“WAR CRIMES” IN EELAM WAR IV Part 10

October 20th, 2018

 KAMALIKA PIERIS

Two Sri Lanka obsessed NGOs, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka” and International Truth and Justice Project, Sri Lanka” have taken an interest in Sri Lanka’s contribution to UN Peacekeeping.

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka” is a group of journalists, human rights workers and other activists exiled from Sri Lanka and now based in Germany. The group focuses on human rights and war crimes in Sri Lanka. The International Truth and Justice Project, Sri Lanka” is administered by the Foundation for Human Rights, based in South Africa, under the guidance of Yasmin Sooka.

In November 2017, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) together with International Truth and Justice Project, Sri Lanka” (ITJP) released a joint report on Sri Lanka. The report is titled Sri Lanka’s UN Peacekeepers: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime”. This report stated that more than 100 Sri Lankan peacekeepers were sent home from Haiti in 2007 for alleged child sexual exploitation.  Strangely enough, while abusing the children, they have also taught them Sinhala. The interviews with the Haitian children were conducted in Sinhala.

Thereafter in 2018 ITJP issued on its own, a report titled Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force”. The report    was released in London, with much publicity. Several UK newspapers including Guardian, reported its launch. Guardian said the document, seen by the Observer, claims that senior Sri Lankan officers accused of war crimes have been deployed to UN operations in Mali, Lebanon, Darfur and South Sudan.

ITJP’s Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka speaking at the launch said, one STF officer who appears currently to be observing in a UN peacekeeping mission in Africa is alleged to have ordered summary executions of Tamils in the East of Sri Lanka in 2006/7 ” This report can be downloaded at http://www.itjpsl.com/reports/special-task-force. 

This ITJP report has not received the attention it deserves from the anti-Eelamists in Sri Lanka. The report is very generous with words.  .The report says the STF has from its inception in 1983 been steeped in allegations of human rights violations, including abductions, torture, killings and extrajudicial executions. The violations described in this report speak to an amoral attitude to the taking of life and to human dignity, and where dehumanization has become institutionalized”.

The STF never did routine policing during the war, continued the report.  STF was specifically tasked with a frontline combat role. It was armed with heavy weapons and at times also spearheaded ground offensives in the East The army had stationed artillery units with heavy weaponry in STF bases.

Since the STF was a frontline combat unit at the climax of the war, it should be subjected to the same vetting and screening criteria as military units who fought in the war.  ITJP has therefore helpfully prepared a confidential list of 56 names of individuals in the STF who should not be sent as UN peacekeepers. This consists of 32 names of STF officers involved in frontline command positions who should be barred from peacekeeping and 24 names of alleged perpetrators or individuals complicit in grave violations of human rights.

However, in order to protect witnesses, this information has not been made public. The names will be sent to the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping (DPKO), the Department of Field Support (DFS), the Conduct and Discipline Unit (CDU) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the Report.

This report feeds on the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka 2015, known as the OISL report. The OISL report has generously found that all the security forces of the government of Sri Lanka, have engaged in sexual violence. OISL charges everybody who was anywhere near the events of 2009 with war crimes.   This includes Police, National Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, STF, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID).  Also of course, the   army and navy.

The OISL has named specific units and the ITJP report repeats them.  In the army it is 53rd, 55th and 58th brigades .These are the military units that were active in the final phase of the war, ‘when grave violations of international humanitarian law were committed’.   In the STF, it is the Task Forces 2, 3, 4 and 8. In the Air Force, it is No. 10 Sqn operating Kfir ground attack aircraft out of Katunayake. No. 12 Sqn. Operating Mig-27 ground attack aircraft out of Katunayake and No. 111 Sqn. Operating AIA Searcher reconnaissance UAV out of Vavuniya.

Any Major General having a defined geographical area of responsibility and the combat divisions and supporting units under his command are also guilty. Each formation from battalion level upwards includes a ‘staff’ of professional advisers who assist the commander in formulating and executing plans”. They are also complicit in alleged war crimes. Anyone who ordered MBRL or heavy artillery fire at civilian objects is also guilty.

The ITJP report has a further assortment of guilty person. They are

  • Those commanders active in the forward maintenance area, which was run by the former Army Commander who is now High Commissioner to Dhaka, Bangladesh. The FMA is where captured fighters were taken for initial interrogation.
  • Military and police deployed in Manik Farm or other IDP camps” post war58 where torture and sexual violence repeatedly occurred. .
  • Those who administered or worked in a rehabilitation centre post-war (PARCs).these include some SLA who were in logistics positions (engineering corps) in 2006-9.
  • Anyone involved in an interrogation of an LTTE suspect in rehabilitation or detention from 2008 onwards. This would include multiple wings of the security forces. These detainees did not enjoy any right of appeal and were subjected to mass arbitrary detention, as well as widespread torture and sexual violence.
  • Anyone in the security forces involved in organizing a forced abortion or forced contraceptive injections for women detainees.
  • . Anyone who worked closely with any of the Tamil paramilitary groups who were involved in the commission of crimes. OISL says the paramilitaries were reportedly acting alongside, or on behalf of SLA, SLN and STF in particular. In particular 23 Division”59.

The role of the STF in abducting and killing suspects in detention in the latter part of the civil war is also well documented by the OISL report, says the ITJP report. On this basis alone, the vetting of UN peacekeepers should exclude all STF personnel who were involved in active combat in the East of Sri Lanka from 2005-7 and the North from 2007-9.

This is the first ITJP report to be based primarily on insider witnesses, interviewed in four different countries by multiple investigators. They include several former STF officers and Tamil paramilitaries.  This is also the first time the ITJP has published testimony from Sinhalese witnesses and participants in some of the violations, indeed it has taken many years for even a handful of insider witnesses to emerge.

The section on sexual abuse was based primarily on the testimony of Sinhalese security force witnesses many of whom were involved in abductions, said the report. Several have confidentially provided the ITJP the names of commanding officers and colleagues. Witnesses also supplied photographs or other documentation or corroboration to show they served in the relevant security force unit, as well as in many cases map coordinates and detailed sketches of torture sites. Their exact units and times of service are not given here as it could reveal their identity.

The witnesses have not met one another and reside in 4 different countries. They have given very detailed accounts of operating procedures that overlap and anecdotes of specific events that would appear to be hard to fabricate on this scale.  Much of this detail has been omitted from this report lest it identify the witnesses to their former colleagues. The statements were taken by three different extremely experienced investigators, two of whom worked in the East of Sri Lanka during the war.

It is worth noting that some, but not all, of the Sinhalese witnesses are also psychologically damaged by the violence of which they have been a part and were keen to testify to unburden themselves of a strong sense of guilt. One individual in particular was eager, if it were safe, to inform families of the disappeared where the corpses are located that he buried, said the report.

These witnesses have been very extravagant in their accusations. Here are some of the things they have said, to ITJP, anonymously of course.

  • The STF and Karuna group conducted joint searches with the army in the East and the following witness saw people being abducted and says the STF was informed by the TMVP that they had killed the detainees.”
  • The STF decided the locations and if anything needed to be clarified during an operation the highest ranking STF officer would be in command, [redacted name].”
  • The army and the TMVP joined us. The orders we had were not to question Karuna’s people. The senior officer would be in phone contact with the SSP [redacted name], who would decide what to do with each of the persons we apprehended.
  • .On other occasions, the suspects would be taken away by the TMVP, beaten up, tortured and questioned and then released back to the village again. Sometimes the TMVP killed them, informed the STF about the killing and the STF would not be further.
  • Witnesses also described the detention in STF camps of suspects who were then killed: We tied their hands behind their backs, gagged them and covered their faces. There were villages around so we had to gag them in order for them not to make loud sounds, crying for help. Once a suspect had been taken to an STF camp, they never got released, they would always be killed.”
  • A member of the STF described witnessing his senior officer executing suspects in the camp: I saw the two guys kneeling, hands tied and blindfolded, and from about 3- 4 meters I witnessed the [senior officer – name redacted] standing next to them and shoot them one by one in the head with a T56. The bodies fell forward to the ground. Several STF guys including me witnessed the shooting.
  • While the bodies were doused in petrol and burned on a fire they all had a meal and a bottle of arrack.
  • A witness described the assassination of an unarmed former LTTE suspect by a police colleague who then cleaned the blood of his rifle in front of him explaining he had shot the man at very close range in the head: This was a normal incident, if we got information about suspected LTTE cadres, we would go either in police uniform or mostly in civilian and kill the person. Often we went two constables on a motorcycle in civilian and a pistol.”
  • Another STF witness described the practice of deliberately making Tamil civilians dig in heavily mined areas knowing that they would be killed or injured. He described occasions where a senior officer ordered civilians to do this.
  • An insider witness describes how during the final phase of the war in the East of Sri Lanka, Tamil women were forced into providing sex to STF members; with a large number forced into sexual slavery, including some women being subjected to frequent “visits” by different personnel and expected to provide sexual services for them. This amounts to sexual exploitation and abuse. A witness describes a colleague going to a house and ordering the husband to stand outside while going inside and raping his wife. The witness said his colleagues’ behavior would vary from place to place depending on the attitude of the Officer in Charge of the area – some would condone sexual violations, others would not.”

Yasmin Sooka, executive director of the International Truth and Justice Project, plays an important role in Sri Lanka‘s war crimes dance. Human Rights personnel do not stay for long, in the topic, because they are usually on limited term, non renewable contracts. But Yasmin Sooka, it appears, will go on forever. She is featured in several of the Sri Lanka war crimes” episodes.

Sooka has given an interview to Guardian” and provided them with lots of copy. Here are some of her comments.  a) ‘Peacekeeping is a privilege, not a right – only the very best should represent the country.” b)Sri Lanka’s security forces were involved in mass atrocities in 2009, for which there has been zero accountability – instead, alleged war criminals have been promoted and rewarded with prestigious and lucrative UN postings.c)This is an affront to those they are supposed to be protecting in Mali and Lebanon – as well as to victims in Sri Lanka who are desperate for justice. d)‘The UN needs to ensure countries like Sri Lanka publish the names and photographs of their peacekeepers a reasonable period before deployment, so that civil society can play a role in vetting them.

Sooka has targeted Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya and Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva, the wartime General Officer Commanding of the celebrated 58 Division, for war crimes, observed Shamindra Ferdinando.

According to Al Jazeera (August 2017), Human rights groups in South America have, filed war crimes lawsuits  against, former Sri Lankan general Jagath Jayasuriya who is  Sri Lanka ‘s ambassador to Brazil. he is also ambassador to Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Suriname. The charge against Jayasuriya was spearheaded by ITJP said Al Jazeera.

The charge is that he oversaw military units that attacked hospitals and killed, disappeared and tortured thousands of people in the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009 Also Jayasuriya was commander of the Vanni Security Force from 2007 to 2009.Joseph Camp was under him. Joseph Camp was a hot bed of sexual violence and torture. ITJP said it interviewed 14 people who survived torture or sexual violence at the camp.

“There is no way General Jagath Jayasuriya can claim not to have known that torture routinely occurred in his camp; there were purpose built underground torture chambers, equipped with manacles, chains and pulleys for hoisting victims upside down,” said Sooka, the ITJP’s executive director, in March.”If the detainees could hear each other screaming at night from adjacent buildings, so could he.”

Petitions have been filed in Brazil and Colombia    and petitions in Argentina, Chile and Peru will follow. Suriname had refused to accept the petition .Jayasuriya has diplomatic immunity in all five countries, but the HR devotees hope they will compel regional governments to open investigations of Jayasuriya, remove his immunity and expel him.

The main figure behind this move of branding Jagath in Brazil, observed Chandraprema  is apparently Yasmin Sooka of the self styled ‘International Truth & Justice Project, Sri Lanka’, which claims to have obtained sworn statements along with evidence gleaned from medical and psychiatric examinations from Tamil individuals who had arrived in the UK claiming asylum.

They had claimed to have been arrested, blindfolded, held in darkened cells and subject to sexual attacks and repeated interrogations.  A woman had claimed she had been abducted in a white van, beaten with electric cables and suffocated, using a plastic bag containing petrol and later raped. Another woman had claimed to have been gang raped. A man had claimed to have been anally and orally raped by a captor. About half the people interviewed by Sooka’s organization had claimed to have attempted suicide after leaving Sri Lanka continued Chandraprema, cheerfully.

On the face of it, the evidence that Yasmin Sooka’s organization claims to have ‘unearthed’ looks like the usual stories related by asylum claimants trying not to get expelled from Britain. It goes without saying that a refugee status claimant will say what is calculated to get them what they want. All those arriving in Europe seeking refugee status, claim to have been tortured and raped,  he observed

Even though the ‘victim’s accounts’ and the ‘medical reports’ that professional human rights activists like Yasmin Sooka collect may not stand up to scrutiny by the UK immigration authorities or the courts, they can be used as purported evidence to file petitions in various courts against prominent Sri Lankan individuals and that is obviously what has happened in this case, concluded Chandraprema.

Other foreigners are also concerned about Sri Lanka’s awful record. Tory MP Paul Scully, chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Tamils, UK wrote to the UN’s peacekeeping operations in May 2017 asking for details of the vetting and screening process of members of Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force who may be deployed by the UN. He has made reference to a senior Sri Lankan special task force officer who appears to be currently deployed in Africa in a UN peacekeeping role, despite there being allegations that he was involved in ordering summary executions of Tamils in the east of Sri Lanka during the war”.

The UN insists on a vetting process before armed personnel are taken into UN activities. UN Member States that nominate or provide personnel to serve with the UN, such as the UN Peace keeping forces, must screen and certify that such personnel have not committed, or are alleged to have committed, criminal offences and/or violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Those who seek to serve with the UN must attest the same and, where necessary, provide relevant information. The processes by which this can be done are outlined in Decision 2012/18 of the UN Secretary-General’s Policy Committee.

At present, Sri Lankan troops, majority being from the Sri Lanka Army have been deployed in Lebanon (UNIFIL), South Sudan (UNMISS), Mali (MINUSMA), Abyei (UNISFA), New York (UNHQ), Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and Western Sahara (MINURSO), either as military observers, liaison officers, staff officers, staff officer assistants or general contingent troops for peace keeping. To-date a total of 450 Sri Lankan peace keepers are serving 7 UN peace keeping overseas missions under the UNDPKO.

But after the OISL Report the UN tightened the screening. A thorough vetting for 200 Sri Lankan soldiers going to Mali was conducted in Geneva by OHCHR in 2016 by a staff member who had worked on OISL and had the necessary expertise and institutional knowledge. This has been described as enhanced vetting. “In the case of Sri Lanka, where there are specific human rights concerns, we put in place additional screening measures in 2016 to help ensure that deployed personnel meet our standards, said a UN peacekeeping spokesman.

Applicants were screened out if they belonged to a unit named in the OISL report and were active at the frontline in 2005-7 and 2007-9, depending on whether it was in the East or North. In addition they were screened out if there were allegations of human rights violations against them, for example, if they were named as an alleged perpetrator in any of the Zonal and All Island Disappearance Commissions in the past. It will be observed that mere mention is enough.  Principles of natural justice, such as fair   impartial inquiry, accepted canons of proof were not considered important.

Vetting was usually carried out by the UN. But in 2016, the task was transferred to Sri Lanka ‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, probably, said Ladduwahetty, because Sri Lanka had co-sponsored the UNHRC Resolution 30/1,  The Foreign Ministry decided that the Human Rights Commission was the obvious choice as it was an independent institution now under the 19th Amendment and had the credibility to take it on, reported the media.”

The Ministry wrote to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and requested it to take on the task. The Government of Sri Lanka and the HRCSL signed a formal agreement whereby the latter would vet peacekeepers. . Sri Lanka is the first nation to be granted the opportunity to vet military personnel for peacekeeping operations by a national Human Rights Commission.

In 2018 it was announced that a contingent of 49 sent to United National Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in February 2018 has not been vetted for HR abuses.” The matter was raised by journalists at the UN headquarters in New York on two occasions. They questioned the Secretary-General’s office about a long, outstanding issue raised to DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] about Sri Lankans that were sent un-vetted by the Government to Lebanon Also  a commando from an elite police unit in Sri Lanka, alleged to have been involved in serious human rights violations, to ‘one of the missions in Africa’.

The ITJP report on the STF also commented. The last 3 Sri Lankan contingent commanders sent to Lebanon had not been subject to due diligence by Sri Lanka and should have been vetted out. The public disclosure of this information led to the suspension of the deployment of the fourth contingent commander, Lieutenant Colonel Wasantha Kumara Hewage, days before he was due to leave We have credible information that this individual has been involved in serious human rights violations, including involvement in extrajudicial killings, said ITJP

In May 2018 the media reported that Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka was vetting a list of 204 military personnel nominated by the Sri Lanka Army for UN peacekeeping missions. This includes the 49 sent to Lebanon in February without review by the Commission, which hadn’t been told these officers were required to be released early. Sri Lanka Army sent in details of Army personnel selected for UN missions for HRCSL’s independent vetting.

But difficulties arose and vetting was temporarily halted in July 2018. HRCSL imitated a roundtable discussion with the tri-forces, police and the MFA  in order to recast the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), used for the vetting. The new SOPs will accommodate the views of all parties, including the tri-forces and police.

The army issued a statement on 27.6.18 where it said that To be in line with the UN Secretary General’s decision in relation to ‘screening of UN personnel for Human Rights’, the Sri Lanka Army, consequent upon discussions with the Defense Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (UNDPKO) and the HRCSL resolved that an own national mechanism be followed with respect to independent screening of personnel through the HRCSL

The office of the UN Secretary-General stated that We are working together with the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that the screening arrangements with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka comply with UN policy, Compliance with these arrangements will be required before the UN can receive any further deployments or rotations from Sri Lanka.”

In August 2018, the armed forces were awaiting the finalization of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The military and HRCSL recently had a video conference with Geneva and New York based officials to discuss the  draft SOP. “We are concerned about some aspects of the original draft and,therefore, certain amendments were suggested. We are confident an agreement can be reached soon to enable the HRCSL to begin the vetting process, said the military..”

A major section of the 150-man 12th Force Protection Company (FPC) assigned for United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNFIL) is awaiting the completion of the clearance process. The group comprising 101 personnel was originally scheduled to leave on March 6, 2018.The UNFIL mission consists of troops from Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR), Sri Lanka Engineers (SLE), Sri Lanka Signal Corps (SLSC), Mechanized Infantry Regiment (MIR), Commando Regiment (CR), Special Forces (SF), Corps of Engineer Services (CES), Sri Lanka Army Service Corps (SLASC), Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps (SLAMC), Sri Lanka Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (SLEME), Sri Lanka Army Ordnance Corps (SLAOC), Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police (SLCMP) and Sri Lanka Army General Service Corps (SLAGSC).SLA joined UNFIL mission in 2010, a year after the conclusion of the conflict. Since then, 11 contingents have served there.

The UN said it was working with the government of Sri Lanka to ensure that the country’s domestic screening process complied with the UN’s policy on screening personnel. This is necessary before the UN can receive any further deployments or rotations from Sri Lanka.” UN was developing a strict vetting process with Sri Lanka to ensure all peacekeepers met their standards.  It is important that all procedures and institutional arrangements are in place so that the domestic screening process can meet these requirements. The national Human Rights Commission plays a key role in this process, said UN.

However, the competence of the HRCSL to carry out such vetting has been openly questioned.  Vetting armed forces does not come under the HRC’s mandate.  While civilian oversight of the military in any capacity is to be warmly welcomed, concerns remain about pushing this enormous task (vetting up to 3,500 individuals) on to one body with little experience of screening and vetting in what is a very challenging environment, and where this is not their main priority, said ITJP.  Observers have also raised concerns about whether the Human Rights Commission has vetted its own staff, some of whom were reported by human rights activists to be closely connected to members of the Armed Forces.

Ladduwahetty observed that the task of vetting is   beyond the mandate of the HRCSL, which according to Act No. 21 of 1996 is limited to “rights declared and recognized by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”

Further, the vetting has to be done in terms of International Humanitarian Law, IHL and not Human rights generally. Has the HRCSL the competence to evaluate whether humanitarian law violations were committed during the armed conflict, he asked. Can the HRCSL all of a sudden acquire a competence to evaluate whether violations of international humanitarian law were committed by the personnel whom they screen on a case by case basis, when they are structured and organized to deal only with human rights violations?  If so why limit this capability only to UN peacekeeping.

HRCSL will have go through the list of peacekeepers, identify each individual by name and rank with details of what offence was committed and when, including the circumstances relating to the incident. If the HRCSL does not have the competency or the resources to make a judgment the screening process would be arbitrary and cause a grave violation of the human rights of the person concerned because he/she would be branded for life without an opportunity for defense.

According to Ladduwahetty, the HRCSL  should have flatly refused the  offer, saying that that it was not equipped to handle international humanitarian law certification and that these limitations would bring into question the credibility of certifications by the HRCSL.

APPENDIX

 Excerpts from AN APPRECIATION OF THE STF ,  FOR 4TH STF COMMEMORATION DAY,

 BY NIMAL LEWKE, RETIRED DIG, EX-COMMANDANT OF THE STF  (Island 31.8.18 p 5)

At a time STF Commemorating the 34th year, I thought I put this into print as a mark of respect for the committed, dedicated, disciplined and the sacrifices they made including their own lives to defend motherland at her darkest hour.

I joined the STF, underwent training conducted by the British Ex-SAS trainers and was posted to Batticaloa in charge of Kalawanchikudi base as base Commander. There were only two bases at that time in Batticaloa the other one was in Kalladi where Mr. N K Ilangakoon was the Base Commander. ASP at that time later IGP. Four of the STF personnel had got caught to a landmine in Jaffna and they had all died. And their bodies had been brought to Ratmalana. I had to go and bring them to Colombo.

Two days later, we got another shock. OIC Wellaveli, IP Masamja with seven of his PCs had gone to check a tip off towards Kokkadicholai, which is in the Kalawanchikudi area. Since, they did not return in time, we were informed. We went in search of the Police team. What we saw closer to Kokkadicholai was unbelievable. The police jeep had got caught to a landmine and men and the jeep was in pieces. We have never seen anything like that in our life time. What an experience it was for a young unit to face at a time they are being entrusted with a new task. So that was the beginning of the STF.

This highly trained young professional unit had excellent leadership under Zerney Wijesuriya SSP Commandant, Lionel Karunasena ASP Deputy Commandant, ASP Sahabandu, Director Training ASP Ilangakoon, ASP Rohan Abeywardena, ASP Jayantha Gamage etc. and many other young Inspectors. Mr. Ravi Jayawardena is the one who pioneered this programme and got specialized training from Israel and made STF’s VIP unit capable of matching any other VIP unit anywhere in the world. The STF had highly disciplined, committed, brilliant marksmen who could draw and fire within a second and hit the targets 10 out of 10 times.

All who joined the STF were volunteers. Nobody was forced to join the unit because at that time most of the police officers were reluctant to work in the North and East. The strength of this unit and the success story is the leadership at all levels. The brilliant training, discipline, commitment and the unity – all of which clearly proved that there was nothing called impossible.

STF dominated the Batticaloa-Ampara sector and never allowed any of the terrorist groups to have a hold there. In 1984 there were many groups, TELO, PLOTE, EPRLF, LTTE, EROS etc., but the most effective group in the Batticaloa was EPRLF. In 1985 during a confrontation with the EPRLF, we managed to over run them and eliminate their leadership, almost 10 leading members of the group. After the cease fire in 1986 only the LTTE strengthened under Prabhakaran’s cousin Kumarappa in the Eralukulam Kokkadicholai sector. Although Prabhakaran in his Ealam map had identified Batticaloa as their capital they never had a strong grip as we dominated the area.

Credit should go to the troops as day in and day out they launched operations one after the other to destroy their hideouts and capture those areas. STF was mostly on the coastal belt of Batticaloa – Ampara sector. From Bakmitiyawa to Lahugala was the Army area.

When the terrorists were attacking the Sinhala villages in those areas, gradually STF moved in and dislodged all their hideouts and we captured all their bases namely Beiruit, 46 Base in Eralukulam and 48 Base in Kanjikudiaru. Our concept was to “dominate the areas between us and the enemy.” That was our concept. In achieving it, the price was heavy as 463 young officers sacrificed their lives and 712 were injured/disabled.

There were many a time, when I planned operations and I had to leave out certain members, unofficially they came to me, to make personal requests to include them into the operational group so that they can be members of that operation. That was the unity and the commitment of the STF. Our men [had not] seen or spoken to their families for months. But they will wait for their turn as a team to get their due duty off. When I look back, I feel very proud.

I started as an Inspector and ended up as a DIG leading the STF to liberate the East purely because of the support and commitment of my men. The unity we built over the years is unbelievable and we are sad to note that in 1994 when the new Government came into power a volunteer Colonel took over the Defence Ministry. People like us who did yeoman service to the nation were removed as a result STF had a tough time for the first time in the history in 1995 a STF contingent was attacked at Pulukunawa camp that is the only time the terrorist came close to a camp and it is significant that out of the 463 officers who sacrificed their lives 300 was during this period. We got back to the STF in 2002 and rectified the error until we liberated the East.

Today STF security units have set a unique record by providing security to the present President, Prime Minister, former President and many other leaders. That has proved that how professional they have been and no security unit in this country has ever achieved that unbiased, professional recognition.

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When Pigs Fly: Britain Preaching Human Rights to Sri Lanka

October 20th, 2018

Courtesy the carthaginian solution

Who issued this scorched-earth policy in response to local resistance against a foreign invasion army?

 ….”cut down every yielding tree, pull down every dwelling house, destroy all fields, canals and irrigation reservoirs, kill all males over the age of 14 years and slaughter all cattle leaving those which are needed for the use of the army.”   The army followed the orders to the letter, killing between 40,000 to 100,000 enforcing the promulgation. The rebel leader was beheaded.

Was it the Waffen SS Einsatzgruppen in Ukraine and Poland? Was it the Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria? Was it the Imperial Belgian Army in the Congo? Was it Spanish Conquistadores destroying the Aztec Empire? No, it was Governor Brownrigg’s order to the British Army in 1818 to crush the Uva Wellassa” rebellion in Ceylon.

When Britain ruled Sri Lanka

Today’s ex-imperial Britain is a kinder, gentler country given to pontificate on the benefits of international humanitarian law, human rights and the rest of the tedious drivel. Its politicians are unable to resist their lecturing, hectoring and proclamatory urges regarding Sri Lanka’s post-war political and military landscape, with incessant demands for accountability, justice, truth-telling and independent investigations about the ending of Eelam War 4.

Despite no longer being the ruling Imperial power in Sri Lanka, British politicians and its foreign ministry (charmingly called the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) are unable to accept the uncomfortable political reality that, despite Sri Lanka’s lack of economic and political power, Britain’s proclamations demanding obedience no longer receive an reflexively deferential response from Sri Lanka’s political leadership. British politicians genuinely see nothing untoward in the ex-colonial power acting in loco parentis to an ex-colony.

The Global Tamil Forum, (a front group for the defeated LTTE terrorist group), recently showed off its most powerful British politicians who vied with each other to issue barely veiled threats against Sri Lanka including war crimes trials, international investigations and other powerful weapons from its ‘human rights’ arsenal. Who are these historically illiterate British politicians and international humanitarians intent on promoting the loser’s interests above those of the elected, legitimate (if authoritarian) government of Sri Lanka?

David Miliband (ex-Foreign Minister and Labour MP)

Miliband said that the ‘international community’ must act on the conclusions of the UN Panel Report as the evidence of war crimes committed by both parties are overwhelming.

David Miliband feels the love of Eelam

Not content with having visited Sri Lanka in May 2009 to demand (note the imperial mindset) that the Sri Lankan government halt it’s offensive against the LTTE on the grounds of excessive Tamil civilian casualties he then lead EU calls to indict Sri Lanka for war crimes at the UNHRC in Geneva in May 2009. Both attempts ended in ignominious failure. During his failed attempt to win the Labour leadership contest, he was strongly supported by sections of the diaspora Tamil community who appreciated his sterling work in trying to prevent an LTTE defeat.

Miliband strongly supported the 2nd Iraq War, the invasion of Afghanistan, UK’s strict anti-terrorism legislation and best of all, voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war.

Siobhain McDonagh, Labour MP for Mullativu and Mulliavaikal

Siobhain is a truly heroic Fluffer for Eelam. She’s always available for pro-Eelam demonstrations, glorifying LTTE suicide bombers, economic boycotts against Sri Lanka’s poorest people and anti-Sri Lankan activities in the European Union. When not agitating for Eelam, she attends to her UK constituency (Mitcham & Morden – two dreary London suburbs), but always finds time to promote Eelam.

McDonagh and Eelamists boycotting Sri Lankan garments

McDonagh could barely contain her excitement at the GTF launch.

..there’s never going to be a quick fix or an easy answer..” [to what? Eelam? Regime change in Sri Lanka?]

..the guys from Channel 4 have been extraordinary and dedicated to this cause and they’ve become more dedicated and not less … they text and contact me and Lee [Scott] all the time telling us what the next step they’re taking [is]..”

Confirmation (if any were necessary) that Channel 4 has long since abandoned any pretence of impartiality and is fully behind the dregs of the Eelam struggle. McDonagh is at the forefront of British MPs who want to get tough with Sri Lanka”.

… we know from experience that expressing pious desires does not work with the Sri Lankan Government; we have to be tough and do something about it.”

She wants to make Sri Lanka’s poor, even poorer, believing wrongly that this will make Sri Lanka bend to the dictates of pro-LTTE British politicians

The LTTE’s favourite British MP

I believe that a boycott of Sri Lankan goods by British citizens will help Sri Lanka to resolve its past, in the same way that the boycott of South Africa helped that country to bring about peace and reconciliation.”

McDonaugh strongly supported the 2nd Iraq War, the invasion of Afghanistan, the UK’s strict anti-terrorism legislationand best of all, voted strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war. The payback for McDonagh? Eelamists’ votes at the 2009 UK election and for the foreseeable future.

Alistair Burt MP, Foreign Office Minister

Speaking on behalf of the Government, Burt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, emphasised that reconciliation and long-lasting peace in Sri Lanka could only be achieved through a credible and independent investigation into the allegations of war crimes committed during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s military conflict

A political descendant of Governor Brownrigg lays down the Law to uppity natives in Sri Lanka about how it needs to modify its behaviour to suit British political dictates.

Yolanda Foster – Amnesty International

She called for an international investigation into the serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during Sri Lanka’s civil war and highlighted the inadequacy of the Sri Lankan Government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in addressing accountability or justice due to the limitations of its independence and mandate.

Amnesty International’s Yolanda Foster and LTTE activist together at last, promoting Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”.

Yolanda proud stood alongside the pro-LTTE Global Tamil Forum promoting Channel 4’s Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” ‘documentary’.  Yolanda has not yet had time (perhaps she was too busy doing her hair?) to initiate a campaign to indict and prosecute Adele Balasingham, self-admitted groomer of child suicide bombers, now living in safety and comfort in Morden, only a few miles AI’s smart, new central London head office.

However much Sri Lankans may dislike aspects of the current Sri Lankan government (corruption, waste, nepotism, abuses of power, hubris), they dislike even more, British politicians allying themselves to pro-LTTE diaspora Tamil groups trying to achieve through ‘international humanitarian action’, what they failed to achieve through 30 years of war. Pigs really will fly when British politicians utter the phrase, let Sri Lankans decide their own destiny without Britain’s continuing, malign support for the racist, irredentist cause of Tamil Eelam”.

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The Tale of Jack the Ripper

October 20th, 2018

Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge  

Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who terrorized the Whitechapel district in London’s East End by committing a number of murders in 1888. According to the official figures Jack the Ripper had killed five female prostitutes between August 31 and November 9, 1888.

However some experts believe that his victims were more than five and he even killed several children and also operated in France. Some of his victims disappeared without a trace or any police records. Up to date no one knows the real number of his victims.  Ripper was never identified. Ripper’s story became an unresolved riddle in the criminal history. Eventually Jack the Ripper became a symbol of horror in the Victorian era.

Ripper was a psychologically deviant person obviously had anti social personality traits. He was a psychopath. He was driven by lack of empathy and remorse. Ripper had a known dislike for prostitutes. He mainly targeted poor prostitutes who were mostly alcoholics living in utter destitution. He thought that he was doing the society a service by eliminating these elements. In his letters he often states that these sex workers did not deserve to live. He further thought that God had given him a mission to remove these unwanted people from the society. According to Ripper they were unfortunates” The writer George Bernard Shaw once concluded that Jack the Ripper revealed the deplorable conditions in the East End than any social reformer.

Ripper had a number of socially skills. He had superficial charm to deceit women. He was like a phantom and had the ability to blend into the crowd. He was cunning and acted fast. Moreover Ripper was an arrogant person. In his letters he mocked the Police and the Scotland Yard. Often he challenged them to catch him and ridiculed the Police for their ineffectiveness. He thought that he was always one step ahead than the Police. In these letters he signed himself Jack the Ripper with sardonic humor.

Ripper   had a homicidal streak and operated in the impoverished part of England. First the investigators thought that the murderer had a sound knowledge in human anatomy and surgical procedure. Analysis of wounds inflicted on Catherine Eddowes (one of the victims) indicated that Jack was unlikely to have been a medically-trained professional, or a medical or veterinary student. His cutting technique was gross.

Ripper was an addictive killer with profound OCD type of homicidal tendencies. He possessed a considerable physical strength. He murdered his victims with a knife and mutilated their bodies. Most of the victims were found with throat cut and disemboweled. Throat-cutting was Jack the Ripper’s hallmark. In some of the victims Ripper removed the internal organs. He was obsessed with liver, kidneys and uterus and probably collected these organs as trophies. He must have obtained sexual gratification committing these horrific acts.

There was a high probability that Ripper ate human flesh. He claims that he cannibalized Catherine Kate  Eddowes’s kidney. In one of his letters to the Police Ripper writes with misspellings: I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. The spelling mistakes in the letter could be a trick to mislead the Police.

There were a number of Ripper suspects. The famous one was Aaron Kosminski   a Polish Jew who immigrated from Russian Poland to England in the 1880s. He worked as a barber in Whitechapel. Later he became psychotic and transferred to a mental hospital. Kosminski probably suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia. However Aaron Kosminski was not fluent in English and he could not write letters to the Police as articulately as the Ripper did. Kosminski was a racial scapegoat.

The second suspect was Frederick Bailey Deeming. He murdered his wife and children in England before moving to Australia. During the trial Frederick Bailey Deeming made a confession that he was Jack the Ripper. But Frederick was in South Africa when Whitechapel murders took place. Ripper was becoming famous in England and Frederick Bailey Deeming wanted to earn some publicity before his capital punishment.

Rumors linked Prince Albert Victor- Duke of Clarence The grandson of Queen Victoria with Jack the Ripper. The Prince contracted syphilis   from a prostitute.  His mental health was fading.  Probably the Prince suffered from Neurosyphilis that altered his mind. However Prince Albert was not in London when two of these brutal murders occurred.

The FBI agent John Douglas built up a detailed profile of Jack the Ripper in 1988 and surmised that Ripper came from a family where he was raised by a domineering mother and weak, passive father. John Douglas indicates that Ripper was an   introvert and started venting his frustration through violent destructive acts.

Patricia Cornwell, an American crime writer claimed that she spent $7 million solving the Jack the Ripper case. Patricia Cornwell presented the theory that Walter Sickert, a British painter, was the serial killer Jack the Ripper.

Walter Richard Sickert was an English painter and he had a profound fantasy about Ripper killings. He even did a painting and titled it as Jack the Ripper’s bedroom in 1907. This ambiguous and unnerving portrait contains an ominous figure symbolized as Jack the Ripper.

Assessing Walter Sickert’s childhood trauma and sadistic instincts Patricia Cornwell states that this Victorian painter had a psychological motivation to kill and mutilate helpless victims. She suggested that Sickert was a sexually incapable misogynist who had a murderous mind.

To establish her point Patricia Cornwell highlights that Ripper letter bore the unusual watermark found on Sickert’s writing-paper. In addition she claims that she found DNA evidence to prove that Sickert was Jack the Ripper. However some Ripperologists deny this claim and they insist for more evidence.

Despite a large number of investigations still Jack the Ripper remains an unsolved mystery. He still remains the most elusive serial killer in history.

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Fuel pricing formula not suitable for Sri Lanka – Ravi

October 20th, 2018

By Tharindi Pabasara Courtesy Adaderana

The fuel pricing formula is not suitable for Sri Lanka, says the former Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake.

He stated this responding to the queries raised by the media today (19).
According to the former Minister Karunanayake, it is sufficient to formulate a method of determining the prices without being counterproductive to the CPC, while providing concessions to the public.

Meanwhile, Joint Opposition MP Shehan Semasinghe says that the fuel pricing formula has been introduced to hoax the public.

The fuel pricing formula does not contain any rational basis, says Prof Ranjith Bandara.

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Cleaning up

October 20th, 2018

Editorial Courtesy The Island

October 20, 2018, 9:12 pm
Although conditions today are not what they were during the time the LTTE was waging war against the state and assassinating political leaders at will, and the JVP was doing likewise during its second adventure in 1988-89, political leaders in Sri Lanka continue to be a tightly guarded lot. The police have various divisions called the Presidential Security Division, the Prime Ministerial Security Division and the Ministerial Security Division among others to ensure that the country’s political leaders are safe. Even ordinary MPs, whether they belong to the government or opposition have their own police bodyguards who often answer their mobile phones and do sundry other non-security related jobs. One former MP was accused of getting her officially provided (and taxpayer paid) bodyguard to work on a paddy field belonging to her and do domestic chores!

We say all this in the context of recent reports that there has been a plot to assassinate President Mathripala Sirisena. This is currently under investigation and where such inquiries will eventually end is anybody’s guess. Following newspaper reports, including one in The Hindu which is widely respected not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, that the president had alleged at a cabinet meeting that India’s Research and Analysis Wing, widely referred to as RAW, was plotting to assassinate him, the president first told India’s high commissioner in Colombo, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who sought clarification, that he has made no such allegation. Subsequently he repeated this assurance to Prime Minister Modi personally in a telephone conversation initiated by the Sri Lankan leader.

RAW like the CIA in the United States is no angel. Its activities supporting Prabhakaran and the LTTE which at one time trained and was based in India is well known. We in Sri Lanka have much to be grateful for to the Indian press, including The Hindu, which exposed such activity at that time. The days when national newspapers the world over acted on a creed ‘My Country Right or Wrong’ was by then long gone and skullduggery by states in many parts of the free world was being freely exposed by their own newspapers. Denials by Sirisena and the media division of his office that he did not mention RAW at a cabinet meeting has been publicly refuted by not just The Hindu but by N. Ram, the chairman of Kasturi and Sons Ltd. who are the publishers of the newspaper of which he was once editor-in-chief. He contemptuously tweeted “Another case of saying something wild and bizarre, expecting it to remain within a closed room and them blaming the media for the furor caused. The Hindu just did its job – truth-telling.”

Ram’s words would resonate with many. People are all too familiar with politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and authorities of many stripes and spots conveniently going back on what they have said and blaming the media for misreporting, inaccuracy, taking words out of context and what have you when it suits them. The Hindu’s Colombo-based correspondent, Meera Srinivasan, had cross-checked the story with no less than four cabinet ministers who had spoken to her on condition of anonymity. While she has not revealed her sources, an ironclad journalistic ethic, her editors in Chennai and her publisher are convinced that there has been no misreporting. While we do not think that the Sri Lanka president seriously thinks that the Indian government or state is mired in a conspiracy to assassinate him, we do not discount the possibility that RAW had been mentioned. That, of course, resulted in the smelly stuff hitting the fan.

We said at the beginning of this comment that political leaders in this country, particularly its president and prime minister, are a tightly guarded lot. That was undoubtedly justified at a time the LTTE and the JVP were engaged in their bloody killing sprees. President Premadasa lost his life and President Chandrika Kumaratunga lost an eye. Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanyake who may well have led this country were also cold bloodedly gunned down or blown up. The victims were legion and there was an undoubted need at that time for those at risk to be properly and professionally protected. But conditions have now changed. While not advocating in any way that our leaders are left vulnerable, we would say there is a need for continuing threat assessment as is done when security is sought by lesser beings, and measures adopted proportionate to the risk.

The information in the public domain at present is that a stool pigeon or paid police informant who is a self-proclaimed anti-corruption and anti-narcotic activist has produced recordings of compromising telephone conversations between himself and a DIG confirmed as authentic. The policeman was first sent on compulsory leave and has now been interdicted. There seems to have been a lot of foot dragging in the process deepening suspicion that the concerned officer enjoyed considerable patronage. Detailed statements from him have been recorded and recent precedents suggest that his arrest is imminent. Matters regarding firearms released to his unit have also surfaced during the investigation. All these obviously need thorough examination. The plot has thickened with an Indian national, described as mentally unstable by India’s high commission here, entering the picture. That may have catalyzed the RAW angle entering the equation.

However that be, a thorough investigation is essential. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was meeting Prime Minister Modi in India yesterday. Hopefully and misunderstandings or misconceptions that have arisen over recent events would be cleared during their interaction because good relations with India must remain a cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy.

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Sirisena’s aides want swift probe

October 20th, 2018

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu

Call alleged assassination plot ‘serious’

Sri Lanka’s investigation authorities must expedite their probe into the alleged assassination plot targeting President Maithripala Sirisena, his advisers have said, terming it a very serious matter”.

Addressing media persons here, presidential adviser Shiral Lakthilaka said Mr. Sirisena’s security has been heightened, following reports of an attempt to assassinate him.

Local questioned

We hear of a foreign national linked to the case,” he said, referring to an Indian arrested last month, in addition to a local who was questioned on the said plot.

However, authorities had said the Indian was mentally disturbed”.

In that case, he should be subjected to a medical examination and the results must be produced in court,” Mr. Lakthilaka said at a press briefing on Thursday. We are very concerned,” he added, urging investigators to look into all aspects of the case with utmost seriousness”.

‘Did not name RAW’

Denying recent media reports — including The Hindu’s — on the President alleging that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was plotting his assassination, the adviser clarified that Mr. Sirisena had told the Cabinet of local media reports of an Indian intelligence agency being involved, but he did not name it”. Earlier, the Sri Lankan government too termed the news reports baseless and false”.

Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samrasinghe, from the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Mr. Sirisena, in a separate media briefing on Thursday, said that the Ministers who leaked the RAW canard” must be exposed, the local newspaper Daily Mirror reported.

PM’s visit to India

The developments come even as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe departed for New Delhi on Thursday.

Mr. Wickremesinghe will have lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, after meetings scheduled with the Indian Home and External Affairs Ministers, The Hindu has learnt.

India-assisted development projects are expected to figure in the discussions. Mr. Wickremesinghe is accompanied by Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama; Minister of Youth Affairs, Project Management and Southern Development Sagala Ratnayaka and Minister of Petroleum Resources Development Arjuna Ranatunga.

 

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UN sends Sri Lanka peacekeeping commander home over alleged atrocities

October 20th, 2018

The United Nations has asked Sri Lanka to immediately repatriate a commander serving in the peacekeeping force in Mali following allegations that he was linked to atrocities committed during Sri Lanka’s war with Tamil Tigers.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday that the request to send Lieutenant Colonel Kalana Priyankara Lankamithra Amunupure home was made following “a review of the human rights background of the commander.”

The commander of Sri Lanka’s contingent in the MINUSMA peacekeeping force was screened before he was sent to Mali but “new information recently came to light,” Dujarric said, without providing details.

Sri Lankan forces crushed the Tamil Tigers in a no-holds-barred military offensive that ended their long-running guerilla war in May 2009, leaving more than 100,000 people dead.

A UN peacekeeper from Senegal patrols the streets of Gao in northern Mali
A UN peacekeeper from Senegal patrols the streets of Gao in northern Mali

In the final months of the war, Sri Lankan forces are accused of killing up to 40,000 Tamil civilians.

The expelled commander is said to have led Sri Lankan special forces in operations against Tamil civilians during the brutal, closing chapter of the war.

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), a South Africa-based non-governmental organization that documents mass atrocities from Sri Lanka’s war, in April sent to the United Nations a list of 56 Sri Lankans who should be barred from peacekeeping.

The ITJP charged that UN officials had failed to properly vet Sri Lankan troops for peacekeeping.

The 56 officers and other personnel were either alleged perpetrators or were involved in frontline combat in the final stages of the war, when crimes were committed by security force units.

Dujarric said UN officials were working with the Sri Lankan government and the country’s human rights commission to set up an “effective domestic screening process.”

The United Nations has 15,000 troops and police serving in the peace mission in Mali, which began in 2013 and is considered one of the UN’s most challenging operations.

Sri Lanka has deployed about 200 troops in MINUSMA and has sent smaller contingents to UN peace operations in Lebanon and in the Central African Republic.

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China’s foray into North SL stalled; India relieved

October 20th, 2018

Anirban Bhaumik, DH News Service, New Delhi, 

Sri Lanka has stalled China’s bid to spread its tentacles into the island nation’s war-ravaged Tamil-majority Northern Province, where several reconstruction projects are being funded by India. Sri Lanka has this week reversed its earlier decision…

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/india-relieved-chinas-foray-698835.html

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No Strings Attached? How Sri Lanka Can Make the Most of Security Grants

October 20th, 2018

By Natasha Fernando Courtesy The Diplomat

Strategizing how Colombo can use sorely needed military grants and donations in an evolving security landscape.

Sri Lanka is a middle-income country that is strategically located in the Indian Ocean. It emerged from a three-decade civil war and is now in a post-conflict era, struggling to maintain internal political and economic stability while maintaining friendly relations with the world. But Sri Lanka’s strategic location has led to geopolitical tensions among major powers, all seeking to further their ambitions in the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka has thus seen the construction of Chinese funded ports, Indian management of national assets such as the Mattala airport, and Japanese aid.

Throughout its long battle with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan government received considerable amount of military equipment by way of sales from China, Pakistan, Russia, and Israel.After the defeat of the LTTE, Sri Lanka has no conventional military threat to face, but instead has to face many nontraditional security threats such as cyberattacks, piracy, illegal fishing, marine pollution, illegal migration, trafficking, and smuggling of illegal contraband, transnational organized crime, etc. Sri Lanka as a small island state has limited resources to counter these threats and against the current economic backdrop, foreign assistance is required – and it must be handled cautiously. Sri Lanka’s ability to obtain military equipment via credit lines is limited while donations are not always given in good faith. Hence, knowing how to strategically balance the receipt of donations and grants could be useful to Sri Lanka when facing the geopolitical game.

Sri Lanka’s Military Capability and Recent Military Donations

Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.Sri Lanka’s military expenditure has seen an increase even after the end of the civil war in 2009. This is due to the need to maintain the troops and updated equipment, as well as the addition of new institutions over the years. The Sri Lanka Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Civil Security Department have both recurrent and capital expenditures, which even today account for the highest allocations of the budget.

The current debt situation in the country is worse and is predicted to increase over the next years unless the government opens up new avenues for bilateral trade and more investment opportunities, allowing Sri Lanka to gain revenue by being part of global value chains. Although Sri Lanka’s vicious cycle of debt began with the previous government initiating large scale infrastructure developments, the present government’s mismanagement has resulted in the country falling even deeper into debt. As the Institute of South Asian Studies has highlighted in 2015 [the first year of the Sirisena administration], outstanding domestic debts rose by over 12 percent due to excessive government spending and foreign debt had increased by 25 percent by the end of that year.”  Against such a backdrop, Sri Lanka is unable to enter into any agreements to acquire defense equipment via credit lines — no matter how important and necessary that equipment might be.

Strategizing Donations and Grants

Against this pitiful economic backdrop, Sri Lanka has very little choice but to accept military donations. In this year alone, China gifted Sri Lanka a frigate, and Zhou Chenming, a Beijing-based military commentator has predicted that it is possible China will give [Sri Lanka] one or two more.” Also in 2018 Japan donated two coast guard patrol vessels, SLCGS Samudra Raksha and SLCGS Samaraksha to Sri Lanka. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is also to provide a grant aid of 1.83 billion yen ($16.3 million) for the Project for the Maritime Safety Capability Improvement. Furthermore, the Australian government has provided two main engines for the Sri Lanka Navy Ship (SLNS) Mihikatha, which was a gift to Sri Lanka by Australia. Australia-Sri Lanka defense ties have been lucrative since 2013, when navy boats were donated to prevent human smuggling via maritime routes. India has also been quite active, providing both gifts of vessels as well as training for members of the Sri Lanka Coast Guard on ship handling, bridge navigation, engine room controls, and machinery.

But all these donations, gifts, and capacity building have been subject to various criticisms. These criticisms span anti-military sentiment by the Tamil diaspora and also concerns from domestic interests groups in Sri Lanka, as in the case of U.S. assistance. The Trump administration’s foreign assistance of $3.4 million was criticized for being a tool of U.S. foreign policy, with the goal of to maintaining U.S. dominance in the Indian Ocean region. The United States is also developing ties with the Sri Lanka Navy for conducting training and joint exercises. Sri Lanka must be clear-eyed: extraregional powers providing such assistance do so not entirely for charitable purposes but to also strengthen their own security and power.

Interestingly, the main donations in the maritime sphere for Sri Lanka have come from countries of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: the United States, Japan, Australia and India. This informal alliance has mainly been viewed as an attempt to control the rise of China. However, there are scholars who promote the idea that Quad countries should work together to promote freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific.

Conclusion

Countries will continue to engage in providing aid and assistance to Sri Lanka, whether their motives are pure or not, and Colombo has little choice in whether or not to accept such assistance owing to the current economic crisis. Sri Lanka should obtain donations, but with careful assessments of the benefits to the country’s security forces, as well as a careful reading into any legal agreements that might accompany even grants and donations.

Let us consider a hypothetical scenario: two countries have both expressed the intention to donate a surveillance frigate, but Country X has a condition that its engineers can engage in repairing and maintaining the surveillance equipment, and Country Y has no such condition attached. Choosing Country Y over X is a wiser choice, even if Country X is more powerful in terms of bargaining power and has better quality equipment. In this way, Sri Lanka can restrict conditions that might involve a subtle element of foreign intervention.

Having thus concluded, Sri Lanka does not have capacity to build its own weapons, ammunition, and vessels but may look into avenues that will enable them to join a value chain within a global or regional military industrial complex.

Natasha Fernando is Research Assistant at the Institute of National Security Studies, think tank of the Ministry of Defense, Sri Lanka. These opinions do not reflect the Government of Sri Lanka. Her views are independent.

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Sri Lanka to recall peacekeeping commander on UN request

October 20th, 2018

Military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said that it will comply with the UN request even though it doesn’t believe Col. Kalana Amunupure is guilty of any human rights abuses in the last stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war.

“There may be allegations. But he has not done anything wrong. He has not committed any war crimes. We will appeal and send him back,” Atapattu said.

A report in The Guardian newspaper in July quoted a confidential report that claimed the Sri Lanka commander in Mali, who was not named in the report, is alleged to have committed war crimes during the civil war which ended in 2009. It said the report was produced by the South-Africa based International Truth and Justice Project, and also cited other Sri Lankans taking part in U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The Sri Lanka Army called the deployment to Mali “one more feather in its cap” when it was set to start sending the 200-strong Combat Convoy Company to serve in the U.N. peacekeeping mission last November. It said Sri Lankan troops were also participating in other U.N. peacekeeping missions including in Lebanon and South Sudan.

Both Sri Lankan government soldiers and the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels were accused of war crimes during the country’s 26-year civil war.

Tens of thousands of people were reported to be killed in just the final months of the fighting.

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‘Handicapped sovereignty’: escalating costs of Sri Lanka’s post-war development vision

October 20th, 2018

BENJAMIN BROWN, LORITTA CHAN, and KANCHANA N RUWANPURA  Courtesy opendemocracy.net

As capital elbows its way in and remakes the world according to its own designs, the need to democratise this polity is more urgent than ever.

Early in October 2018, the latest IPCC report issued a stark warning, urging ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’ within the next twelve years to avert climate breakdown. Rising sea levels, flooding, drought, and other extreme weather events are liable to compound the effects of poverty and inequality globally. Yet in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, local communities and civil society groups watch with trepidation as land is reclaimed from the Indian Ocean, in preparation for the construction of a new Port City.

The project is one of post-war Sri Lanka’s mega-infrastructure development plans, aiming to make Colombo a regional financial hub and world class” destination for South Asia. However, with debts of $17 billion accrued over the past decade, Sri Lanka finds itself in a position of ‘handicapped sovereignty’, owing large sums to international creditors, including the west and China. The immediate consequences of the Port City project are felt largely by coastal fishing communities. However, it also damages the country’s fragile marine environment and affects the water table due to quarrying rock from the island’s interior. Yet proponents have disregarded these impacts, promising a ‘sustainable city’ and offering bland reassurances that neglect the debt burden, ailing infrastructure and poor environmental quality already shouldered by Colombo’s citizens.

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Colombo skyline from Mount Lavinia. Source: Benjamin Brown

Since the end of a violent ethnic conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka has undergone an infrastructure and construction boom, with Colombo increasingly at the epicentre of the controversial drive for new development. One of the grand ambitions under the auspices of the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development is the flagship Port City development; a new construction atop a 269-hectare expanse of land reclaimed from the Indian Ocean. Delivered at an estimated cost of $15 billion over a 25 year period and bankrolled by China, the project represents a monumental effort to remake urban space.

Evoking comparisons with Dubai and Singapore, Port City is designed to host high-end flats, a luxury marina, parks and casinos. Proponents, including a coterie of lawyers, politicians and property developers, speak enthusiastically about attracting ‘high net worth individuals’, creating a low tax zone with its own separate legal system, and a thriving centre for ‘offshore products and services’.A coterie of lawyers, politicians and property developers, speak enthusiastically about attracting ‘high net worth individuals’, creating a low tax zone with its own separate legal system, and a thriving centre for ‘offshore products and services’.

Dreamed up by the political class and vested economic elites, the Port City project is a vision that has ignited fierce resistance from environmentalists, urban activists, and neighbouring fishing communities. Critics cast the project as an enclave for the rich, an ecological disaster already destroying the fragile marine environment. Sand mining and dredging have become major concerns, disrupting fishing grounds, damaging coral reefs and compounding the effects of coastal erosion. As the writer Amitav Ghosh  comments, “a colonial vision of the world, in which proximity to the water represents power and security, mastery and conquest, has now been incorporated into the very foundations of middle-class patterns of living across the globe.”  The allure of the ocean has ignited an insatiable desire for development and growth along the coastal fringes, irrespective of prior land use or the risks posed by climate change in such areas. Nowhere is this more obvious than Colombo, where the voracious appetite for luxury accommodation has produced a new battleground between residents, investors, politicians, and the working classes.

The People’s Movement against Port City, a loose coalition of fishing communities, religious leaders and civil society groups, has contested the project since its inception, with frequent protests, court cases and, in one instance, a hunger strike organised by the Catholic Church demanding an end to dredging near the shoreline. Many are enraged at the lack of transparency and consultation over the project and pained by ‘the rape of the country’s natural resources’ they see unfolding amid the development process. Although opposition has fractured, core grievances remain unaddressed and activists are now intent on renewing their struggle. There is palpable anger at how the current UNP government has backtracked on promises to cancel the project and dismissed calls to revisit a flawed Environmental Impact Assessment. There is the widespread perception that China’s outsized influence as Sri Lanka’s largest foreign creditor has suppressed open debate on the merits of the proposal, leading Sri Lanka to find itself in a position of ‘handicapped sovereignty’ as one long term organiser mentioned.

Peoples Movement against Port City protest at Galle Face. Source: Benjamin Brown

There is the widespread perception that China’s outsized influence as Sri Lanka’s largest foreign creditor has suppressed open debate on the merits of the proposal.

Chinese influence looms large over Sri Lanka, as one of the few countries to lend to Sri Lanka during the blighted era of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Port City sits alongside other controversial infrastructure projects, such as the Hambantota Port, that succeeded in gaining funds despite accusations of cronyism, corruption and human rights abuses.

Whilst the arrival of China has been welcomed by many southern governments, still smarting from the conditionalities imposed by western creditors, its rise has stoked fears over Chinese hegemony in the Asia Pacific region. Nevertheless, a focus limited to China belies the indebtedness and aid dependency to other western donors who similarly continue to exercise soft power in the region (1).  Bluntly, the claims to national sovereignty purported by Sri Lanka’s political class are laid bare when the country’s indebtedness to both China and to western donors is fully accounted for.

Strategic location

Observers point to Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean, close to the world’s fourth busiest shipping lane, as the motivation for cultivating economic ties that align with Chinese premier Xi Jinping’s vision for expanding trade routes, under his much hyped One Belt, One Road initiative.  The political vision of a unified, post-war Sri Lanka connected through an extensive road network has expanded to encapsulate plans for transport and trade corridors extending well beyond national borders. Ports, airports and roads are conceptualised as pivotal nodes to capitalise on Sri Lanka’s strategic location amid a rapidly changing geopolitical order. Such infrastructural forms signal a set of priorities that overlook the economic, social and ecological consequences of a growing indebtedness.Nevertheless, a focus limited to China belies the indebtedness and aid dependency to other western donors.

Undeniably, Colombo’s cityscape, and Sri Lanka’s development landscape more generally, are inscribed with the imprints of many competing visions. However, ambitions have rarely departed from the designs of colonial rulers or the modernising governments of the post-independence era, remaining the domain of a privileged few.

Screenshot from the Port City Colombo promotional video. Source: YouTube.The urban transformation now under way therefore heralds a critical juncture in Sri Lanka’s post-war future and offers broader points for reflection concerning the terrain of democratic struggle. In a nation marred by spiralling inequalities, ethnic strife, and ecological rupture, projects such as Port City, will remain a critical arena for social movements contesting the direction of development well into the twenty-first century. As capital elbows its way in and remakes the world according to its own designs, the need to democratise this polity is more urgent than ever.

(1) Whistleblower (2018): A post-war development disaster? Foreign aid, bi-partisan corruption and Lanka in the international bailout business.”

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The Pakistan Business Council (PBC) suggests increase in exports of bikes, cement to Sri Lanka

October 20th, 2018

By Bilal Hussain  Courtesy The Express Tribune

KARACHI: The Pakistan Business Council (PBC) has drafted a report focused on the free trade agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka and has found motorcycle and cement manufacturing as potential industries that Pakistan can increasingly rely on.

According to the PBC – a business policy advocacy platform, the purpose of the study is to analyse the performance of the FTA to date and to highlight the opportunities available to both partners to increase bilateral trade. The FTA with Sri Lanka is considered the most successful signed by Pakistan.

It is part of our continuing review of trade agreements, to identify areas in which Pakistan could improve,” PBC CEO Ehsan Malik told The Express Tribune. Moreover, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has also recently said that all trade agreements are up for review.

Sri Lanka is a significant part of BRI and has agreed to some projects with the Chinese government like the Matara-Kataragama Railway Project, Colombo Port City Project, Hambantota Port Development Project and Extension of South Expressway Project. PHOTO: FILE
Sri Lanka is a significant part of BRI and has agreed to some projects with the Chinese government like the Matara-Kataragama Railway Project, Colombo Port City Project, Hambantota Port Development Project and Extension of South Expressway Project. PHOTO: FILE

Motorcycle and cement are the two industries where Pakistan has the potential to increase its exports to Sri Lanka.

There is a growing demand for motorcycles in Sri Lanka as the number of registered motorcycles in the country rose at an average of 9.7% over the period 2012-17. Pakistan, on the other hand, has a strong motorcycle industry with yearly production of 2.45 million units.

Focus only on boosting exports is a bad strategy

In 2017, of the 2.45 million units produced, Pakistan managed to export only 9,450 units, most of which were shipped to Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

For the motor vehicles manufactured in Pakistan, the government needs to harmonise its emission standards with those followed worldwide. This will not only make our vehicles more environment-friendly, but will also enhance our export portfolio,” the report stressed.

Meanwhile, the cement industry is among the highest contributors to the national exchequer. In 2017, Pakistan was the 12th largest exporter of cement in the world with exports of $210 million. Exports of cement were much higher in 2013, but have recently decreased due to high local demand.

However, to cope with the high demand, Pakistani cement manufacturers have already commenced projects to increase production by 5.2 million tons. These projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2018. Two major issues highlighted by the cement manufacturers as impacting their global competitiveness are high import tariffs on coal and a severe bottleneck at the port, which leads to inefficiency,” stated the report.

Nearly half of export receipts come from just six countries

The government needs to address the issues faced by exporters at the port. This can be done by increasing storage space, reducing the storage rent and giving priority to exporters over importers, it added.

Sri Lanka is also a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and has agreed to some projects with the Chinese government like the Matara-Kataragama Railway Project, Colombo Port City Project, Hambantota Port Development Project and Extension of South Expressway Project.

The FTA between Pakistan and Sri Lanka came into effect in July 2005 after being signed in August 2002. Under the FTA, Sri Lanka was given immediate duty-free market access for 206 products.

Pakistan, on the other hand, received duty-free access for 102 products. Further concessions were agreed in November 2010.

Bilateral trade with Sri Lanka has mostly been in favour of Pakistan since the signing of the FTA. Pakistan’s exports more than doubled from 2005 to 2011 while imports stayed relatively constant. Pakistan enjoyed its largest trade surplus in 2011 which was worth $287 million.

Exports fell after 2011 and reached $269 million by 2017. Imports, on the other hand, rose about 60% since 2011 and reached their peak at $103 million in 2017. Pakistan’s trade surplus with Sri Lanka in 2017 was $166 million.

The study identifies 20 products which have the potential to push up Pakistan’s exports to Sri Lanka by $1.14 billion. An analysis of Sri Lanka’s tariff regime shows that amongst Pakistan’s top 20 exports to Sri Lanka, only four products receive better tariff rates than those applied to India and China.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2018.

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මෛත්‍රි-රනිල් සීතල යුද්ධය එළියට ආණ්ඩුව පුපුරයි

October 20th, 2018

දෙනගම ධම්මික රණවීර උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ශ්‍රීලනිපය සහ එජාපය අතර පැවැති සංහිඳියාව එන්න එන්නම බිඳවැටෙමින් පැවතීම නිසා ජාතික ආණ්ඩුව ශීඝ්‍රයෙන් දේශපාලන වශයෙන් බිඳවැටීමකට පත් වෙමින් ඇත.

ජාතික ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පත්වීමෙන් පසුව මහ බැංකු බැඳුම්කර ගනුදෙනු සම්බන්ධව විමර්ශනය කිරීමට ජනාධිපති විමර්ශන කොමිසමක් පත් කිරීම එහි ආරම්භක සන්ධිස්ථානය බව දේශපාලන විචාරකයන්ගේ අදහස වී තිබේ.

එම කොමිසමේ නිර්දේශ අනුව එජාපයට සම්බන්ධ බොහෝ දෙනකු පිළිබඳව විවිධ අනාවරණයන් සිදුවීම ඊට හේතුවයි. එය ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා විසින් එජාපය අපහසුතාවට පත්කිරීමේ අභිලාෂයෙන් සිදුකරන ලද්දක් බව එජාපයේ අදහස වී ඇත.

රටේ ආර්ථිකය හැසිරවීමේ අංශය එජාපය වෙත ලබාදී තිබියදීත් අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැති ආර්ථික කළමනාකරණ කමිටුව අහෝසි කොට ඒ වෙනුවට තමන්ගේ සභාපතිත්වයෙන් ජාතික ආර්ථික සභාව ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා විසින් පත්කිරීම දෙපාර්ශ්වයේ විරසකය ප්‍රකට වූ අවස්ථාවක් ලෙස සැලකේ.

එමෙන්ම එජාපයේ මැති ඇමැතිවරුන් ශ්‍රිලනිප මැති ඇමැතිවරුත් එකිනෙකාට චෝදනා එල්ල කර ගැනීම, විශේෂයෙන් අගමැතිවරයා සහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විවේචනය කිරීම නතර කර ගැනීමටද දෙපාර්ශ්වයටම නොහැකි වූ අතර එම නිසාම එය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ ලක්ෂණයක් ලෙස අර්ථකතනය කරන්නටද පක්ෂ දෙකම උත්සුක විය.

එමෙන්ම ආණ්ඩුව ක්‍රියාවට නංවන ‘ගම්පෙරළිය’ වැඩසටහන මඟින් ශ්‍රිලනිප මැති ඇමැතිවරුන්ට සංවර්ධන කාර්යයන් වෙනුවෙන් මුදල් වෙන් නොකිරීම ගැන ශ්‍රී ්‍රීලනිප මැති ඇමැතිවරු ජනාධිපතිවරයාට මැසිවිලි ඉදිරිපත් කළහ. ඒ ගැන සොයා බැලීමට ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ද පියවර ගෙන තිබිණි. ආණ්ඩුවක් ලෙස නොව දේශපාලන පක්ෂ ලෙස තමන්ට ලකුණු දමා ගැනීමේ සීතල යුද්ධය ප්‍රකට කළ තවත් අවස්ථාවක් ලෙස එය දේශපාලන ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයේ කතාබහට ලක්විය.

එමෙන්ම පසුගිය අඟහරුවාදා (16දා) පැවැති කැබිනට් මණ්ඩල රැස්වීමේදී කොළඹ වරායේ මීටර් 400ක දිගින් යුතු සහ කන්ටේනර් 18,000ක් සහිත නැව් හැසිරවිය හැකි හෙක්ටයාර් 20කින් යුතු නැඟෙනහිර පර්යන්තය ඉන්දියාවට බදු නොදෙන බවට ජනාධිපතිවරයා කළ ප්‍රකාශය ආණ්ඩුවේ නායකයන් දෙදෙනා අතර පවතින දේශපාලන ගැටුම එළියට පිළිපන් අවස්ථාවක් ලෙස දේශපාලන විශ්ලේෂකයෝ පෙන්වා දෙති.

ජනාධිපති ඝාතන කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් නැති බවට සම කැබිනට් ප්‍රකාශක රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා අඟහරුවාදා (16දා) කැබිනට් තීරණ දැනුම් දීමේ මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදී පැවැසුවද ජනාධිපති උපදේශක ශිරාල් ලක්තිලක මහතා බ්‍රහස්පතින්දා (18දා) මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් පවත්වා පැවැසුවේ ඝාතන කුමන්ත්‍රණ යට ගැසීමේ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් සිදුවන බවයි. මේ පිටුපස එජාපයේ සම්බන්ධතාවක් ඇති බවට ශ්‍රීලනිප පාර්ශ්වයේ අදහස වී තිබේ.

මේ අතර තමන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඝාතනය කිරීමට ‘රෝ’ (අඒඑ) ඔත්තුකරුවකු යොදවා ඇති බවට ජනාධිපතිවරයා කැබිනට් හමුවේදී සිදුකළා යැයි පවසමින් ඉන්දියාවේ ‘ද හින්දු’ පුවත්පතට තොරතුරු දුන් තැනැත්තන්ට තමන්ගේ නම් හෙළි කිරීමට තරම් ආත්ම ශක්තියක් නැතැයි වරාය හා නාවික කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද සමරසිංහ මහතා පසුගියදා (18දා) ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී එජාප ඇමැතිවරුන් ඉලක්ක කර දෝෂාරෝපණය කළේය.

මේ අතර පසුගිය බදාදා (17දා) සන්ධ්‍යාවේ ඉන්දීය අගමති නරේන්ද්‍ර මෝදි සහ ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා දුරකථනය ඔස්සේ සාකච්ඡා කර තිබිණි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංවර්ධන කටයුතු පිළිබඳ ඔවුන් සාකච්ඡා කළ බව ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය නිවේදනය කළද ඉන්දීය අගමැති කාර්යාලය නිකුත් කළ නිවේදනයේ සඳහන් වූයේ ඉන්දීය රෝ ඔත්තු සේවය තමන් ඝාතනය කිරීමට උත්සාහ කළ බවට පළවන ප්‍රවෘත්ති ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපතිවරයා ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ බවයි.

එමෙන්ම ඉන්දියාවේ රෝ ඔත්තු සේවය විසින් ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ඝාතනය කිරීමේ උත්සාහයක නිරතවන බව කියන ප්‍රකාශ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පරීක්ෂණ කිරීමට ඉන්දීය රජය තීරණය කර තිබේ. ඉන්දීය ආරක්ෂක බලධාරීන් විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඉන්දීය මහකොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලය මඟින් පසුගියදා (17දා) ඒ බව දැනුම් දී ඇති බවද වාර්තා විය.

ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ උපදේශක කාරක සභාවේදී ද ජනාධිපති ඝාතන තැත ගැන විමල් වීරවංශ සහ වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර යන මහත්වරුන් දක්වා ඇති අතර එම සාකච්ඡාව අවසන්කර ජනාධිපතිවරයා පැමිණෙද්දී ඒ පසුපස පැමිණි රන්ජන් රාමනායක නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැතිවරයාට හින්දු පත්‍රයට කැබිනට් මණ්ඩල රැස්වීමේ තොරතුරු දුන්නේ ඔයාලගේ නායකයා බවත්, මාවත් ඉන්දියාවත් අතර අමනාපයක් ඇති කරන්නට කළ ඒ දේ ගැන ඔවුන්ට ගිහින් කියන්නැයි පැවැසූ බවක්ද වාර්තා විය.

ජනාධිපති ඝාතන කුමන්ත්‍රණය පිළිබඳව පොලිසිය මන්දගාමීව කටයුතු කරන බවටද ශ්‍රීලනිප පාර්ශ්වය වෙතින් චෝදනා කරයි. පොලිසිය ඉලක්ක කළද චෝදනාව එල්ලවන්නේ එජාපයටයි. ලංකා බැංකුව, මහජන බැංකුව හා ආයෝජන මණ්ඩලය යන ආයතනවල සභාපතිවරුන් ඇතුළු අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩල සාමාජිකයන්ට ඉවත්වන ලෙස ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා පසුගිය බදාදා (17දා) දැනුම් දී තිබියදී ජනාධිපතිවරයාට එසේ කිරීමට බලයක් නොමැති බව පෙන්වා දෙමින් ඔවුන් තවදුරටත් එම තනතුරුවල තබා ගැනීමට එජාපය කටයුතු කරමින් සිටී.

මෙලෙස කාලයක් තිස්සේ මෝදු වෙමින් පවතින මේ විරසකය වඩාත් තීව්‍ර ලෙස වර්ධනය වීමේ පසුබිම තුළ ආණ්ඩුව තවදුරටත් ඉදිරියට ගෙනයෑම ගැටලුකාරී වී ඇති බව දේශපාලන විචාරකයෝ පෙන්වා දෙති.

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ජනාධිපතිට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවන්න පුළුවන්

October 20th, 2018

ඩබ්ලිව්. කේ. ප්‍රසාද් මංජු උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

රට දැඩි අරාජික තත්ත්වයකට පත්ව තිබෙන අවස්ථාවක ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ මූලික ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3, 4 වගන්ති අනුව ජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්‍ය බලය හිමි ජනතාවට නව ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවීමේ අවස්ථාව උදාකිරීම සඳහා ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍යයෙන් බලයට පත්වූ රාජ්‍ය නායකයා වන ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීමට බලය තිබෙන බව හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. සිල්වා මහතා ‘ඉරිදා මව්බිම’ට ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

රටේ පොදු මහජනතාවගේ පොදු යහපත සහ රටක් අරාජිකවී තිබෙන අවස්ථාවක ඊට මැදිහත්වීමේ අවශ්‍යතාව යන කරුණු දෙක උතුම්ම නීති සිද්ධාන්ත බවත් අවශ්‍ය මොහොතේදී අවශ්‍ය දේ සිදුකිරීමට උතුම්ම නීති සිද්ධාන්තවලින් හැකි නිසා පළමුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂය ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉවත්වී දෙවැනිව අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය විසුරුවා හැර තෙවැනුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැර පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයක් කැඳවීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස තමා ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගෙන් ඉල්ලීිමක් කරන බවද හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. සිල්වා මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

මෙවැනි අවස්ථාවකදී ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ නියෝග ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට බැඳී සිටින ස්වාධීන මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මහ මැතිවරණය පැවැත්වීමට නොපමාව ක්‍රියා කළ යුතුය. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හරින විට නව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව රැස්වන දිනය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමටද ජනාධිපතිතුමාට බලය තිබේ.

19 වැනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය මඟින් මෙවැනි තත්ත්වයක් ඇති වී රට අරාජික වූ විට ඊට විසඳුමක් ඉදිරිපත් නොකිරීම ඉතා බරපතළ අඩුවක් බවත්, රාජ්‍ය නායකයා වශයෙන් මූලික ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3, 4 වගන්ති අනුව එම හිඩැස පිරවීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට නීතියෙන් කිසිදු බාධාවක් නොමැති බවත් ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍ය වෙනුවෙන් රට බේරාගැනීමට මේ අවස්ථාවේදී ජනාධිපතිතුමාට තිබෙන එකම විසඳුම පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැර පාර්ලිමේන්තු මහ මැතිවරණයක් කැඳවීම බවත් හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. සිල්වා මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් කටයුතු කළ තමා ඇතුළු පාර්ශ්ව කිහිපයක්ම වෙනුවෙන් ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට මෙම ඉල්ලීම් ඉදිරිපත් කරන බවද වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. සිල්වා මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

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Is our democracy run by mindlessness and mediocrity?

October 19th, 2018

By DR D. CHANDRARATNA Courtesy The Island

October 19, 2018, 12:00 pm

The title of the editorial yesterday, the Terminal fracas (18, October) referred to the heated debate in the Cabinet over the sale of another state asset, the profit making eastern terminal at the Colombo port, but it subliminally suggested the terminal illness that has befallen our entire democracy.

Any democratic society assumes two things: the existence of a public, the very seat of sovereignty, and responsive leaders. By extension, that public must be articulate and knowledgeable, and the political leaders, who if not men of reason, must at least be reasonably responsible to such a knowledgeable public. Regrettably, our failed democracy suggests that neither the public nor leaders are responsive and responsible. Both seem to have lost their democratic relevance in Sri Lanka.

Today the characteristic member in the higher circles of power is an intellectual mediocrity, although sometimes a conscientious one, but nevertheless a mediocrity. Such weakness is revealed in the occasional realization that he is not up to the decisions one is called upon to confront. Public utterances are motherhood statements of piety and righteousness, but sentimental and empty rhetoric in their generality. Our leaders at the highest level are dismissive of the publics as asses, exemplified in the abbreviated, vulgarized, pre-digested and hackneyed explanations dished out to the publics on matters of the highest importance as for example, the economy, the ports, airports, trade pacts and bilateral relations. They are not masters of knowledge on any subject, but commanders of the phone call, the briefing, and just the headlines of the dailies. We also wonder where the lieutenants of power are, who have been assigned the role of knowledge, speech and media who consume so much tax payers money on globetrotting, yet incapable of delivering anything of value to the public. There is a commanding indecision on every subject where not any viable prospect pleases.

The editorial mentioned a number of items that should have commanded the highest priority for the country, but decided by men at the highest level without a panoply of reasonable discussion. The lack of intellectual appreciation by political men or their ghost administrative apparatus means a muted public mass. Such political decisions should not be taken in a country, which boasts of a robust history as a democracy. For one thing, no one has been given an electoral mandate to sell our national assets or sell our dignity for ransom. In countries such as Australia, such proposals are whetted by numerous bodies and usually a bipartisan stance is arrived at, before entering into dealings with foreign powers for these can destroy the sovereignty of the nation. These men of power wax eloquent in prepared speeches to international conferences about the strategic significance of Sri Lanka, and yet show utter callousness in the decisions they take. The manner these autocratic political men act is no different to the behaviour of the underworld elements that have no qualms about appropriating other people’s property. The leaders of any nation are only the caretakers; they have no authority to do otherwise unless electorally mandated. More than that, the leaders should be astute, one step ahead of the general public, to take important decisions in such a way, not just to be voted in or out but debated seriously in public, in the right intellectual form. The decisions taken in recent times have already landed us in hot waters, leaving room for foreign interference in our country about which we can do very little.

Our current crop of leaders is taking this nation to the doldrums. By implication and omission, by emphasis and fabrication, their communication to the public display the mindlessness and myth that commercial propaganda that beauty culture has come to exemplify in Sri Lanka. We cannot read whether these men of public affairs are dogmatic or mindless or both. What we are presented with is precisely the absence of any rational argument of any kind, inflexible or otherwise. Other than the recriminations and accusations we hear nothing of reason and argument in favour of the decisions they take to surprise us. There is no activity of value in the Parliament that holds its empty sittings at great cost. The esteemed institutions are ridiculed by the behaviour of its occupants. No argument prevails over the dogmatic views held by some, especially regarding the predatory nature of globalisation, to take just one example. The only description of these politicians is to label them crackpot realists, who see a prosperous 2025 coming, but not the 2020 disaster that is portending gloom. They have constructed a paranoid reality towards which the nation is dragged, unable and unwilling to engage with an alternative viewpoint presented to them.

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The Hindu stands by its report President’s RAW claim

October 19th, 2018

Courtesy The Island

The Hindu newspaper yesterday stood by its report on President Maithripala Sirisena’s remark at the last Cabinet meeting on an alleged RAW’s plot to assassinate him.

The Sri Lankan government has so far issued three denials of the story and President Sirisena, in a telephone conversation, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also assured that he never made such a remark.

N. Ram, the Chairman of Kasturi and Sons Limited, the publisher of The Hindu and the former Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper said yesterday morning that ‘The Hindu’ told the truth when the newspaper said that President Sirisena had accused RAW of plotting to kill him.

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Ram tweeted: “Another case of saying something wild and bizarre, expecting it to remain within a closed room, and then blaming the media for the furore caused. The Hindu did its job — truth-telling.”

“Our Sri Lanka Correspondent verified what she had learnt with multiple independent sources before publishing her report. Let them issue their lame denials, try to wriggle out of what was said — but we stand by our Correspondent’s meticulously fact-checked story.”

President Sirisena’s controversial statement was also followed by an intense argument with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe when the subject of development of the Colombo Port came up for discussion.

A news report by Meera Sirinivasan published by The Hindu newspaper said President Sirisena had vehemently objected to any Indian involvement in upgrading its east container terminal – a project that New Delhi has been keen to take up.

The Hindu report said: “However, Mr. Wickremesinghe is said to have countered by saying Colombo had already promised New Delhi on collaborating on the project, and it was important to rope in India at the terminal, given that about 80% of the cargo handled at the transhipment hub was meant for India. He reportedly sought a week’s time to sort out the issue, since he would be meeting Mr. Modi soon.”

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PTSD in the Soviet Union

October 19th, 2018

Professor Tatyana Titarenko  Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine  Head of the Laboratory of Social Psychology of the Person Institute of Social and Political Psychology

Dr.  Ruwan M . Jayatunge’s   PTSD in the USSR” amazes the reader primarily with its original design. The author, step by step, reveals the underlying psychological causes of the destructiveness of the perennial Soviet dictatorship. This is a trauma for huge masses of people conducted by the leaders of the Soviet state of a terrible social experiment, the consequences of which are palpable today.

Post-traumatic stress disorders are usually studied at the individual level. Works on collective injury sustained over many decades by residents of a huge and influential country  is virtually absent today. Therefore, the scientific novelty of the research, as well as its practical significance, are very high. It is difficult for Western Europe, the USA and other countries to understand the hypocritical and dangerous policies of today’s Russian Federation without knowing the long-term consequences of the total and multi-stage traumatization of the inhabitants of the Soviet Union.

The materials analyzed in the book will be useful not only to psychologists and psychiatrists, but also to political scientists, historians, sociologists, philosophers, as well as current politicians, deputies, heads of international organizations, journalists, etc.  The influence of mental deviations of a leader on leadership style, decision-making methods, ways to achieve goals is difficult to overestimate. Especially when it comes to the first persons of the state, on whom the fate and lives of millions of their contemporaries depend.

Dr  Ruwan M . Jayatunge manages to examine the  premises of the Soviet dictatorship, beginning in the 18th century, with the reign of Peter the Great. A wide historical panorama, a successful comparison of numerous cultural, social, economic, and psychological contexts, a deep knowledge of the classics of Russian literature – all this awakens and supports the reader’s interest in the problem.  Particular attention is drawn to chapters devoted to such sinister personalities as V.I. Lenin, F.E. Dzerzhinsky, I.V. Stalin, L.M. Kaganovich, L.P. Beria. The reader is offered a concise, balanced and accurate analysis of their role in the increase in post-traumatic stress disorders in the vast majority of the population.

I would like to wish the author to turn to the newest history of post-Soviet Russia in the new edition of the book, to show the causes and consequences of Vladimir Putin’s many years of rule, with the blessing of which many wars are waged, international terrorism is being aggravated, territories of other states are being annexed, and latent interference in referendums and elections is becoming more active conducted in other countries.

Professor Tatyana Titarenko  

Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine  

Head of the Laboratory of Social Psychology of the Person Institute of Social and Political Psychology  

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ජනපති ඝාතන කුමන්ත්‍රණය යට ගහන්න ඇතුළෙන්ම කුමන්ත්‍රණයක්

October 19th, 2018

නිරන්ජලා ආරියවංශ,ක්‍රිස්ටීන් ඇන්තනි උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ත්‍රස්ත විමර්ශන ඒකකයේ හිටපු ප්‍රධානි නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති නාලක සිල්වා විසින් ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ඝාතනය කිරීමට කුමන්ත්‍රණය කළා යැයි නැඟෙන චෝදනාව යටපත් කිරීමට, රට තුළ දේශපාලනික කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බව…ජනාධිපති ජේ‍යෂ්ඨ උපදේශක නීතිඥ ශිරාල් ලක්තිලක මහතා ඊයේ මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් පවත්වමින් අවධාරණය කළේය.

එය දේශපාලනික අවශ්‍යතා මත යටපත් කිරීමට ඉඩ දිය නොහැකි බවත් ඒ පිළිබඳව පුළුල් පරීක්ෂණයක් කළ යුතු බවත් ඔහු කියා සිටී.

කෙසේ වෙතත් අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මේ පිළිබඳව නිසි ලෙස පරීක්ෂණ පවත්වන බවත් ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

නීතිඥ ලක්තිලක සමඟ නීතිඥ සරත් කෝන්ගහගේ කොළඹ නිපොන් හෝටලයේදී මෙම මාධ්‍ය හමුව කැඳවා තිබිණි. රජයේ ඉහළ පොලිස් නිලධාරියකු සිදු කළ බවට නැඟෙන මෙම චෝදනාවේ ‘ඝාතන කුමන්ත්‍රණයක සෙවණැලි ඇත’ යනුවෙන් නීතිඥ කෝන්ගහගේ එහිදී අවධාරණය කළේය. මෙම කුමන්ත්‍රණ චෝදනාවත් සමඟම ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ආරක්ෂාව තරකොට ඇති බවත් ඒ පිළිබඳව අවශ්‍ය සියලු පියවර ගෙන ඇති බවත් ඔහු පැවැසීය.

ඉන්දීය රෝ ඔත්තු සේවය තමන් ඝාතනය කිරීමට සූදානම් වන බවට ජනාධිපතිවරයා පසුගිය අඟහරුවාදා පැවැති කැබිනට් රැස්වීමේදී ප්‍රකාශ නොකළ බව එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් පැවැසූ ලක්තිලක ‘ගෙදර ගිනි පිටට නොදිය යුතු’ යැයි අවධාරණය කළේය.

‘ගෙදර ගිනි පිටට නොදිය යුතුයි’ යනුවෙන් අදහස් කරන්නේ එදින කැබිනට් රැස්වීමේදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා රෝ ඔත්තු සේවය පිළිබඳව ප්‍රකාශ කළත් කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ සාමුහික වගකීම මත ඒ බව ඉන්දීය මාධ්‍යයට ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම වරදක් යැයි ඔහු අදහස් කරන නිසාද යන්න එහිදී මාධ්‍ය විමසීය.

‘ඒක තමයි ප්‍රශ්නෙ. කැබිනට් සාමාජිකයන්ට වගකීමක් තියෙනවා. ඔවුන් එදින ජනාධිපතිවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කළ දේ විකෘති කරලයි ඉන්දීය මාධ්‍යවලට දීලා තියෙන්නේ’ යැයි ලක්තිලක මහතා පැවැසීය.

‘මේ කුමන්ත්‍රණය පිටිපස්සේ ඉන්නෙ කවුද කියලා අපි දන්නෙ නැහැ. නමුත් මේක රටේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයාගේ ජීවිතය පිළිබඳව ප්‍රශ්නයක් මේ චෝදනාව අවතක්සේරු කරලා යටපත් කරන්න දෙන්න බැහැ. මේකට සම්බන්ධ බවට චෝදනා ඇති ත්‍රස්ත විමර්ශන ඒකකයේ ප්‍රධානියාගේ වැඩ තහනම් කරන්න නීතිය හා සාමය පිළිබඳව ඇමැති පොලිස් කොමිසමට නිර්දේශ කරනවා. මේක විහිළුවක් නම් විෂය භාර ඇමැති එහෙම නිර්දේශ කරන්නෙ නැහැ. ඊළඟට රජයේ රස පරීක්ෂක පොලිස් ප්‍රධානියාගෙ කටහඬ තහවුරු කරනවා. තුන්වැනුව ඉන්දීය ජාතිකයෙක් මේ චෝදනාවට සම්බන්ධ බවට අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නවා.

මේ නිසා මෙම කුමන්ත්‍රණය ගැන හෙළිදරව් කළ නාමල් කුමාර දුන් තොරතුරුවල විශ්වසනීයත්වය මූලික වශයෙන් පොලිසිය විමර්ශනය කරලා අධිකරණය තහවුරු කළ යුතුයි’ යැයි ලක්තිලක මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය.

බල දේශපාලනය සහ දේශපාලන ඝාතන අතර සම්බන්ධයක් ඇති බැවින් බලය හුවමාරු කර ගැනීම සඳහා ත්‍රස්තවාදය භාවිත කළ හැකි යැයි කිසිවෙක් සිතනවා නම් එය පරාජය කළ යුතු බවත් ඔහු වැඩිදුරටත් පැවැසීය.

එහිදී කරුණු පැහැදිලි කළ නීතිඥ කෝන්ගහගේ මහතා අවධාරණය කළේ ජනාධිපති ඝාතන කුමන්ත්‍රණය පිටුපස පාතාලය හෝ වෙන යම් පෞද්ගලික හෝ ව්‍යාපාරික වුවමනාවක් හෝ සම්බන්ධව ඇතිද යන්න පුළුල්ව විමර්ශනය කළ යුතු බවයි.

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චීනයෙන් ලංකාවට සැර කණේ පහරක්.. [Video]

October 19th, 2018

lanka C news

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මුළු විදේශ ණයවලින් චීනය වෙත ගෙවීමට ඇත්තේ 10%ක ප්‍රමාණයක් පමණක් බව චීනය අවධාරණය කරයි.

චීන විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක ‘ලු කන්ග්’ මහතා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ එරට දී පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් අමතමිනි.

චීන රජය විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ණය උගුලක සිර කර ඇතැයි පැවසෙන ප්‍රකාශ සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අසත්‍ය බව ද කොළඹ චීන තානාපතිවරයාද සඳහන් කර ඇති බව ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

ලොව පුරා විවිධ රටවලට ණය ලබාදී චීනය සිය ආධිපත්‍යය ලොව පුරා පතුරුවන්නේ යයි එල්ලවන චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැහැදිලි කරමින් ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේද ‍ආණ්ඩුවේ දේශපාලකයන් කිහිප දෙනකු මෑතදී කියා සිටියේ චීනය විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ණය උගුලක සිරකර ඇති බවයි.

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Johnston threatens to sue FCID

October 18th, 2018

by Zacki Jabbar Courtesy The Island

Kurunegala District UPFA MP Johnston Fernando said yesterday that he would sue the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), for getting him remanded on what he termed a false allegation.

Johnston Fernando along with his private secretary Sakeer Mohamed and former SATHOSA Chairman Nalin Fernando, were acquitted by the Kurunegala High Court on Wednesday of a charge of misappropriating SATHOSA funds worth Rs. 5.2 million in 2013.

Fernando, addressing a press conference at the Wijerama residence of Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, said that he would decide on appropriate legal action against those responsible for persecuting him after discussing the matter with his lawyers. “The FCID is a UNP office that takes orders from Ranil Wickremesinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The campaign to sling mud at political opponents began the day Mangala Samaraweera joined the UNP in 2009.

article_image

Kurunegala District MP Johnston Fernando addresses the media in Colombo yesterday. He is flanked by Podujana Peramuna (PP) leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, PP Chairman Prof. G.L.Peiris and Namal Rajapaksa MP. ( Pic. by Kamal Bogoda )

The old cases should be heard first, but hearings are being fast tracked through the Special

High Courts. The Attorney General’s Department and the IGP are playing politics. Businessman are openly accusing Ministers of demanding bribes. To cover all this, people like me are hauled up before courts on false charges. I was in remand for 74 days, but did not seek transfers to hospitals.”

SLPP Chairman Prof. G. L. Peiris said that the Kurunegala High Court had deemed that Johnston Fernando had done no wrong and acquitted and discharged him without calling for his witnesses.

The FCID, he alleged, had submitted false evidence. “They can go to jail for this. A witness was asked to give false testimony. Documents were falsified. Mr. Fernando was in remand for 74 days and is entitled to damages for the mental anguish and deprivation of physical freedom he suffered. Who will take responsibility for the civil and criminal liability ?”

Mahinda Rajapaksa said that a person who was found with a bottle of water at a meeting attended by President Maithripala Sirisena had spent one-and-a-half months in remand custody. That, he noted ,was the type of justice prevalent today.

Asked by a journalist if it was correct for him to have removed former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranaike in an arbitrary manner, Rajapaksa claimed that due procedure had been followed.

At this stage Wimal Weerawansa, MP interjected to say that the journalist should be talking about what happens now and not three years back. Mahindananda Aluthgamage MP claimed that the removal of Mohan Peiris, from the post of Chief Justice and not Shirani Bandaranaike was questionable. But the journalist persisted, saying that the wrongs committed by the Rajapaksa government were of a far more serious nature than what happened now, which led to the press conference being terminated.

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SLFP alleges some cabinet ministers plotted against Prez … relations hit new low

October 18th, 2018

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Ports and Shipping Minister and SLFP spokesman Mahinda Samarasinghe yesterday alleged a deliberate attempt by a member or some members of the Cabinet to cause unprecedented rift between President Maithripala Sirisena and India.

Samarasinghe said there was absolutely no basis for reports which quoted unidentified sources as having said that President Sirisena had accused the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of planning to assassinate him.

Samarasinghe said there was a determined bid to undermine Indo-Lanka relations and sabotage personal friendship between President Sirisena and Indian leader Modi.

The issue came up at weekly SLFP briefing at party office on T. B. Jayah Mawatha yesterday morning.

Samarasinghe stressed the pivotal importance of identifying those involved in the highly dangerous project as soon as possible. Acknowledging that there hadn’t been a similar treacherous initiative since the change of government in January 2015, Samarasinghe stressed the responsibility on the part of the National Unity Government to defeat the sinister moves.

Minister Samarasinghe reiterated that Sri Lanka should conduct a no holds barred inquiry. The SLFPer said so when The Island sought his views as to the responsibility on the part of India to identify those Indians involved in the project meant to sabotage Indo-Lanka relations. Samarasinghe said that Sri Lanka should take the lead in the investigation

Samarasinghe said that as soon they realised the fresh destabilization plot, President Sirisena, acted swiftly and decisively by meeting Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Wednesday and then calling Indian Premier Modi to reiterate Sri Lanka’s continued confidence in India.

Samarasinghe underscored Sri Lanka’s responsibility to inquire into alleged involvement of cabinet ministers in the plot when The Island urged the SLFP spokesman not to ignore the circumstances under which the media reported alleged RAW plot to assassinate President Sirisena. The Island pointed out that Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Nalaka Silva, formerly in charge of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) had been interdicted and an Indian national staying here without a valid visa remanded under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) over their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate President Sirisena and wartime Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Responding to another query, Samarasinghe ruled out any connection between allegations as regards RAW assassination bid created by some members of the Cabinet and President Sirisena ruling out handing over of East Terminal development of the Colombo harbour to India.

Samarasinghe denied media reports as regards Premier Wickremesinghe submitting a cabinet memorandum on East Terminal development. The media pressed Samarasinghe over the possibility of the UNP hitting back at President Sirisena following his refusal to give East Terminal to India as proposed by the PM. Samarasinghe displayed what he called the Cabinet memorandum submitted by him in his capacity as the Ports and Shipping Minister seeking approval for the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to develop the East Terminal.

Samarasinghe alleged that a section of the media at the behest of some unidentified UNPer had propagated the lie that India and Sri Lanka (current dispensation) had finalised a MoU on the East Terminal Development. No mention had been made to East Terminal in the MoU signed by Minister Malik Samarawickrema on behalf of Sri Lanka and President Sirisena had repeatedly declared his intention to keep East Terminal under Sri Lanka control.

Responding to media queries, Samarasinghe said that previous plans to operate East Terminal through public-private partnership had been scrapped and the government was now going ahead with moves to invest SLPA funds in the East Terminal.

“Of course India, if it wants to, can develop a new terminal. There’ll be a substantial investment in case New Delhi accepted Sri Lanka’s proposal,” he said.

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රට රැක දෙනු මැන සුරිදුනි!

October 18th, 2018

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

 

විෂ්ණු කතරගම සුරිදුනි මෙසිරිලකට සුව සදනා

හනික බලනු මැනැ මැති අගමැතිදුන් මේ රට කරනා

යහපාලනයක් ගෙනවිත් ජනතාවට විනකරනා

පියඹා යන උන් සැමදෙන යලි මේ මත නොඑනු මැනා

 

මේ සැමදෙන හනි හනිකට ඇයි මේ පියඹන්නේ

රට රකිනා සුරිදුන් සැම පමණයි එය දන්නේ

රට වනසන බව දැන දැන ඇයි උන් සුරකින්නේ

රට වැසියන් උන් වැනසෙන ලෙස පතමිණි ඉන්නේ

 

දෙකෝටියක මේ ජනගග පිඩිතයන් කරලා

රට සතු හැම දෙයක්ම මුන් වනසන හැටි දැකලා

කියන්න මේ දුක කිසිවෙක් නැති බව ඇත දැනිලා

සුරිදුනි ඔබ වෙත පවසමි දෙනු මැන රට රැකලා

 

රට වනසන් උන් කිසිවෙක් යලි මේ පින්බිමට එපා

පියඹා යන අගමැති කැල යලි මේ මත තබනු එපා

සියලු දුෂ්ඨ කෙරුම් වලින් මේ රට සුරකෙතෙයි සිතා

අනුමෝදන් කරනෙමි පින් ඔබ හැම වෙත නිවන පතා

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UN/Human Rights Activists where are you? TNA MP rapes 56 females & sells rape tapes for Rs.200

October 18th, 2018

All these years the fabrications & humiliations targeted against the armed forces of Sri Lanka has been many. Even the UN system has blatantly misused their status and have based on hearsay chided the armed forces & ridiculed them going so far as to quote these unproven allegations on their reports thus tarnishing the image of the national army. However, there is something called nemesis & there is also the law of karma & truth will come out one day. The Lankadeepa has brought to light a case of a TNA MP raping 56 women, taping these rapes & selling them as porn for Rs.200 each. How many more of such cases by Tamil MPs have been credited to the army over the years based on bogus allegations?

 

The Lankadeepa reports that TNA MP from Thunukkai in Mullaitivu district which was a LTTE den at one time, and where virtually all of its inhabitants are from poor low caste families who were plucked & turned into child soldiers by LTTE.

 

This MP from Mullaitivu district had raped 56 such poor girls one of which had been a married mother who having discovered husband & son had seen the nude photos committed suicide to hide her shame.

 

The politicization of the incident is seen in the manner police had been reluctant to even take down a complaint as it was against a TNA MP. A case of another young girl attempting to commit suicide related to the same rape-tape scenario is also highlighted in this news report. A procession against TNA starting from Duraiappah Stadium to the TNA office where effigies of TNA leader Sambanthan & Mavai Senathirajah were burnt. Please note Sambanthan is also the country’s Opposition Leader. Mavai Senathirajahs assurance was that they would get the Tamil Diaspora to send a monthly stipend for the family. But why not take legal action against the TNA MP for raping women? The letter sent to Chief Minister Wigneswaran has not had any response from him too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This goes to show the extent to which TNA popularity has reduced and this is the political party with stalwarts like Chief Minister Wigneswaran wanting to run a separate independent state for only Tamils. How many more such innocent Tamil women would get raped, end up committing suicide & their stories hidden forever from the public domain because TNA MPs would have a carte blanche to do as they like? The scenario is seriously dangerous as the female activist who has taken pains to voice the plight of these raped women had supporters of TNA surround her house shouting at her to stop finding fault with the TNA.

 

With so many NGOs stationed in the north & many foreign agencies too … it is only this one single Tamil activist speaking on behalf these innocent Tamil girls being not only raped but having the raped filmed & sold as cheap porn for Rs.200.

 

Since we are on the subject of rape & porn we will recall the gruesome killing of a young school girl in Kayts – Vidya who was gang raped by a group of Tamils living overseas who were making a living of selling cheap porn. In fact this rapist too was helped to flee after villagers caught him & handed him to the police by a UNP MP whose supporters many allege are also raping young women in North Sri Lanka.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Inaction-on-Vijayakala-s-LTTE-cravings-153180.html

http://english.gossiplankanews.com/2017/06/vidya-of-jaffna-sexually-abused-for.html

 

http://www.lankadeepa.lk/latest_news/ටීඑන්ඒ-ප්%E2%80%8Dරා-මන්ත්%E2%80%8Dරී-ගෑණු-56ක්-කෙළෙසලා/1-330146?fbclid=IwAR34abwh2BYOAWiJXTZDvSETOwlvQgyIixfcH7RCn3mk3ou-hOZTk9PeZvY

The lies associated on hyped rape charges against the armed forces can be seen in this following article that covers the statistics & allegations involved & readers can see how much money & propaganda had been pumped into humiliating our armed forces. https://www.onlanka.com/news/how-credible-are-stories-of-rape-in-north-sri-lanka.html

 

TNA is fast loosing public support. It is no different to the present government – all talk no action. TNA has since it began heading the Northern Provincial Council spent more time travelling the global telling lies instead of looking after the people of the province. The money TNA demand from the Treasury is returned most of which is unspent while the governments allocation to the North is spent on various development programs. However, every foreign envoy for some unknown reason think that after paying courtesy calls to the President & PM their next stop should be the North & visits to the Northern Chief Minister …. This is a major breach of protocol and it should be stopped. The Northern Chief Minister is just another Chief Minister and we have 9 such Chief Ministers. All should be treated equally. There is nothing that makes the Northern CM any more powerful or bigger than the others.

 

It is getting clearer that the North will soon reject the TNA & all of its MPs. The best that the Tamils themselves need to now do is to allow a national Tamil leader to emerge. One who will think of the country first & who will work for the welfare of the Tamils as a community living in harmony with the other communities & not in isolation or as a separate & independent entity. Agreed that any community has issues & these issues are relevant not only to the minorities but the majority too has shortcomings that politicians have never addressed. To have all these issues brought forward we need to have nation-centric leaders and not ethno-religious minority thinking leaders. We cannot have another alternative to TNA emerge in North or East Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is no better a time for Tamils to think of Tamils who have been working for their community & select these young men & women & give the baton to them instead of these old men with radical & selfish ideas who want to simply rule & enjoy power & hide their misdemeanors from public domain.

 

Catch this TNA MP who has raped these women. Charge him & take legal action against him according to the law of the land. Let Justice prevail.

 

 

 

 

Shenali D Waduge

 

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The concept of reconciliation has reached paranoid proportions

October 18th, 2018

RANJITH SOYSA

The Island editorial on Learn from History (13 Oct) touched on an important issue concerning the use of children and teachers in the North to canvass the release of LTTE suspects now in custody.

As mentioned in the editorial the irony of the effort on the part of the organizers of the movement was to force the Jaffna parents and the students to  forget the reign of terror unleashed on them by the LTTE in little over 8 years ago. Here is a report from the UNICEF in 2004 on the fate of children in the North.

A UNICEF spokesman in Sri Lanka, James Elder, said child combatants bear deep psychological scars. Even those spared from combat lost precious years that cannot be replaced. “Child soldiers in Sri Lanka live in a theatre of violence and suffering,” he said.

“Many in this current conflict may be thrown into the front line at a time of fierce fighting where they can be killed or maimed. Instead of hope, fear defines their childhood. Their recruitment is intolerable. The Tigers have a long tradition of recruiting child soldiers. UNICEF has recorded more than 6000 cases of children recruited between 2003 and the end of last year”

By the year 2009 the number of children snatched by the LTTE and used as child soldiers reached 15 000. While the parents whose children were taken by force by the LTTE were traumatized and lived in the faint hope that the children will return someday, the children were brain washed by the LTTE ideologues to convert them to be blood thirsty terrorists and to be killed or maimed as they were used as cannon fodder by the LTTE.

However bad and violent the past have been to the North’s child soldiers of the LTTE in the twilight of reminiscence, the present day LTTE fronts ironically are forcing the current generation to ‘fight’ for the ”freedom of the repressors of their elder brothers and sisters! The wheel has come a full circle and the children are being dragged to put their heads to the Tiger’s mouth.

The lack of balance in assessing the concept of ‘reconciliation’ has reached paranoid proportions in the hands of crafty pro-LTTE politicians who are neither fair by the children of the North nor by the people in the North.

 

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Indian Railways is all set to introduce a special train for Buddhist travellers across globe

October 18th, 2018

Courtesy BI INDIA BUREAU

  • IRCTC to launch special train to attract international tourists from Buddhist countries like Japan, China, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
  • The first rake of the train will roll out by the end of October although the train will be functional from December.
  • The train’s route will include important Buddhist destinations like Bodh Gaya, Budh Vihar, Sarnath and Kushi Nagar.

Indian Railways are leaving no effort to attract foreign travellers. After launching the Ask Disha app for domestic and foreign travellers, Indian Railways are now targeting tourists from Japan, China, Thailand and Sri Lanka by launching a special train on the Buddhist Circuit.

The important Buddhist destinations to be connected are Bodh Gaya, Budh Vihar, Sarnath and Kushi Nagar. The ticket fare of the route is yet to be decided. As per media reports, the special express train will be managed by Indian Railways Catering and Tourists Corporation (IRCTC).

The first route of the train is expected to be decided and kicked off by the of the year. Although, IRCTC will roll out its first rake by the end of October.

Presently, the rail coaches are being manufactured in the Rail Coach Factory located at Kapurthala. The second train designed specially for international tourists, inspired by the Maharaja Express, will have 12 coaches. The first rake of the train will constitute four AC first class coaches followed by two second class coaches and one AC 3-tier coach designed specifically for staff. The first rake will also include two power car coaches, a pantry and two coaches for the dining car facility.

The train will have a very fancy outer body and top notch facilities for the travellers. Some of the facilities includes digital lockers, venetian windows, decorative lighting, touch-free taps, bio toilets with vacuum evacuation, soap dispensers, CCTV camera, anti graffiti coaching and tea/coffee vending machines.

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ජනපති ඝාතන රෝ කුමන්ත‍්‍රණය මට කීවේ සමලිංගික කැබිනට් ඇමතියි..- The hindu මාධ්‍යවේදිනිය කියයි..

October 18th, 2018

Courtesy  lanka C news

ඉන්දීය රෝ ඔත්තු සේවය විසින් තමන් ඝාතනය කිරීමට කුමන්ත‍්‍රණය කරන්නේ යයි ජනාධිපති මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයට ප‍්‍රකාශ කල බව තමනට පැවසුයේ කැබිනට් ඇමතිවරුන් සිවු දෙනෙකු විසින්ම බව ‘ද හින්දු’ මාධ්‍යවේදිනී මීරා ශ‍්‍රීනිවාසන් පැවසීය.

ඇය මේ බව සදහන් කලේ කැබිනට් මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදී ඇමති රාජිත සේනාරත්න විසින් කරන ලද ප‍්‍රකාශයකට විරෝදය පල කරමිනි

ජනපති ඝාතන රෝ කුමන්ත‍්‍රණය මට කීවේ සමලිංගික කැබිනට් ඇමතියි..- The hindu මාධ්‍යවේදිනිය කියයි..

මේ අතර අද ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ පාර්ශවය නියෝජනය කරමින් පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී එම මාධයවේදිනිය කියා සිටියේ මෙම තොරතුර මුලින්ම තමනට දුන්නේ ‘රේන්බෝ කලර්’ ඇමතිවරයෙක් බවයි.

දේදුනු වර්ණය ලොව පුරා පිලිගැනෙන්නේ සමලිංගිකයන්ගේ වර්ණය ලෙසයි.

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Sri Lanka reverses $300-mln China housing deal ahead of PM’s India visit

October 18th, 2018

COLOMBO, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka has reversed a decision to award a $300-million housing deal to China in favour of a joint venture with an Indian company, the government said, ahead of a visit by the prime minister to its South Asian neighbour.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will meet his counterpart Narendra Modi on Saturday in New Delhi, the Indian capital, for talks. The two countries have long-standing ties, partly because of cultural and ethnic links with Tamils, many of whom live in the island’s north and east.

In April, state-run China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co Ltd won a tender worth more than $300 million to build 40,000 houses in Jaffna in Sri Lanka’s north, with China’s Exim bank to provide funding.

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Security tightened for Sri Lankan leader amid alleged plot

October 18th, 2018

Courtesy Mail Online (UK)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – An official says security has been tightened for Sri Lanka’s president as police investigate an alleged plot to assassinate him.

Presidential adviser Sarath Kongahage told reporters on Thursday that precautionary measures have been taken to protect President Maithripala Sirisena. He declined to give further details.

A police informant said last month that he had a taped conversation with a senior police officer who spoke to him about a plan to assassinate Sirisena through a hired killer.

Police are investigating the claim and no arrests have been made.

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Why India and Sri Lanka papered over President Sirisena’s allusion to RAW

October 18th, 2018

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, October 18 (newsin.asia): Realpolitik has made Sri Lanka and India paper over the rift that came about as a result of President Maithripala Sirisena’s  remark hinting that the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) may be  behind an alleged plot to assassinate him.

Both President Sirisena and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi realized soon enough that peace and understanding need to prevail between their two countries, and willingly sent out messages to each other and the world around, that the controversial remark was a misinterpretation.

Why India and Sri Lanka papered over President Sirisena’s allusion to RAW

They resolved that it will not be allowed to spoil Sri Lanka-India relations which have been cordial and on an even keen even if there are grievances and fears vis-à-vis each other.

Sri Lanka needs India to counter-balance China, whose economic hold on Sri Lanka is increasing causing concerns in some quarters. Sirisena himself told his cabinet that he is not happy with his government’s decision to hand over the Hambantota port to China on a 99 year lease with a 70% stake in it.

Sri Lanka is also apprehensive about inviting India’s hostility. If it stepped too much out of the Indian red line and impinged on New Delhi’s security and political concerns vis-à-vis China, India might destabilize Sri Lanka as it did in the 1980s with disastrous consequences for Sri Lanka.

India, on its part, would also like to have cordial relations with Sri Lanka so that Colombo addresses its national security concerns vis-à-vis China. While it is accommodative about China’s burgeoning economic presence in the island, it also wants Colombo to open its doors to Indian investment in major economic  sectors.

For all this, a stable and friendly government in Colombo is a sine qua non. And playing its part in ensuring stability and friendship, the Narendra Modi government has been bending over backwards to accommodate Colombo’s interests, anxieties and concerns.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly stated that Indian assistance will be determined only by Sri Lanka’s wishes and priorities and that nothing will be imposed on it.

This is the reason why the Modi government has not pushed hard for the controversial Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) which has been on the anvil for a number of years. Earlier, the Manmohan Singh government had dropped the even more controversial Comprehensive Economic  Partnership Agreement (CEPA) when the Rajapaksa government wanted it called off under Lankan nationalists’ pressure.

More recently, New Delhi had agreed to call off the 500 MW coal-fired power plant project in Sampur when Sirisena told Modi that the coal-fired plant would harm the environment.

New Delhi has agreed to Colombo’s proposal to run the Trincomalee oil storage facility as a joint venture even though the  original bilateral agreement had given all the 99 tanks to India.

New Delhi did not make it an issue when Sri Lanka said that it does not need Indian help to rehabilitate and develop the strategically located Palaly airport in Jaffna. Even in the case of the Eastern Terminal in Colombo India did not react angrily when Sri Lanka reneged on its original understanding to give its development to two Indian companies.

As in the case of the Mattala Airport, India has only been pursuing the East Terminal project through gentle persuasion.

The demand for an Indian presence in Colombo port, is based on a security concern created by the massive Chinese presence in the port, whose business is mostly with India. 80% of the business comprises Indian transshipment.

It was against this background that the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka,Taranjit Singh Sandhu, was able to get the Sri Lankan President  issue a public statement saying that he never told the cabinet that RAW has a hand in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate him.

The President followed this up by telephoning Indian Prime Minister Modi and apprising him of his remarks in the cabinet in which RAW was not mentioned. He pledged continued support for the strengthening of India-Lanka ties.

Modi too responded in a similar vein and pledged continued support for the betterment of bilateral ties in tune with his government’s Neighborhood First” policy.

Political Compulsions

Both Modi and Sirisena are aware that the government in Colombo ,however rickety and internally divided it may be, has to survive till the end of its official term at the end of 2019.

Both are of the view that the apple cart should not be upset despite irritants in bilateral matters, serious de-stabilizing conflicts within the coalition government, and the unending differences between President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In fact,  it was the on-going conflict between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe which precipitated the latest crisis.

It was when Sirisena was talking about the Prime Minister’s alleged lack of concern about the alleged plot to assassinate him which made Sirisena say that foreign secret services indulge in assassinations. He said that even the Indian Prime Minister might not be aware of the cloak and dagger work of secret services.

This was portrayed in the media as an insinuation against RAW.

RAW came to be suspected because the potential assassin was allegedly an Indian national from Kerala who had spoken about the alleged plot to a Sri Lankan man who had links with police intelligence.

In the coalition government, the police come under a minister from the United National Party (UNP) headed by  Wickremesinghe. Thus, a grievance against the UNP-controlled police became an Sri Lanka-India issue, threatening bilateral ties.

Sirisena-Modi Pow Wow 

Sirisena called Indian Prime Minister Narendra  Modi on the telephone on Wednesday to categorically reject reports in  sections of the media about him alluding to India’s involvement in any manner in an alleged plot to assassinate him and the former Defense Secretary of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The Lankan President said that the mischievous and mala-fide reports were utterly baseless and false and seemed intended to  create misunderstanding between the two leaders  as well as damage the relations  between the two friendly countries.”

He  also stated that the he regards the Indian Prime Minister as a true friend of Sri Lanka and also as a close personal friend.”

Sirisena stressed  the great value” of the mutually beneficial ties between India and Sri Lanka, and added that he remains steadfast on working with the Indian Prime Minister for further strengthening the ties.”

Modi’s Reaction

In response ,the Indian Prime Minister appreciated the prompt steps taken by the Sri Lankan President and his government  to firmly refute the malicious reports by publicly clarifying matters.”

Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s emphasis on following the Neighborhood First policy” and the priority the Government of India and he personally attach to developing even stronger all round cooperation between the two countries.

The Issue

Explaining the background to the controversy, a press release from the Presidential Media Division (PMD) said that at the  cabinet meeting on Tuesday, there were  discussions  on the alleged plot to assassinate President Sirisena and former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The President, who chaired the meeting, emphasized the need to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the alleged assassination plot.

In these circumstances, it is very unfortunate that some parties with vested interests have resorted to spreading malevolent manipulations detrimental to the existing good relations between the two countries as well as the excellent personal rapport between the two leaders.”

India and Sri Lanka have maintained cordial relations and cooperation since the inception of this government. Several highest level visits have taken place between the two nations that have resulted in strengthening cooperation in many fields,  the press release noted.

The  High Commissioner of India Taranjit Singh Sandhu called on the President on Wednesday in which all matters were clarified and good bilateral relations were reassured,” the PMD release added.

(The featured image at the top shows Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi)

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Fuel pricing formula revealed

October 18th, 2018

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s much-talked about Fuel Pricing Formula was revealed in detail to the media by Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera, at a press conference in Colombo today (18).

The Cabinet of Minister had granted approval for the implementation of a cost reflective formula based pricing system of auto fuels effective from May 11, 2018.

The pricing formula was constructed by a technical committee based on the following components of the supply of auto fuels:

  • Landed Cost
  • Processing Cost
  • Administrative Cost
  • Taxation

Accordingly, the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of the auto fuels was established as follows:

MRP = V1 + V2 + V3 + V4

Where;

V1 – Landed Cost (Rs./Litre)

Which includes Singapore Platts Price per Barrel, Weighted Average Premium per Barrel, Loss due to the Evaporation and Exchange Rates (US$) / LKR applied.

V2 – Processing Cost (Rs./litre)

Which includes Local Port Charges, Transport Cost, Dealer’s Margin including losses due to evaporation to dealers and stockholding cost.

V3 – Administrative Cost (Rs./Litre)

Which includes administrative expenses including personnel cost, depreciation and other cost elements, if any.

V4 – Taxation (Rs./Litre)

Which includes Customs Import Duty, Excise Duty, Ports and Airports Development Levy and Nation Building Tax.

Note: According to the above pricing formula, Singapore Platts per Barrel and Exchange Rate are two uncontrollable variables. Other components are either controllable variables or fixed components.

Sri Lanka Fuel Pricing Formula (Sinhala & English) 18-10-2018 by Anonymous BgtZdkD8hY on Scribd

 

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