoid being a part of the rift.

Those who continue the “struggle” for separation from within and out of Sri Lanka seem to do so without realising the various vested interests. Or maybe they are an integral part of the maneuvers. Division based on race, religion, caste and socio-economic standing is instigated possibly to enable the “divide and rule” aspect in support of the “higher caste” politicians of the North and of course the “supporting nations” who stand to gain economically and strategically.

Is Sri Lanka being manipulated by these politicians for their personal gain?

Are these politicians being supported by nations with a hidden agenda needing a stronghold in this region?

Apparently fresh water is the new black-gold and is one among many of the vast quantities of natural resources

Sri Lanka possesses. We have built close ties with China and will become a major hub in the new trade route connecting the East and West. China will then have potential access to become militarily superior in the region. These could be the hidden reasons that require an entry by the various Western powers in to this region to mitigate their risks of losing control of the area.

If Sri Lanka is destabilised and divided, the politicians of the North and East and their Western supporters will be able to rule the region and dictate terms. An ideal way forward, since the “war” attempt failed, would be to enable a different kind of conflict in Sri Lanka. Among such machinations could be:

the promotion of wheat flour products causing many health issues with less of a requirement of indigenous and other traditional food in turn causing less demand and low agricultural production of those healthier options.
the failures of the various agricultural systems causing economic hardship to farmers by cheaper imports and the introduction of the chemicals, which causes the soil and water table to be contaminated resulting in health concerns as well.
the promotion of large reservoirs instead of traditional irrigation systems with small lakes which are more suitable for sustainable agriculture and fresh water retention during the dry season. This results in severe environmental degradation of vast areas with ensuing inability for agricultural practices.
the resistance promoted towards other sustainable energy harvesting in addition to hydropower
promoting dependency on various pharmaceutical aspects monopolised by the West, not allowing us to manufacture our own or resort to indigenous treatments.
theft and patenting of our indigenous methods, flora and fauna and their uses to curtail local use, research and innovation.
threats of trade embargos on our exports and forced trade pacts with nations to try to minimise local production, flood the market with low cost imports, disrupt small businesses and thereby the economy.

In addition to these machinations, the latest tactic seems to be the “constitution” enabling “devolution of power”. If this constitution is defeated in parliament, what with all the ridiculous inclusions and “mistakes” with several versions of the same document presented in Sinhala, Tamil and English, there will be a call for a referendum. If the referendum is defeated by the people with a “Sinhala majority” vote, while “Tamil minority vote” remains FOR the new constitution, the politicians of the North and East can rush to their cronies crying “discrimination”. These “moderators” will then support a UN call citing “marginalising of Tamils” by the “majority Sinhalese”. This move will be wholly supported by the Tamil Diaspora now dispersed in various countries, eagerly awaiting to return. The UN can then declare its recognition of Tamil Eelam in support of eliminating the “national problem” and the “marginalised Tamil victims” by the “majority Sinhalese” in Sri Lanka.

It is prudent to be cautious and understand the objective of this “new constitution” and all the fiascos surrounding it. It could be a manipulative move to promote the objection to this constitution by the majority and then hasten a referendum.

Additionally, the various racial and religious conflicts, which seem to be orchestrated, in the recent past, such as in the Digana and Beruwala incidents as well as all the purported administrative discrimination against minorities such as missing Tamil translations of documents/forms and lack of Tamil-speaking public officials delaying services to Tamil speakers could also be such machinations created to fuel rifts amongst the people with the final objective of officially being accepted as a “Tamil Eelam”.

Hot on the heels of a creation of Tamil Eelam will come a demand for a “Muslim Nation” which will enable the Eastern areas to host the Myanmar refugee Rohingya and others desperately seeking their own “Muslim” territory. Apparently as the possibilities are endless for conflicts, the country destabilised in this manner will breed the need for many “moderators” to swoop in to “support” the various “causes. Cases such as this are rampant in the above mentioned nations and in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Palestine, Afghanistan and the lost nation of Diego Garcia where its people were transported lock-stock-and-barrel to pave the way for Britain to host an American military base in the Indian Ocean region.

This is modern day IMPERIALISM by very subtle means. Therefore, BEWARE and BE WISE. It is prudent to look beyond this proposed constitution and calls for referendums regardless of who suggests, for what and when.

Tensions flare in Mullaitivu as Buddhist monk storms Tamil Pongal festival

190120 Monk disrupts Pongal Mulli7.JPG

A group of Sinhala villagers led by a Buddhist monk disrupted a Thai Pongal celebration at a Hindu temple in Mullaitivu last week, as tensions continued to flare in the area with the construction of a large Buddha statue.

20 January 2019

Semmalai locals had attempted to hold a pongal celebration at the Neeraviyadi Pillaiyar Temple when a group of over 40 people, led by a Sinhala Buddhist monk, interrupted festivities and demanded they be halted.

The Sri Lankan military and police swiftly attended the scene, in the Karaiththuraipattu division in Mullaitivu, as tensions escalated, with the Sinhala group demanding the Tamil Thai Pongal celebration be stopped.

The Sinhala group is currently engaged in constructing a large Buddha statue that encroaches on the generations old Hindu temple. The construction, is reportedly being supported by Sri Lanka’s archaeological department.

Though Tamil villagers attempted to mediate the situation, local journalists who were at the scene reported being photographed by Sri Lankan police officials, in apparent attempts of intimidation.

Locals said the Hindu temple had been there for generations and that Tamils had worshipped there until the very final stages of the war when they had become displaced. Worship activities had not resumed after the war due to the locals’ fear of the surrounding army camps.

In 2013, a Sinhala Buddhist monk from Maradana – Colombe Medalange – had with the help of the Sri Lankan army, set up a hut on the occupied temple’s land and taken up residence there.

PRAGEETH: “A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED CRIME” – DHARISHA BASTIANS & AANYA VIPULASENA

20/01/2019 BY SRI LANKA BRIEF

From Colombo to Giritale to Akkaraipattu, CID sleuths have pieced together the abduction of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda on January 24, 2010 and linked it to a shadowy military intelligence unit operating out of the Giritale Army camp. But four years after the investigation began, the case has hit a wall, with the military refusing to cooperate

Nine years after journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda disappeared without a trace, investigations have uncovered a gruesome abduction plot allegedly orchestrated by a military intelligence unit operating out of the Giritale Army camp.

The case took a stunning turn when two military intelligence officials attached to the Giritale Army camp provided matching confessions before a Magistrate that were told that former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had allegedly given the command to abduct and later, kill Prageeth Ekneligoda, the Lankaenews cartoonist who had been a fierce critic of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family.

Using mobile phone records to link officials working under the Directorate of Military Intelligence at the Giritale Army camp – known as 3 MIC to the abduction, vehicle refueling records and extensive witness testimony, CID investigators led by IP Nishantha Silva, OIC of the Gang Robberies Branch, have been able to piece together the Ekneligoda abduction from Colombo on January 24, 2010, his interrogation at the Giritale camp and his suspected murder and disposal 173 km away in Akkaraipattu, and Ampara two days later.

The abduction took place two days before the 2010 presidential election, in which incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa was contesting his former Army Commander, General Sarath Fonseka for the Presidency.

But for the better part of a year, investigators have been hitting a wall as they attempt to secure official documentary evidence from the Sri Lanka Army about mobile phone numbers issued to its personnel, vehicle running charts and leave registers that could be vital evidence in the high profile journalist abduction case. The CID has discovered in the course of its investigations that the Sri Lanka Army pays the bills for the suspicious mobile devices pertaining to the Ekneligoda probe. But the military is refusing to tell investigators which military officers were using the telephones, claiming the records have been destroyed or cannot be released for national security reasons.

The CID, which has been pursuing the Ekneligoda abduction case since 2015, have reported several instances of destruction of vital evidence pertaining to the crime and obstruction of justice by the Sri Lanka Army to the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, where a Habeas Corpus inquiry is under way.
CID sleuths have also been told by multiple informants that the evidence being sought by the investigators pertaining to the Ekneligoda abduction was being deliberately withheld by the military in order to derail the probe.

Investigators are perplexed by the refusal of the military to cooperate, and the inability of the Government to force the cooperation. “We are a State agency, the army is also part of the State. But in all these cases, the CID has to wage pitched battles with the army in court to get information vital to the cases,” a law enforcement official familiar with the case told the Sunday Observer. “In any other Government, the politicians would tell the CID to investigate and tell the military to cooperate with that investigation. But that’s just not happening and so we are constantly on opposing sides in court,” the official complained.

The Ekneligoda abduction case was the first to cause major concern at the highest political levels, after 11 Military Intelligence officials were arrested in connection with the crime in August 2015.
Evidence points to the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge (2009), the abduction and torture of journalist Keith Noyahr (2008), the attacks on journalists Upali Tennakoon and Namal Perera being carried out by a military intelligence team operating from the Tripoli Army camp in Slave Island. But Ekneligoda was abducted a full year after Wickrematunge’s murder, when the outcry resulting from the high profile scribe’s killing had disbanded the Tripoli outfit, operating under Major Prabath Bulathwatte. The Ekneligoda abduction was, therefore, allegedly executed by an MI team operating out of the Giritale army camp.

According to evidence the CID has pieced together and reported to court so far, the tale of how an elaborate abduction trap set for Prageeth Ekneligoda begins in the year 2001, when the journalist travelled to Madhu, Mannar with a Tamil politician who remains a Member of Parliament to date. In Madhu, the politician introduced Ekneligoda to an LTTE cadre known as ‘Thavendran’ an alias for Sumathipala Sureshkumar. Ekneligoda was in regular contact with the LTTE operative, visiting Verugal in Batticaloa at least twice to meet with Sureshkumar following the 2004 tsunami.

Years later, Sureshkumar surrendered in the Wanni and was flipped by the army and recruited as an army intelligence operative. In the LTTE cadre’s phone book, military intelligence officials who captured Sureshkumar found a number for the journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. Sureshkumar was instructed by his military intelligence handlers to continue to remain in contact with Ekneligoda. The MI operative followed orders, regularly communicating with Prageeth Ekneligoda from the Giritale army camp.

During Ekneligoda’s abduction in 2010, Sureshkumar’s military intelligence handler was Sergeant Ranbanda.

On January 24, 2010 the date Ekneligoda was last seen by family and friends, Commanding Officer of the Giritale Army camp Colonel Shammi Kumararatne – a commissioned officer attached to the Directorate of Military Intelligence of the Sri Lanka Army – called Sergeant Ranbanda and asked to speak to Sureshkumar. In a confession under oath before the Homagama Magistrate, Sureshkumar said Col. Kumararatne had told Sureshkumar that on the orders of Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, they were to facilitate the abduction of Prageeth Ekneligoda by tricking the journalist into a meeting with an undercover military intelligence operative, Corporal Priyanthakumara Rajapakse Nadan. Once the call from Col. Kumararatne ended, under the supervision of Sgt Ranbanda,

Sureshkumar contacted Ekneligoda to set the trap. The same day, a team led by Corporal Nadan left Giritale for Colombo. A series of phone calls between Ekneligoda and Corporal Nadan facilitated the abduction. Ekneligoda’s contact Sureshkumar never heard from or saw the journalist again.

Sureshkumar’s confession was corroborated by a matching statement by his handler, Sgt Ranbanda before the Homagama Magistrate. Sgt Ranbanda’s confession helped investigators to pick up the next sequence of the abduction. On January 25, 2010, once Prageeth Ekneligoda had arrived at the Giritale Army camp, Sgt Ranbanda was given orders from his commanding officer Col. Kumararatne,
conveyed through a Corporal Rupasena, to interrogate Ekneligoda about several obscene cartoons he had drawn of the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, the Defence Secretary.

Sgt Ranbanda interrogated the journalist, who admitted to being the artist behind the cartoons which he said had been drawn to expose the alleged corruption and abuse of power by the then ruling family. The interrogation was observed in Giritale by Corporal Rupasena and Corporal Nadan. According to Sgt Ranbanda’s confession, the two corporals left the interrogation room for a while and returned claiming that they had orders from Col. Kumararatne to take Ekneligoda away. Sgt Ranbanda told the Magistrate he never saw Ekneligoda again.

The CID has yet to gain access to the two confessions given to the Magistrate.

Crucially, mobile telephone records provided by telecom companies have helped investigators to corroborate claims made by both Sgt Ranbanda and Sureshkumar, specifically pointing to their locations, activities and movements from January 24-25, 2010.

When investigators questioned Col Kumararatne, the highest ranking military intelligence official arrested in connection with the Ekneligoda abduction, he admitted to travelling to Colombo from Giritale on January 24, 2010 and bringing Ekneligoda back to Giritale the next day. The Commanding officer of the Giritale camp, however, denies that the journalist was abducted, but claims he had wished to travel to Giritale to meet his contact Sureshkumar. Col. Kumararatne told investigators that once they arrived at Giritale, Ekneligoda had been handed over to Sgt Ranbanda’s custody, and claimed he had never seen the journalist again.

Soon after Col. Kumararatne made this statement, he was arrested by the CID.

Mobile phone records have helped to corroborate that Col. Kumararatne, accompanied by his driver, Corporal Gamage and his security officer Corporal Rupasena had travelled to Colombo on January 24, 2010 and returned to the Giritale army camp several hours later.

Corporal Nadan, who, investigations revealed had travelled to Colombo from Giritale and back to the North Central Province army camp with the journalist, has claimed to have no recollection of the events. However, telephone records analysed by the CID have confirmed phone calls made between Nadan and Ekneligoda on January 24, 2010.

Once Ekneligoda was taken away from the interrogation room, where the journalist was being questioned by Sgt Ranbanda, there are no more witnesses who can testify to having seen or heard from the journalist again. But investigations found that Colonel Shammi Kumararatne, accompanied by Corporals Gamage, Gunaratne and Rupasena had travelled from the Giritale Army camp on the afternoon of January 25, 2010 to Akkaraipattu, in the east coast. They remained there for nearly 24 hours, returning to Giritale only on January 26, 2010.

All four suspects strongly deny having travelled to Akkaraipattu. Denials notwithstanding, investigators have mobile phone records that place Col Kumararatne and his corporals in Akkaraipattu from January 25-26, 2010. The CID has also found records from an obscure army camp in Akkaraipattu which indicated that the vehicle bearing licence plate ARMY-48597 had stopped for refueling inside the camp on January 26, 2010.

The driver of the vehicle is listed as Corporal Gamage, who served as Colonel Kumararatne’s driver. The vehicle bearing the ARMY-48597 plate number was Col. Kumararatne’s official vehicle, allocated to him by the Sri Lanka Army. No trace of Prageeth Ekneligoda has ever been recovered in Giritale or Akkaraipattu by CID sleuths so far. Nine years after the journalist’s abduction, CID investigators believe Ekneligoda was murdered by the suspects in Akkaraipattu, and his body disposed of in the same Eastern Province town.

The 11 military intelligence personnel were arrested on charges of murder, abduction in order to murder and conspiracy to murder.

Investigators and prosecutors believe the abduction and suspected murder of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda was a ‘politically motivated’ crime.

With the investigation facing strong political headwinds and tangible evidence of attempts to suppress and destroy evidence, intimidate witnesses, and subvert justice through violence, the CID is moving to protect key witnesses in the case and preserve the integrity of its investigation, hoping that the case will eventually break wide open, and there will be justice at last for Prageeth Ekneligoda and the family.

****
Nine years later: A family’s quest for justice

Thursday, January 24 marks the ninth anniversary of the unexplained kidnapping and disappearance of cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda, and in his honour his wife Sandya hopes to organise a religious event with the help of family and well-wishers.

Nearly a decade ago, Eknaligoda who was attached to website Lankaenews went missing under mysterious circumstances. According to Sandya, the last moments Eknaligoda was last seen alive can be traced to army camps in Akkaraipattu and Giritale.

Sandya says that the day her husband went missing, he was wearing a white shirt – his son’s school uniform he had borrowed to wear to a Bodi Pooja.

Sandya Ekneligoda

Tirelessly continuing her struggle to find justice and embarking each year hoping to find light in a case that has run cold, Sandya – most often clad in a white saree – has become a familiar sight at protests, demonstrations, exhibitions and media conferences dedicated to find disappeared persons of Sri Lanka.

The mother of two, now in her mid 50s, who rarely took part in protests before her husband’s disappearance has become a symbol of resilience today.

“When Prageeth left through this door that morning (January 24, 2010) he told me that his election campaigning work will end that night and he will help me with my work from the next day onwards,” Sandya said as she sat with the Sunday Observer, looking out her front door through which the cartoonist left, never to be seen again.

Ever since, the journey has been a constant battle to Sandya. Targeted by online bullies and shouted at by a prominent Buddhist monk, she appears calm and collected. “But I get scared sometimes. Online they scold me in filth. As if I am a bad woman. All I am doing is looking for my missing husband,” she said.

The shock appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister last October, Sandya says, was a time when she became particularly fearful.

“I was scared for my life. I was scared of my children’s wellbeing,” she said adding that the event would take several years off her struggle to find justice.

In January (this month) the ongoing investigations into Eknaligoda’s case was to end ‘naturally’ if the illegal government continued. And, during the brief period the unidentified individuals who stalk, even to date, Sandya increased. Her youngest son feared Sandya will also be abducted.

She participated in almost all pro-democracy protests she was invited to in the hope that the developments will change. When the court verdict rolled-back the 52-day government, Sandya felt relieved. She did not attend the victory rally held in Galle Face Green because ‘democracy won, not a political party’.

The Rajapaksa family, she said, is after a man who took a pen to his hands. “It is neither a gun nor a sword. Why can’t we find what happened to him even after so many years?” she asked. Just before Eknaligoda went missing he was working on his book ‘Pawul Gaha’ (The Family Tree), which was to contain most corruption the Rajapaksa family was involved in.

“Prageeth thought that it was his responsibility to reveal what the former regime did. Before he could finish it he was abducted,” Sandya said.

She said her husband got scared when a friend told him that he was the first on the killing list, and asked him to be more cautious.

Recalling the fateful night, the second time Eknaligoda was abducted – the first on August 27, 2009 and released the following day – she remembered calling everyone who was to meet and met the cartoonist that day. When he didn’t return she went to lodge a police complaint at the Homagama police, she was told that going missing is a fashion.

“The officer told me that Prageeth should be home, while I was at the police station. He refused to record my complaint,” she said. It was finally recorded. Her youngest son went into depression following the abduction. He had to be put on anti-depressants for four years till he got fairly better. But certain incidents still put pressure on the family.

One such instance is when, in 2016, Bodu Bala Sena’s Galagodatte Gnanasara shouted at Sandya accusing her of tarnishing the name of the armed forces.

“I thought he was coming to hit me. All I could do was run into the court room and tell the judge what was happening,” she said. The monk was found guilty of criminally intimidating Sandya in the court premises.

Today Sandya, who lost her job at an insurance company following the abduction, sells rice packets to make a living. Her family and well-wishers help her too.

“I urge the President and Prime Minister to get involved in this case more and expedite the investigations. They are deliberately avoiding it. We don’t have to live this way if the heads of this country do what they have to,” Sandya said. (AP)
Sunday Observer

Lasantha’s daughter takes Gota head on

20 January, 2019

Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has responded to an article written by Ahimsa Wickrematunge, the daughter of murdered journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, in which she shared her suspicion that Rajapaksa had a hand in her father’s murder.

“If Lasantha’s daughter wants to know who his murderers are,” Rajapaksa said, “ask her to come to Sri Lanka and meet me. I will tell her what happened.” The former defence secretary made these comments in an interview published in a Sinhalese weekly yesterday.

In a widely published article, titled “what they did to my father and why they did it” written to mark the 10-year anniversary of the January 8, 2009 murder of her father, The Sunday Leader’s editor-in-chief, Ahimsa Wickrematunge detailed her recollections of Lasantha Wickrematunge confessing candidly to her that he would be murdered to prevent him from testifying in civil litigation against the former defence secretary.

“I’m sure he is telling the truth,” Ahimsa Wickrematunge told Sunday Observer, “when he claims to know who my father’s murderers are.” Speaking from Melbourne, she declined Rajapaksa’s offer of a face-to-face meeting in Sri Lanka. “I’m not the police. He should tell the CID what he knows. He should have done so at the outset, instead of handing out diplomatic postings to suspects and showing the world how happy he was that my father had been murdered.”

Wickrematunge was referring to Maj Prabath Bulathwatte, an army intelligence officer who was arrested by the CID in 2017 in connection with the May 2008 white van abduction and torture of journalist Keith Noyahr. In January 2010, the day Bulathwatte’s Tripoli platoon came under investigation by the CID in connection with the Wickrematunge murder, then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa signed an order immediately recalling a military intelligence officer from a diplomatic posting in Thailand and ordering that Bulathwatte be sent in his place. “For some reason, the defence secretary himself was in a mighty hurry to send this Major abroad, in violation of the presidential elections regulations that were in place with the polls barely a week away,” Ahimsa Wickrematunge wrote in her article.

The diplomatic appointment ordered by Rajapaksa was dated January 18, 2010, eight days before the presidential election between incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and former army commander Sarath Fonseka. The CID have not, to date, alleged any wrongdoing on the part of the former defence secretary in connection with this diplomatic appointment.

Neither Rajapaksa nor Bulathwatte have formally been named as suspects in the Wickrematunge murder by the CID at the Mount Lavinia Magistrates Court. Reporting progress to court last week, IP Nishantha Silva of the CID said the slain editor’s closest relatives believed that former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was connected to an irregular transaction involving the purchase of MiG-27 aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force. In a lengthy written submission, IP Silva reported to court that the victim’s decision to publish articles about the transaction and Rajapaksa family corruption in his newspaper was the most proximate reason for the assassination. Facts about Gotabaya Rajapaksa had also been highlighted in a threat made by a suspect in the case, Premananda Udulagama to Lasantha’s driver N.K. Dias, who was abducted and threatened after the assassination.

The CID also informed court that in spite of a court order served on January 7, 2019 instructing Derana TV to present unedited footage of an interview aired with the former Defence Secretary on August 19, 2007, the video had not been handed over to investigators to date. In a chilling portion of the interview aired by Derana TV in August 2007, about 16 months before Wickrematunge was murdered, the then Defence Secretary refers to journalists writing ‘filth’ about him then driving around alone in their cars, making driving gestures with his hands for the camera. This portion of the interview was shared widely on social media earlier this month.

The former defence secretary quipped that Lasantha Wickrematunge’s “first wife, second wife, daughter, brother and successor as Editor of The Sunday Leader are all overseas. The journalists who wrote for him also live overseas. Only Lasantha’s corpse is here now.” He alleged that “all of them know the assassin” but that “no one wants these investigations done properly.”

The remark drew a sharp rebuke from Ahimsa Wickrematunge. “These people had to flee overseas in fear of their lives. When my brothers and I were children our bedrooms in Nugegoda were almost hit by machine gun fire meant for my father. Death threats were a part of daily life. We didn’t have 200 bodyguards to hide behind like he did.”

The former defence secretary also charged that the Wickrematunge murder investigation “has stopped at the same point it stopped when our government was conducting the probe,” a claim that Ahimsa Wickrematunge dismissed outright.

“If he believes that the CID investigation has stopped or can be stopped, he can think so at his own peril,” Wickrematunge said. “I trust the CID. They will get to the truth and unravel the entire conspiracy. When they do, even his own brothers will be very keen to hear what Gotabaya Rajapaksa has to say.”

Questionable (or absurd) official report on poverty indicators

Can a person live on Rs 139 per day?
Are only 843,913 people in poverty?
Can the Official Poverty Line (OPL) be believable?
Why is the Governments trying to hide the country’s poverty?

Tuesday, 22 January 2019

The latest Report issued by the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs on ‘Poverty Indicators’ is both questionable and outrageous.1This Ministry is under the responsibility of the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe. Most of the statistics and calculations are based on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) in 2016. It is not so much the Survey HIES which is questionable, but the Government’s Official Poverty Line (OPL) and some of the calculations and statements in the Report based on that.

Questionable Measurements

There are different ways of conceptualizing and calculating poverty. Amartya Sen in his ‘Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation’ (1983) has devoted two chapters on the subject. Most common measurement of poverty is by looking at the number of people living below a certain income threshold known as ‘poverty line.’ Then there are differences about how you determine this threshold. This is the primary question about the OPL used by Sri Lanka since 2002.

On the method of determining this threshold, the following is what the Poverty Indicators Report states.

“The method uses to calculate official poverty line is called Cost of Basic Need (CBN) method. This poverty line is considered as an absolute poverty line and does not vary geographically. The Official Poverty Line (OPL) for 2016 is Rs.4,166. That is the real per capita expenditure per month for a person fixed at a specific welfare level with the consumption expenditure of food and non-food items.”

The claim that ‘absolute poverty line does not vary geographically’ contradicts the regular Department of Census and Statistics charts given in Official Poverty Line by District, the latest being on 7 January.2 Be as it may, can anyone believe that ‘the real per capita expenditure per month a person needs for a specific welfare level with the consumption expenditure of food and non-food items’ is Rs. 4,166? When you divide this by at least 30 days per month, it is mere Rs. 139!

This is called the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) in the Report. How does this Cost of Basic Needs of the poor calculated? The Technical Notes on OPL states the following in January 2017.3

“The OPL is an absolute poverty line which is fixed at a specific welfare level that is a person who meets a certain minimum nutritional intake (2030 kilocalories per day) to compare over time with household food and non-food consumption and expenditure data.”

Despite the confusion about ‘kilocalories, nutrition, food and non-food consumption’of the poor, there is nothing particularly wrong in calculating an absolute poverty line although some countries (i.e. Australia) use relative poverty line. However, the way you arrive at this measure should be correct, reasonable and also transparent (under good governance). As the above statement makes it clear it is determined on the basis of a minimum ‘nutritional’ intake. This minimum is stated as 2030 kilocalories per day, which is in fact similar to the standard accepted in a country like Australiaor USA.

Living Reality

The question about the method is what is the ‘food bundle’ selected for this nutrition calculation and on what scientific basis can it be said correct? The ‘food bundle’ is not revealed. However, the doubts arise when the given figures are considered in the day today living reality.

During my last visit to Sri Lanka (July-August 2018), the cheapest rice meal (bath packet) I could observe was Rs. 160 which consisted rice with three little vegetables at Ratmalana where I was staying. It could hardly give anyone 500 kilocalories in my opinion (rice 300 + vegetables 200). Calories also do not necessarily mean nutrition for basic and sickness-free living.

The obvious discrepancy between the price of a basic one meal (roughly Rs. 160) and the government’s absurd poverty line (Rs. 139) might be the case not only in the Western Province or Ratmalana,but in all other Provinces with little variation. The statistics given in the Report are not really about poverty, but may be extreme-extreme poverty. Therefore, there is nothing to be jubilant about as the Report tries to picture. According to the controversial Report itself, there are 843,913 people below this extreme poverty line, who might not be in a position to afford even one meal a day. That is why I call it the extreme of the extreme poverty.

Then how do they live? They are not supported by the state or the government. They are probably supported by family, neighbours, temples/kovils and the society at large. Some might be mere beggars. Some of the figures are the following of this extreme poverty, if we consider the other calculations are not faulty except the bottom line of OPL.

As the above figures show, the highest number of people in extreme poverty are in the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Eastern and Western provinces. However in terms of headcounts (% of provincial population), Northern, Eastern, Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces are the most affected.

Absurd (or Miracle) Claims

The Report claims “The poverty headcount index for 2016 was 4.1 and it has decreased from 6.7 in 2012/13.” This is obviously a miracle. This might be the lowest poverty in the world for a developing country. As I had pointed out before, this was the same claim under the previous government. There was a (economics) Minister who claimed that ‘a family of three could live a comfortable life with an income of Rs. 7,500 per month’ (Daily Mirror, 19 March 2012). This means Rs. 83 per person per day in 2012!

It is difficult to believe that a country with slow growth during the same period could eliminate poverty by half a million within three years (2013-2016). Therefore, common sense should have prevailed before issuing the Report and the officials and the Minister should have checked where they were going wrong.

There are about 767 million people in extreme poverty in the world today. This is counted on the basis of who live under $ 1.90 per day,based on World Bank standards. This is around 10.7% of the world population. Sri Lanka or the Report does not talk about extreme poverty, but poverty which is ‘miraculously’ reduced in unimaginable proportions. According to this absurd report “The total poor households were 3.1 percent of the total households and it was approximately 169,392 households in 2016.”

There are wonderful or deceptive Figures and Tables given in the Report. Most absurd to my mind is Table 2 which calculates the so-called Poverty Gap Index (PGI), to show the monthly ‘shortfall of income’ that one has to overcome the poverty in Sri Lanka! This is just Rs. 620 as an average! This means if you are in poverty (eating possibly one meal as I have pointed out), you need only Rs. 620 per month or Rs. 20 per day to overcome the Official Poverty. These figures are calculated for sectors (urban, rural and estate), provinces and districts. For example, if you are a poor in Hambantota, you need only Rs. 396 per month or Rs. 13 per day to overcome poverty.

It is like saying, all those who are under the OPL (Rs. 139 per day) should study carefully this table and take measures to overcome their poverty. Therefore, by the next report, the poverty in Sri Lanka might be totally eliminated!

Insult to Injury

Most hilarious or outrageous in the Report is the two quotes given one from Norman Vincent Peale and the other from Adam Smith as follows.

“Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.” ~Norman Vincent Peale

“The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.” ~Adam Smith

It is outrageous to include such quotes in an Official Government Report on poverty. There is no sensitivity to people’s predicament however you believe that the poor themselves are responsible for their misery. It does not appear that the authors of the Report (or the person/s who inserted them) were very familiar with the two authors. The quotes appear to be taken from ‘Brainy Quotes’ website. But there is an ideological (or idiotic) message given from the quotes. From the first quote, it says to the poor ‘it is not your empty pockets that holds you back, but your empty heads or hearts.’

From the second quote, it says ‘the real tragedy of the poor is their poverty of aspirations,’ which may be partly true. However it is given out of context. It is difficult to imagine whether the authors of the Report are familiar with Adam Smith’s ‘The Wealth of Nations’ (1776) at all. Whatever the disagreements one has about Adam Smith’s economic philosophy, to be fair, he was never a person who intended to insult the poor like our neo-liberals do in the Report.

Conclusion

Counting poverty or devising necessary measures to do so is not an easy task and errors can happen. However, using completely an outdated, unscientific and obviously erroneous Official Poverty Line (OPL) and submitting reports to the country on that basis is outrageous. It is equally absurd to claim that the OPL is calculated on the basis of Cost of Basic Needs.

What are basic needs? A traditional list of basic needs include food (safe water), shelter and clothing. Many modern lists emphasize not just those but also sanitation, education, healthcare and even internet (Wikipedia). If a person is not in a position to afford sanitation, health care or his or her children’s education, undoubtedly that person is in poverty.

There is no question that the country has achieved some economic progress and development irrespective of the country’s setbacks during the open conflict and war period. There is a possibility that the income/expenditure position of the bottom 10% of the population has moved slightly upwards, but largely in monetary terms. However who has benefitted most from the economic policies of the present and the past governments are the top 10% and the middle layers. As the Report itself admits there is a large number of people just above the OPL. Likewise, the claimed decrease of the poverty headcount from 6.7% to 4.1% between 2012/13 and 2016 can be due to this monetary changes. In essence, the present OPL is completely undervalued or underestimated. If it is increased by 10% for example, the extreme poverty in Sri Lanka might remain more or less the same as in 2012/13.

Sri Lanka’s OPL’s has been well below the poverty line used by the World Bank even before 2015 when it was changed. Now it is roughly $ 2 per day. What does this mean? Those who have an income below Rs. 364 per day or Rs. 10,920 per month would be in poverty. Sri Lanka should adopt either the World Bank criteria or in my opinion should go for a more progressive ‘relative poverty line’ like in Australia.

(Endnotes)

1. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/poverty/Poverty%20Indicators_2016.pdf
2. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/poverty/monthly_poverty/index.htm
3. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/poverty/monthly_poverty/Technical_Note_based_HIES2016.pdf

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