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In defence of MR – Supposed ‘Horrors’ revisited

April 19th, 2018

R Chandrasoma

The supposed misdeeds and the flagrant violation of the norms of democracy perpetrated by MR and his aids and accomplices are now part of a political legend entrenched this country. Not only was the populace robbed and cheated – they were in danger of being bumped off by hired agents of a merciless dictator. Meanwhile the latter and his ‘gang of thieves’ ruined the economy, unleashed the dogs of racial intolerance and incurred the total contempt of the rulers and leaders of the World to such a degree that the crowning ignominy of the Electric Chair for the ruler of our country was only very narrowly averted – thanks to the goodwill and international recognition of the New Saviours of Sri Lanka who gloriously vanquished the Tyrant.

Is this story true? Among the ‘story tellers’ regularly featured in your Journal is Mr Kumar David – the anointed Dravidic Hero who famously said that the Tamils will be safe in Sri Lanka so long as the Heroic Armies of Pirapaharan have the Sinhala Forces pinned down and their political masters at their wit’s end on how to save their land –and their skins. He also announced with great pride that Tamil Brain-Power will be more than equal to the task of routing the seemingly preponderant Sinhala Armies. That such a champion of Tamil Racism should re-write history is not surprising – what is incredulous is the venom and the distorted history that you as the Editor of a leading Journal display in your Editorial Column – a demonizing of MR and a recasting of recent history that is astonishing in its perversity. Suffice it to say that MR’s victory over the forces of separatism marks a turning point in our long and tortured history. He was triumphant while the mean-spirited men who succeeded him grovelled before the haters of our sovereignty He will be remembered as the true saviour long after the petty political actors of today are buried in history,

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Tales Of Soldiers

April 19th, 2018

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge

Jose Naroskey once said In war, there are no unwounded soldiers” Undeniably war has a profound effect on soldiers. It has a catastrophic effect on their health and wellbeing. I have met a number of soldiers around the globe who belonged to different Armies and various military organizations. Many of them are still affected by the reminiscences of the war. I recall some lines of Nancy L. Meek’s poem ‘The Sacrifice. In this poem she describes the state of mind of a soldier on returning from a war. This is what Nancy L. Meek writes…

Will he ever find peace here on this earth?, Before death’s fingers encircle his throat, Or will peace remain just beyond his girth, Abandoning him eternally to a land remote” (The Sacrifice- Nancy L. Meek)

Victor the Red Army Soldier

Victor was my medical faculty hostel roommate and he was drafted while studying in the Vinnitsa National Medical University Ukraine. He had served twoyears in Afghanistan to fulfill his international service. Before going to Afghanistan he was a naive anda bright student. He returned from Afghanistan as a changed man with emotional scars.

In 1979 Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev decided to send troops to Afghanistan. Although it was a proxy war Afghan rebels were deadly. They constantly attacked the Soviet defense positions. First the regular army went to fight the rebels. Later young people like Victor were drafted to support the regular troops. Eventually this conflict came to be known as the Soviet Union’s Vietnam War”.The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted for nearly nine bloody years.

Many young boys who went to Afghanistan had a dream. This dream was to buy a Japanese TV or a SONY or JVC video deck which were luxury items under the Soviet Socialist regime. Some boys lost their arms and legs but still managed to bring those luxury items home. When Victor returned after fulfilling his military duties he brought a Sharp audio cassette player. But soon he lost the interest and gave it to his cousin.

As his relatives and friends noticed, after Victor returned from Afghanistan he had changed remarkably. He had met fierce battle in Kandahar with the Mujahedin rebels and sustained an injury to his right shoulder. Also he sustained a concussion. Victor could not concentrate on his studies and started failing exams.

As a young student I adored rock and heavy metal music. When I played ACDC (For those about to Rock) ,White Snake (Silver Nights ) , Deep Purple (Highway Star) , Metallica(The Unforgiven)OzzyOsbourne(Crazy Train) Victor became jumpy. He frequently asked me to turn off the music. Then I knew he couldn’t bear loud noises. He had a bad temper. He often became conflictive. Some nights Victor could not sleep and he had nightmares. During the exam period this became a problem to both of us. He knew that he was troubling his roommate and at supper, he used to consume large volumes of Vodka and then go to sleep. So his health was falling apart.

Victor never liked to talk about his Afghan experiences.One day an unexpected thingoccurred. It was a winter night and we were having dinner. I offered him a cup of Ceylon tea.

This is nice tea” Victor said.” It is ideal to make Chefeer ”

What is Chefeer ?I asked

That is a drink soldiers make in the army. In Afghanistan we used to drink Chefeer frequently.

Victor said that sometimes the Russian soldiers used to indulge in highly concentrated Georgian tea which was called Chefeer . This highly concentrated tannin drink gave them some sort of kick to wash away their isolation in the Afghan mountains.

It was too tough ”he said suddenly. He dropped his fork and looked in to my eyes.

”We were fighting Dushmans (the Afghan Rebels) in the mountains. They were supported by the US and Pakistan. Some carried M16 machine guns. They killed a lot of Soviets. I saw how our boys died in the Afghan mountains. Every week they were sending bodies from Kabul to Moscow, Leningrad or Kiev.

But now the President Gorbachev says it was a mistake to send Soviet troops to Afghanistan” I interrupted

Suddenly Victor became annoyed.

Hell with Gorbachev, they should have thought it before sending us to that godforsaken country, do you know that we lost over 25,000 boys? For what? Who is responsible for those poor souls? You tell me”

Victor became more and more emotional so I had to divert the conversation. I lived nearly one year with Victor in our hostel room. He disturbed me hugely but in the same time taught me many lessons of the war. His Afghan combat experiences later inspired me to write the novel – IvangeLokaya (Ivan’s World) that was published by the Wijesuriya Publishers. In 2005 I saw Fyodor Bondarchuk ‘smovie 9th Company – the movie about the Soviet War in Afghanistan. According to some film critics 9th Companywas equivalent to Oliver Stone’s famous movie Platoon. After watching the 9th Company I realized the hardships experienced by young soldiers like Victor in the Afghan mountains.

The Ukrainian Partisan

Once our University organized a Victory Day celebration over the NAZI Germany and invited several soldiers who fought against the Hitlerite forces. I specifically remember the story of Mr. Ivan Guminuk who fought the Third Reich soldiers in the German occupied Ukraine. This is what he said to us.

I was born near Kiev and when the Germans invaded our motherland violating the Brest-Litovsk pact I was a 16 year old lad. By that time I was working in a factory as a manual labourerand attended the night school. I was eager to learn German and I could speak the German language fairly well.

When the Fascists soldiers invaded Ukraine they killed many people. Jews were deported or hanged publicly. I witnessed many public executions. There are many mass unmarked graves near Kiev ,the city of Vinnitsa , Uzhgorodand Lvove. They deported young men and women to work as slaves in Germany. The food was rationed and the native population suffered immensely. Only the NAZI sympathizers and collaborators got constant food supplies. People like us partially starved. There was no meat, butter or milk. People used to eat unpalatable Garrokh(Dhal)

The NAZI s had an efficient administrative system and they knew each and every person living in the occupied territory. During the occupation I was living in the Vinnitsa region. I was an underagebut I was photographed and given papers. Every month we had to report to the regional headquarters in Vinnitsa town. There were rumors that once we turn 17 we would be taken to the German city of Ruhr to work in the coal mines. It was terrifying news for my family. I decided to go underground. I joined a secret partisan group that operated in Ukraine. We had a very small amount of arms, mostly old rifles. We Partisans used to hide in the woods and attack the German supply lines. Sometimes we used to destroy railway tracks byplacing explosives. To uplift the morale of the people we used to display posters in public places.

It was a deadly game. If you are caught with a pistol or a rifle or explosives in your hands you are either shot on the spot or hanged by piano wires in public. Even to have anti-NAZI posters or documents in your possession was an offence punishable by death. We used to carry bees honey to stick the posters on the walls. Often we did it by dawn aiming public gathering places like markets and churches. Some of our brave comrades fell in to the noxious German hands while operating underground. All were executed.

While operating underground one of our comrades brought us an important massage. The Germans were constructing a massive building complex in the forest of Vinnitsa region. The informer told us foreign workers from Norway were brought to work in this complex. At the end of the war we came to know that these Norwegian workers who were enslaved to build it were shot in cold blood by the NAZI soldiers and buried in a mass grave. Later the Red Army excavated this mass grave and found decomposed bodies.

When we first heard about this construction site we thought that the Germans were building a military base to expand their military muscle. But our reconnaissance patrols told us a different story. It was a heavily guarded complex and day and night people worked. Hundreds of truck loads went to the woods taking building material. Despite the heavy security some of our partisans infiltrated the complex. Then we knew that Hitler was building a headquarters for him in the forests of the Vinnitsa region. Even Hitler and Herman Goring had visited this complex and spent some time in this secret underground bunker complex.

Hitler had a plan to rule the entire Europe. He needed a focal point to establish his future headquarters and he had selected Vinnitsa Ukraine as the center. Hitler was fascinated by being in Vinnitsa, he liked the weather and the vegetation. Some say that it reminded him his native Bavaria.

When the Ukrainian Partisans got the news that Hitler was in Vinnitsa a message was sent to Moscow immediately. This secret massage went up to General GeorgyZhukov and then passed to Stalin. Moscow replied uspromptly, do not attack the supply lines orcontinue any sabotage. They asked us to stop all the hostilities and observe the movements carefully.

Perhaps the Red Army wanted to capture Hitler alive but he never returned to Vinnitsa and after the Standard debacle the German high command lostinterest in this underground center which was called Werewolf”. They knew that they were losing the war and abandoned the plan to rule Europe. When they retreated from Ukraine they demolished the underground complex. I was overjoyed and even cried when Ukraine was liberated but when they left they had killed and tortured our population. We still live with those horrors but personally I have no repulsive feelings towards the German people. It was not the German people who committed atrocities in Ukraine. Those were NAZI s and they consisted of Germans, Rumanians, some Italians and even Ukrainian Stephan Bandera fractions.

MrGuminuk’s narration captured the audience and after this narration a group of University students visited this historical site. Today Hitler’s bunker complex or the Nazi ‘Werewolf’ is a tourist destination. But there are no buildings on the surface except some huge concrete blocks. Some military historians say that Hitler probably had spent about 2 to 3 months in the Werewolf Bunker outside of Vinnitsa. Supposedly, the bunker was 7 stories deep and a couple football fields in size. Hitler ordered to blow up the Werewolf when he was convinced that the defeat was inevitable. Explosives were set and the Werewolf was blasted from inside and subsequentlybombed from the air. It has not been excavated to this day because the archeologists believe that there are still explosives inside. It has been said that when the bunker was blown up, the impact was felt by the every living creature in the city of Vinnitsa.

When we visited this site I was thinking how Hitler’s megalomania cost millions of lives. How many lives had been perished for an ideology? A few hundred meters away from the Werewolf there is a massgrave with a statue of three crying men. This is the place where the 14,000 Norwegian labourers wereburied.

Mr. Arthur the British Soldier

I met Arthur in Walthamstow Central London somewhere in 1987. He had been a solder in the British Army and served in domestic reserves. I could not take part in the D Day but we had fearsome air war in Britain said old Arthur.

The Luftwaffe bombing ofEngland was dreadful. After the air raids we found many people dead in the rubble. Mostly the victims were civilians. Although England was never successfully invaded perhaps due to its geography Hitler constantly bombed major English cites to lower our morale. General population suffered hugely. Everything was rationed, butter, cheese, petrol, you name it, practically everything, so the black market thrived.

After the war Arthur re-entered the civil society and worked as a factory worker until his retirement. Arthur’s wife died several years ago and his son moved to Leeds. So he lives alone. To minimize his isolation and wistfulness he raises a bulldog. He treats the dog like a family member often talking and cuddling him. Although it had been many decades after the WW2 Arthur still recalls the devastation that was caused by the air war in England.

Mr LXX the Sri Lankan WW2 Veteran

I met Mr LXX at the ex-servicemen’s ward at the Military Hospital Colombo while he was under the care of Col Dr. (Mrs.) N.K Ariyarathne – Consultant Physician. He had Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus. Dr. N.K Ariyarathnereferred Mr. LXX to me following insomnia. But after a brief intervention he was able to sleep well anddischarged within a few weeks.

Mr LXX told me his life story as a soldier under the British Empire. He joined the military during the World War 2 as a private and had a brief physical training in Sri Lanka. They haven’t had extensive weapon training. The British Army recruited the local youth to the Army not to fight the Axis Forces but to do clerical and manual work. It was a new experience for the unemployed Sri Lankan youth and they had the opportunity to see the world at the government expense. Many Sri Lankan troops were stationed in Egypt and Italy. They helped supply arms, ammunition and food to the warfront. A small fraction of Sri Lankan soldiers engaged the enemy in Burma and Malaya. According to the reports they fought bravely and earned respect among the British officers.

Mr. LXX had served in Bombay and in Cairo as a soldier helping the Allied GiganticMilitary Machine. May be he was as an insignificant bolt in this giant war machine. There were many of them but their efforts helped the warfront. Today we are respected by the British Government expressed Mr. LXX. They value our service and still pay us a pension. Our numbers are decreasing annually. But we are proud to pay ourhonor to the fallen comrades on the Memorial Day”

After our first meeting I met Mr. LXX at the OPD several times and each time I was happy to help him. After 2006 I had no contacts with him. A few years ago I met one of our junior doctors who worked at the ex-servicemen’s ward and she told me that Mr. LXX passed away peacefully under her care.

Lt BX47

Lt BX47 served in the Sri Lankan Army and met with a traumatic battle events in Paranthan Jaffna in 1999. He witnessed the deaths of seven of his soldiers. He explained his horrendous experience thus.

It was like thunder when the mortars fell on us. Seven of our soldiers were near a Kovil and I was several meters away from them. I heard the zooooo….. noise and then I knew it was an incoming mortar and I lay on the ground. The other soldiers had no time to go down and I saw how their bodies smashed in to thin air. I was near a concrete well and undoubtedly it saved my life. Although I was physically unharmed I was in a shock. Blood came through my nostrils and I don’t know how I bled. My men were dead and scattered on the ground.Their bodies had been mutilated due to the explosion. Onesoldier was gasping and he asked for water. But he could not hold his breath for longer. He died after several minutes.

The entire area wascovered with black smoke and dust, I could not see more than five meters a head. I started crawling. While I was crawling the enemy fired a number of mortars to our direction. While I was crawling I found a group of soldiers and then I lost my memory. I don’t know how I came to the hospital.”

After this terrible incident Lt BX47 had nightmares, intrusions and severe startling reaction. He avoided any reminders of the trauma.

After he became a psychological casualty Lt BX47 had to face many psychosocial problems. His Unit refused to recognize him as a battle casualty since he had no physical wounds. Some officers accused him of being a malingerer. Only a very few understood the suffering that he underwent. He had severe survival guilt and he accused himself for leaving his men in Paranthan Jaffna. He personally felt responsible for their deaths.

He had no aim in life. Although he was newly married he was not interested inhis marital life. He could not concentrate on his work and study for the promotional exams. His memory was fading. On numerous occasions he lost his temper and acted with extreme hostility. The traumatic memories of Paranthanwas imprinted on his mind and made him dysfunctional. On one occasion he planned to end his life. Fortunately his life was saved by a miracle power. After this attempted suicide he was referred to the Combat Trauma treatment Center at the Military Hospital Colombo. He was diagnosed with PTSD by Dr. Neil Fernando- Consultant Psychiatrist of the Sri Lanka Army.

Lt BX47 gave his consent to undergo treatment and he was treated with medication and psychotherapy. His traumatic intrusions were desensitized by EMDR and Cognitive mode of therapies helped him to regain insight. Medication helped him to fight the altered brain chemistry that was caused by combat related psychological trauma. Gradually he realized that he was not responsible for the deaths of his soldiers. He was able to come to terms with the prolonged survival guilt. Psychosocial rehabilitation helped him to rebuild his social and professional life. Today LtBX47 is a father of two children and got his due promotions and is leading a productive life.

Lance Corporal HJXX– The Vietnam Veteran

In 2006 I was undergoing psychotherapy training at the Coatesville Veterans Hospital in Philadelphia under the renowned Clinical Psychologist Dr. Susan Rogers. There I met a number of Vietnam veterans and I specifically remember Lance Corporal HJXX who told me an unforgettable story of the war. His story still echoes in my mind and I still recall his words.

He went to Vietnam when he was just 18 and suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar country with numerous hostilities. Life in Vietnam was uncertain saidLance Corporal HJXX .

We were surrounded by booby traps and hostile North Vietnamese Forces. When we went to Vietnam to fight Communism we considered Vietnamese as sub humans. We were proud US marines. We called them Gooks.

I worked as a Radio Operator and called Napalm attacks by air. I had destroyed many Vietnam villages by requesting air attacks. Today I am in my old age. When I see my grandchildren I remember what had occurred in Vietnam. I feel that I had helped to destroy men women and children in those Vietnamese villages. Most certainly I had killed little children like my grandkids by requesting air attacks. Today I am repenting those actions. Now I know the value of life. Life is something sacred and has to be treated with respect.”

The Gulf War Veteran

I met the Gulf War Veteran RGXX at the Coatesville Veterans Hospital in Philadelphia. RGXX belongs to the new generation of combatants. He had served in the 2nd Gulf War(The military campaign which began with the invasion of Iraq by forces led by the United States). He was stationed in Mosul Iraq. While serving in Mosul he was exposed to traumatic combat events and became a psychological casualty of the Gulf War.

A considerable number of veterans like RGXX came home with horrendous memories of the war. Many veterans have been diagnosed with GWS (Gulf War Syndrome) which is characterized by chronicfatigue, headache muscle pain, neurologic signs memory loss, sleep disturbances gastrointestinal symptoms and cardiovascular symptoms.

After long term therapy and rehabilitation he is recovering. He wishes to go to NY and start a new life.

The Ex-Soldier and the Healer

Terry is a special person who had served in Vietnam as a combatant and now completely dedicates his life to treat combatants with war trauma as a mental health clinician. Terry was introduced to me by Dr.Mahasen De Silva -US Board Certified Psychiatrist of the Colmary O’Neal Veteran Administration Topeka Kansas. (As far as I know Dr. Mahasen De Silva is the only Sri Lankan who is treating the Vietnam veterans in a VA Hospital)

Terry is a very constructive person and I have learnt many positive things from him. He went to Vietnam when he was just eighteen and saw the naked reality of the war. After serving his term we returned to the United States with numerous life experiences. A large percentage of ex combatants who returned from Vietnam had readjustment problems. The American society was very critical and judgmental towards them. Many ex-servicemen began to drink and abused drugs to break the isolation.

When other veterans were fighting a new war after coming home Terry took a different path. He began to study and analyze the war trauma. There were many psychosocial challenges in front of him. Terry took these psycho social issues as life challengers and faced them positively. He studied combat psychology and joined the VA. Since he was a soldier Terry understands the problems of the war veterans very well and he is very empathetic to the combatants who are struck by the war. Today he is rendering a comparable service to the war torn soldiers at the Colmary O’Neal Veteran Administration Topeka Kansas.

Roland Glenn the Soldier Who Fought in Okinawa

In 2010 my friend Roland Glenn of Kittery USA requested me to write a review to his autobiographical war memoirs Hawk Dove World Okinawa Korea”As an Infantry Combat Company Commander, he saw significant action during the battle of Okinawa.

I was in charge of leading about 200 soldiers, an enormous amount of responsibility for someone 20 years old says Glenn. The killing of fellow human beings in the name of democracy remains my most vivid memory. I was brainwashed to think of the Japanese as sub-human monkey runts. I totally believed in the mission to obliterate the Japs. I was trained to kill and that is exactly what I did on Okinawa but there is nothing in our training that really prepares us for the taking of another human life. I have written my book about my own recovery from the traumas of combat.”

His book is a first-person account of the horrific hand-to-hand fighting at Okinawa, where 12,500 Americans died. Glenn was a brave soldier and was awarded both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Glenn’s book The Hawk and the Dove” is the first hand account of a WWII combatant who fought in Okinawa and Korea. The author vividly describes his transformation from an innocent Pennsylvanian young lad to afully-fledged combatant. During the War the author undergoes profound traumatic battle events and comes home as a hero but with the displeasing memories of the war. After coming home his second battle begins and he fights the next enemy – combat related PTSD which he overcomes with his will and determination and innate love for the humanity.

One marvelous thing about this book is throughout the book the author has not lost the human touch and his feelings for the fellow soldiers and for the enemy. Even after 50 years of the War, he still recalls the upsetting event in which he was compelled to put a bullet through the head of an enemy (Japanese) soldier. The Hawk and the Dove is one of the best books on war experience that I have read after Erich Maria Remarque‘s All Quiet on the Western Front.”

Today he lives in a small American town enjoying his retirement. He expresses his views on war in these words.

I do not think that wars solve problems. I strongly believe that more serious diplomatic efforts should be undertaken to resolve international problems. One of my major concerns right now is all the veterans returning with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This has got to be one of the biggest stories to come out of the Middle East wars. These veterans will require medical and psychological care for the remainder of their lives.” I’m hoping that youth who are considering careers in the military will have the opportunity to read my book. I’m not advocating that young people not have careers in the military, but am suggesting to our youth that there are many more options to serve our country and our communities than going to war.”

The Former Child Soldier

In 2009 I went to buy some refreshments at a convenience store at DonMills and Shepherd in North York. At the counter there was a young Sri Lankan Tamil guy and he easily recognized me as a Sinhaleses. It was a few months after Prabhakaran’s death and some of the Tamil Diaspora living in Canada were extremely hostile to the Sinhala people. When he saw me his faced changed. I could read his eyes. It said I wish I could have you for my lunch you Sihalese …” But he suppressed his hostile feelings and served me as a usual customer.

After this incident I had to go to this convenience store several times and every time he was unfriendly. One day I met him face to face at the store and I greeted him by saying Wannakam” He was stunned but returned my greeting. After this incident his attitude towards me was better. Once on my regular visit to the store I wanted to verify a dental product and I spoke to him in broken Tamil (Dr. Ram Manoharwho worked with me at the NegomboHospital taughtme Tamil words and some phrases. Later Ram became the JMO Jaffna Hospital and is now living in the UK) He explained about the product to me in a very friendly manner. Later he asked me who I was etc and we became acquainted with each other.

Within several months we became friends and once he told me his life story. To conceal his identity I would call him Sathi. Sathi was from Prabhakaran’s villageValvettithuraiand he knew Prhabahakaran and his family. Sathi decided to join the LTTE when he was very young. As a child soldier Sathiparticipated in several attacks that were launched against the Sri Lanka Army. But he did not preciselymention these attacks.

After serving in the LTTE for some years, he came to Colombo and accidentally met a relative. This relative had offered him the option of going abroad. First they thought of going to Norway or Australia. Sathi’s relative had a friend in Canada. So they decided go to Canada. Sathi and his relative entered Canada as refugees. Today he is a Canadian Citizen and working in a convenience store.

One day Sathi called me in distres. His father who is living in Valvettithuraihad suffered a heart attack. He was helpless and did not know what to do. Knowing my medical background Sathi asked me advice. I immediately sent an email to ProfDayaSomasundaram of the Adelaide University Australia and asked for help. Prof Somasundaramcontacted the Cardiologist at the Jaffna Hospital (who was one of his students) and did the needful to Sathi’s father. After a few weeks of treatment Sathy’s father had a complete recovery.

Sahthi thanked me a lot. He never expected such help from a Sinhalese guy when he was in dire straits. I think this event changed his understanding of Sinhala people dramatically. Later Sathi told me that when he was living in Jaffnathey were constantly told that Sinhala people are ruthless and they are the enemies of the Tamil people. He further said that this personal incident helped him to change the myths about Sinhala people.

This is a personal incident that occurred between two people who have come from the same country but with different views and rivalry. Positive communication helped both parties to eliminate the myths about each other. This small example allowed me to think in big. If Sinhala and Tamil people come to a common ground puttingaside petty differences, past antagonisms and work together for peace Sri Lanka would be a paradise once again.

Conclusion

During these years I have met a number of soldiers who participated in different wars. These combatants came from different countries, different societies and different cultures. They had seen death and destruction in these conflicts. They had witnessed the human suffering. Although they belonged to different ethnic groups, spoke different languages their emotional pain is very similar. There is an university in their emotional anguish. Human pain has no ethnic differences.

I recollect some words of General Omar Bradley who once said Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” I think Bradley was correct.

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CASTE CONSCIOUS SHINING INDIA

April 19th, 2018

ALI SUKHANVER

This spring proved the beginning of a new tale of distress and grief for the low-caste Hindus of India. According to the details narrated by the Washington Post, Caste prejudice is endemic in Hindu-majority India, even though the constitution outlaws the practice and has made it a crime punishable by up to a year in prison. The law also states that anyone accused of a caste-related crime could face immediate arrest. However, last month the Supreme Court ruled that in order to prevent misuse of the law, government officers accused of flouting it can be arrested only after their supervisors sign off on an inquiry.” This ruling of the Supreme Court of India triggered off an air of insecurity and anxiety among the low-caste Hindus particularly among the Dalits. They announced a nationwide strike in protest on 2^nd April. Particularly in Ahmadabad thousands of Dalits thronged the roads with bows and arrows and started raising slogans against the Supreme Court of India and the Modi government. The protest spread like wild fire in several parts of north and central India too. The protesters were of the opinion that the orders from the Supreme Court would simply ‘dilute legal safeguards put in place for their marginalized community’.

Earlier in 2017, a judge of the High-Court Mr. C.S. Karnan had also brought his protest on record regarding the atrocities against the low-caste Hindus in India by writing an open letter to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in which he had urged an action against 20 judges and three senior law officials who were involved in different types of corruption and racial injustice. His writing a letter to the Prime Minister was dealt as contempt of court and consequently he had to face a six-month imprisonment ‘awarded’ to him by the Supreme Court of India. In this way, Mr. C.S. Karnan became the first Indian High Court judge who was sent to prison for contempt of court. Writing letters to the high-command regarding corruption and biasness of his fellow judges had been a salient rather regular feature of Justice C. S. Karnan personality; in November 2011, Karnan wrote to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes alleging caste-based harassment from other judges of the Madras High Court. Addressing a press conference organized in his chamber, he said that he had faced such “humiliation and embarrassment since April 2009” and that it still continued. He spoke of a specific incident when a judge “touched him with his foot”. Unfortunately instead of listening to complaints of Justice Karnan, a Dalit by caste, a seven-judge Supreme Court bench ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Justice Karnan by a panel of government doctors to ascertain if he was mentally ill and directed the West Bengal police to assist the medical team in this matter. India’s Chief Justice JS Khehar was also among the members of the bench. In response to the orders of his psychiatric evaluation, Justice Karnan ‘back-fired’ by issuing orders of psychiatric examination of the seven Supreme Court judges who had passed the orders against him. He directed the police chief of New Delhi to offer assistance in this regard. This ‘judicial-game’ came to an end when Justice Karnan was released from Presidency Jail in Kolkata after serving a six-month sentence on 21^st December 2017. It certainly conveys a very bad national impression when the honourable members of judiciary in a country are in a state of war with each other. The situation must not reach such a stage anywhere as judiciary is the last ray of hope even for a man in the street. When a common man sees the judges quarreling with each other, he loses all hopes regarding his own safety and security. So such situation must always be avoided if possible but the question arises here; what were the actual factors which compelled Justice Karnan to raise hue and cry against his fellow judges?

Analysts say that whatever Justice Karnan did was nothing but a reaction to the atrocities against the low-caste Hindus in India as he himself belongs to the Dalit community. In the Indian media, Justice Karnan is known as ‘a rebel without a pause’. During his seven-year tenure as a high court judge in Chennai from 2009, he accused at least two chief justices of discriminating against him because of his caste. He also accused a fellow judge of raping an intern but this allegation of him is yet to be proven. According to the BBC News, Justice Karnan was generally in a habit of antagonizing his colleagues, so much so that at the end of 2014 several of his fellow judges petitioned the chief justice of India, demanding his transfer because they couldn’t work with him. When the Supreme Court did transfer him to Kolkata, he passed an order staying his own transfer. Whatever Justice Karnan had been doing throughout his career as a judge, seems his reaction against the horrible caste system of India. The strongest proof in this regard is that he had issued a suo-motu judicial order against Chief Justice of India J S Khehar and six other Supreme Court judges on April 13 2017 and had asked them to appear before him at his residence by 11.30 in the morning on April 28 for violation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Atrocities Act by them. The game is still on; let us wait what happens next.

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Skripals poisoning ‘highly likely’ staged by British intelligence – Russian Foreign Ministry

April 19th, 2018

Courtesy RT

Published time: 19 Apr, 2018 16:30

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The UK’s behavior after the Skripal incident suggests that the attack was organized by the British spy agencies or was at least beneficial for them, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

Skripals poisoning ‘highly likely’ staged by British intelligence – Russian Foreign Ministry

It was highly likely that the false-flag incident with the poisoning of the Russian citizens in Salisbury was beneficial for, or perhaps organized by, the British intelligence services in order to mar Russia and its political leadership,” Zakharova told a news conference in Moscow on Thursday, markedly using the same phrase regarding probability as London officials and their allies.

Containers with chlorine from Germany, smoke bombs from UK’s Salisbury found in E. Ghouta – Moscow

Such a false-flag operation would perfectly fit into the general Russophobe course of the [UK] Conservative government to demonize our country,” the spokeswoman stated, adding that the UK has frequently committed such acts in the past.”

The National Defense Strategy of the UK and the banquet speech of PM Theresa May at the end of last year,” also contribute to such version of events, according to Zakharova. The document and May’s speech have clearly envisioned countering Russia” as one of the main priorities for the UK.

London’s actions in the aftermath of the attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4 in the town of Sailsbury have raised many questions in Moscow. Russia says the UK did everything possible to disrupt the investigation and conceal facts, while squarely pinning the blame on Moscow. Russia has vehemently denied the allegations and repeatedly urged the UK to show some proof, or at least make information on the incident publicly available.

The firm refusal to cooperate with Russia on the Salisbury poisoning investigation, London’s violations of the consular convention, reluctance to cooperate with the OPCW and concealment of the basic data to conduct a transparent investigation are the shining proofs of that,” Zakharova concluded.

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Staged suffering? Interview with boy in Douma video raises more doubts over ‘chem attack’

April 19th, 2018

Courtesy RT

Published time: 19 Apr, 2018 10:47Edited time: 19 Apr, 2018 12:40

The boy portrayed as a ‘victim’ in a video of the alleged chemical attack in Douma has told a Russian TV crew that he was asked to go to hospital, where people grabbed” him and started pouring water” over his head.

Full Report

https://www.rt.com/news/424563-douma-boy-chemical-video/

Panic, fear, screaming adults and frightened children featured in the purported footage of the aftermath following the alleged chemical attack in the Eastern Ghouta city. The video has been circulated by mainstream media since April 7 after being posted by the so-called Douma Revolution group.

The group is one of the organizations, along with the notorious rebel-linked White Helmets, that has claimed government troops were the culprits behind the reported chemical attack.

One of the main ‘characters’ in the footage is a soaked boy, who is seen being sprayed with water by people who claim to be ‘rescue workers.’ It’s not clear whether they are doctors from the hospital, human rights activists, or White Helmets members. The latter usually make such videos and send them to news agencies, including Reuters.

Russian broadcaster VGTRK said it found the boy in the video, who appeared to be 11-year-old Hassan Diab. His story differed from the one presented by the activists and later propagated by the mainstream media. He was in the basement with his mother, who said they ran out of food, when they heard some noise outside.

Somebody was shouting that we had to go to the hospital, so we went there. When I came in, some people grabbed me and started pouring water over my head,” he told Evgeny Poddubny, a war correspondent from Russian broadcaster VGTRK. Hassan confirmed that he was the boy in the video, and was very scared when the whole situation unfolded. He is now fine and shows no symptoms of having experienced a chemical attack two weeks ago.

He was eventually found by his father, who said he didn’t hear about any chemical attack that day. I went to the hospital, walked upstairs, and found my wife and children. I asked them what had happened, and they said people outside were shouting about some smell, and told them to go to the hospital. At the hospital, they gave dates and cookies to the kids,” he said.

One of the medical workers, who was reportedly on shift at the time, said he was surprised by the sudden influx. Some people came here and washed people. They said: ‘Chemical attack. Chemical attack.’ We didn’t see any chemical attack symptoms,” he added. He did, however, say that there were many people with respiratory problems as a result of dust from recent bombings in the city.

Social media posts and the White Helmets’ report were enough for the US, UK and France to launch a series of strikes on Syria on April 14. The announcement of the strikes came hours before the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) team was scheduled to arrive in Douma to determine whether chemical weapons had been used there.

The boy agreed to play this role for food. Then the video was circulated across the globe and became the ‘evidence’ which served as an excuse for the US, the UK and French airstrikes [against Syria],” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook.

Moscow is planning to show the video about Hassan at the next meeting of the UN Security Council, Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia told Rossiya 1 on Thursday.

Editorial note: The headline and introduction to this story have been changed to better reflect the statements of the boy interviewed by the Russian TV crew.

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THE “DARUSMAN REPORT” Part 4

April 18th, 2018

KAMALIKA PIERIS

This essay in the Darusman report series features the review of the Darusamn Report by Geoffrey Nice QC & Rodney Dixon QC at the request of the Paranagama Commission. It is taken from the Parangama Commjission report.

March 24, 2015, 12:00 pm

Review of “Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka” by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC & Rodney Dixon QC

Review of “Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka”

Introduction

1. This is a Review of the Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka (“the Report”)

2. The Panel of Experts was appointed primarily to advise the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of appropriate accountability measures in the wake of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka that ended in May 2009 having regard to the alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that occurred during the final stages of the conflict.

3. The Panel found that there are “credible allegations, Rif proven” which indicate that both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE committed violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. In relation to the Government, the Panel found “credible allegations” of shelling in the Vanni (in northern Sri Lanka) during the final stages of the war between September 2008 and May 2009 which it is alleged caused civilian deaths, in particular in three No Fire Zones (“NFZs”) which had been declared as safe havens by the Government and on certain hospitals in these zones and on the front lines.

4. The figure for civilian deaths that the Panel relies on is “a range of up to 40,000” which it stated “cannot be ruled out”, but which requires further investigation.

5. Sources for this ‘up to 40,000’ figure are not identified in the Report. The figure is widely disputed. There is no clear breakdown given in the Report of where and how these alleged deaths occurred and of how it might be verified that they were civilian deaths in each particular case or of who was responsible for each of these deaths. This shortcoming must be taken into account when the Panel’s findings and the use to which they can legitimately be put are considered.

6. Set against these findings in respect of the Government, the Panel concluded in relation to the LTTE that there are “credible allegations” that approximately 300,000 – 330,000 civilians were kept hostage by the LTTE in the Vanni and prevented from leaving the area. They were used as human shields by the LTTE and as a “strategic human buffer” to the advancing Sri Lanka Army. The Report states that these civilians were forced to join the ranks of the LTTE, to dig trenches and prepare other defences, “thereby contributing to blurring the distinction between combatants and civilians”. Civilians were also shot by the LTTE, and the Report notes that the LTTE fired artillery “in proximity” to large groups of civilians and fired from civilian “installations” including hospitals. The Report concludes that “many civilians were sacrificed on the altar of the LTTE case and its efforts to preserve its senior leadership”.

7. The Report fails, however, to offer any figures for the number of civilians allegedly killed or injured by the LTTE and provides no analysis of any kind of the precise circumstances in which these deaths and incidents allegedly occurred.

8. The Report also details alleged violations by both sides that occurred outside the conflict zone and after the conflict had ended. They include alleged offences committed by Government forces during the screening and detention of those who left the conflict zone and, as against the LTTE, alleged attacks on civilians by the LTTE outside ‘the conflict zone.

9. In light of these findings, the Panel goes on to conclude that the Government’s efforts at the time of the Report to address accountability fell short of international standards in which the rights of victims to truth, justice and reparations should be central. The Panel makes certain recommendations for the investigation of alleged crimes and the adoption of measures to advance accountability in the short and longer term.

10. These recommendations are rooted in the Panel’s findings in respect of the nature and scope of the alleged violations that are set out in the Report. Indeed, the Panel acknowledged that accountability standards “cannot be examined in a vacuum”, and that its advice to the Secretary-General on appropriate accountability mechanisms had to be based on “the nature and scope of the alleged violations”. The Panel said that it was thus required “to gather information from a variety of sources in order to characterize the extent of the allegations” and “appraise them legally”

11. That foundation and sources for the Panel’s advice and recommendations – the alleged violations themselves – must be closely evaluated.

12. Accordingly, this Review assesses the nature, the value, and -to the extent possible – the veracity of the findings in the Report, and the sources of these findings, which are central to the Panel’s advice and recommendations. It does so by measuring the workings and findings of the Panel against well-established legal standards for the proper and fair assessment of evidence and information when it is used for assigning responsibility for crimes.

13. It can be borne in mind that the Panel, in a public document, purported to make such assessments of evidence and other information where it has indicated that the parties to the conflict, in particular the Government, have allegedly perpetrated widespread and very serious crimes.

14. This Review, however, will not mirror the approach of the Panel and will reach no conclusions on whether crimes of particular types were in fact committed by one party or the other. Nor will it venture into the area of policy by recommendations of what the Government should, or should not, do. Leaders in the Government will have well-formed opinions and / or beliefs as to whether offences were, or were not, committed by the parties in the ways alleged (without necessarily being dependent on evidence that may be available to third parties to establish such crimes) and have been and are reacting by political and other measures to the views they have formed.

Appraisal of the Panel’s workings and findings in respect of the alleged violations

15. On review, the Panel’s findings in respect of the alleged criminal violations fall well short of the legal standards usually associated with a rigorous and impartial inquiry into evidence in order to make such findings. The evidence and information on which the Report’s findings are based are virtually all un-sourced, whether in the main body of the Report or in the footnotes and annexes. There are many examples of this deficiency, illustrations of which are set out below.

16. This is not to say that these sources do not exist, but to highlight that very few have been identified in the Report. The Report only refers in the most general terms to the categories of information that were relied on.7 The reader of the Report cannot, thus, gauge the extremely serious allegations against sources and evidence that may exist in order to assess the strength of the allegations. Further, as the full body of evidence that was taken into account is unknown, it is alike impossible to know what has been taken into account and whether any particular piece of evidence which may he important to counter an allegation has been overlooked.

17. This makes the task of conducting any further investigation – as recommended by the Report – much more difficult. Without a ‘starting point’ of existing evidence where should the new investigator begin a search? To which witness or evidence should s/he turn?

18. Moreover, there is no analysis of any identifiable and verifiable evidence that may be relied on (mostly un-sourced as it is), by reference to the relevant legal elements of the offences, all of which would require proof of mental states in those committing or directing the allegedly criminal acts. The repeated assertion that civilians were shelled by the Sri Lanka Army in various locations and were unlawfully killed as a matter of international law is not deconstructed in order to allow the reader to forma reasoned opinion on whether the factual or mental state requirements of the alleged brimes may be the subject of available evidence. In particular, there is no analysis offered in the Report of (i) the evidence of the circumstances of each of these alleged attacks, (ii) the presence of any legitimate military targets and objects, (iii) how it can be determined on the evidence from where the attacks emanated, and (iv) whether any of those attacked were civilians, and if so in what proportion.

19. Analysis of the complex and intricate legal requirements for an unlawful attack under international humanitarian law and customary international law to the facts in each particular case is completely lacking in the Report. This deficiency is compounded by the lack of identifiable sources of evidence to substantiate factually the allegations that are made.

20. When allegations in the Report against both sides are viewed together, it is not clear on what basis the Panel makes conclusions about the responsibility of the Government for all, or any particular portion, of the civilian deaths that occurred, and is able to determine that any such responsibility is criminal as a matter of international law. The Panel acknowledges that the civilians in the Vanni were hostages of the LTTE, were used by them as human shield and as combatants to fight the Sri Lanka Army and were also targeted by the LTTE including in the very areas and hospitals that the Government is accused of shelling. In these circumstances how is the Panel able to find that the Government was nevertheless responsible for killing these same civilians unlawfully or to make any necessary distinctions between who could have been criminally responsible in accordance with the standards under international law that render military attacks unlawful. The Panel’s approach also assumes that the persons killed, whatever the number, were in fact civilians as opposed to persons who had taken up arms voluntarily or under compulsion on the side of the LTTE.

21. These are necessarily complex questions which the Panel does not address in its Report. The Panel has instead taken a ‘broad brush’ approach and ascribed responsibility in a general way to both sides in order to get on to its primary task of considering appropriate accountability mechanisms. Yet any discussion about these mechanisms can be of little relevance or use without an accurate account of the conflict and of the alleged violations that were committed in it.

22. This is unfortunate as it does not advance the inquiry to find the truth save by a generalised recommendation that these matters need to be investigated further. The Report does not confine itself to saying, as it should given its approach to the evidence, that there are many disputed allegations which require further investigation. On the contrary, it positively claims that the allegations are credible and reliable. It elevates them to trustworthy allegations that should be accepted and that now need to be refuted.

23. Indeed, as a result of publication of the Report there have been many subsequent statements, reports and recommendations which have regarded the Report’s findings as conclusive.8 The Sooka Report, for example, stated that,

“There is plenty of evidence available from other reliable sources to corroborate the allegations made in this report. Since 2009, there were a number of reports, including that of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts published in March 2011, documenting violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law”.

24. Herein lies the danger – whether intended or not – of the claims that are made in the Report about the criminal responsibility of the Government and its forces. Without a robust and disciplined investigation with legal analysis of the evidence, properly sourced and carefully scrutinised, tested and weighed according to the highest legal standards, it can be very risky to publish findings of the sort set out in this Report, even if the Report states formally that any allegations made are not proven.

25. Panels of experts established by the UN should be ‘on guard’ against the risk that unsourced assertions or allegations appearing in a sequence of reports allow the development of ‘false collateral’ of one report by another, that may have been constructed on the same un-sourced allegations. Narratives develop in opinion-formers and decision-makers, none of whom may have the time to read, let alone rigorously to analyse, reports that, like the instant Report, are often hundreds of pages long.

26. Such reports can be relied on within the international community to draw conclusions which are in fact unproven but which are repeated and reproduced over time. The reports become the accepted narrative of a conflict and of those responsible for criminal behaviour without independent investigation and verification of the ‘facts’, let alone any judicial findings following a proper legal inquiry. A cornucopia made of insubstantial elements is itself insubstantial.

27. International courts and tribunals have not placed reliance on reports of this nature as being probative evidence to prove allegations in trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity.” As set out in the jurisprudence of these courts, the present Report would be of virtually no value to a court seeking to establish the truth, and it should not be given any more weight outside of the courtroom.

Approach of the Panel to verifying allegations of violations

28. The shortcomings of the Report may be explained by the fact that, as it acknowledged, the Panel did not conduct fact-finding” or reach “factual conclusions regarding disputed facts”, and nor did it “carry out a formal investigation that draws conclusions regarding legal liability or the culpability of States, non-state actors, or individuals”. 12 The Report goes so far as to state that “the Panel’s mandate precludes fact-finding or investigation”.

29. Yet, in order to advise the Secretary-General on accountability measures the Panel recognised that it had to make certain determinations about the violations for which such measures should be tailored. The Panel’s mandate would come to nothing in the absence of the Panel finding clearly identified violations of a widespread and systematic character.

30. In consequence, perhaps, the Panel adopted a ‘halfway house’ solution. It did not conduct a full fact-finding investigation as the police would do in any national jurisdiction, but consulted various individuals and organisations and examined available `information’. This approach, in the Panel’s view, permitted it to make factual findings on- the basis of its work but without the detailed inquiries that characterise a full investigation.

31. This methodology arguably produced the worst of both worlds – no conclusions based on any detailed investigation according to recognised legal standards in a Report emboldened to reach clear findings which point the finger at those allegedly responsible.

32. The Panel described its work in the following terms:

• The Panel’s programme of work was organized in two phases. In the first phase, the Panel gathered a variety of information regarding the armed conflict in Sri Lanka from individuals and institutions with expertise or experience related to its mandate. Some of this information came in written form, consisting of both public documents – e.g. governmental, United Nations or reports of nongovernmental organizations (NG0s) – and material conveyed confidentially to the Panel. Other information was gathered through numerous meetings of the Panel of its secretariat. The Panel met with officials of the United Nations and international organizations as well as representatives of Governments and NG0s and individuals directly affected by the events of the final stages of the war. In the second phase of its work, the Panel drafted this report. The report was written in a manner that makes it suitable for publication.

• The Panel’s assessment is based on a careful examination and weighing of the allegations of fact that have been made regarding the final stages of the war. The Panel’s examination included both written sources of information as well as interviews with various individuals. The written sources included reports, documents and other written accounts by the various agencies, departments, funds, offices and programmes of the United Nations, other inter-governmental organizations, NG0s and individuals, such as journalist and experts on Sri Lanka. It included satellite imagery, photographs and video materials of the final phase of the war. It also included submissions received by the Panel during the course of its work in response to its notifications posted on the United Nations website. While these could not be individually verified, at times they served to corroborate other sources. Some relevant media sources, referring, for example, to statements of the Government of Sri Lanka or other public statements, are cited in this chapter, but serve only to corroborate the information gathered by the Panel. A number of NGO reports exist on events in the Lanni. While the Panel reviewed some of these reports, it did not rely on them to compile these allegations, but rather carried out its own assessment of the nature and scope of allegations.

• The Panel consulted a number of individuals with expertise or experience related to the armed conflict, including officials of international organizations, NG0s, journalists, diplomats, academics, and other individuals, some of whom were in Sri Lanka or in the Vanni during the relevant period.

33. It is evident from these general statements that the Panel consulted several sources, but the raw evidence from these sources is not made available in the Report. In particular, the statements and other evidence (for example documents, videos etc if any were produced by witnesses) of those who were interviewed and consulted were not submitted with the Report. Indeed, witness statements — assuming there were any — are not even quoted anonymously as can readily happen and as does happen in other authoritative reports of crimes committed in conflicts.

34. The Panel stressed that the only allegations included in the Report as credible are those “based on primary sources that the Panel deemed relevant and trustworthy”. 19 However, it is impossible to discern from the Report which primary sources were decisive for its findings, and there is no record of the discussions and assessments carried out by the Panel having considered these and other sources.

35. The Panel was clearly alive to this problem. The generalised caution adopted by the Panel was expressed as follows:

To determine whether an allegation is credible, the Panel considered the totality of the information in its possession, with careful regard to the relevance, weight and reliability of each of the sources as well as its relationship to the body of information, as a whole. Allegations are only included as credible when based on primary sources that the Panel deemed relevant and trustworthy. These primary sources were corroborated by other kinds of information, both direct and indirect. The allegations laid out below are based on credible and consistent sources of information. In fact, many of the allegations would appear to meet a higher standard of proof.

36. The Panel indicated that it did not rely on NGO reports and notifications posted on its website. However, without knowing from the Report which were the primary sources, and without being able to review this material and contrast it with the material that was relied on for purely corroborative purposes, it is of little, or no, use only to know the approach taken by the Panel to its work in such broad and undefined terms. The Panel has opened itself to being criticised for paying lip service to the caution it rightly identified.

37. The Report might have achieved greater credibility for its assessment of the unidentified evidence on which it has relied if it candidly acknowledged that it failed to reveal – or even intentionally obscured for some reason – its process of ratiocination.

Standard of proof adopted

38. This central weakness in the Report is exacerbated by the standard of proof that it professed to adopt. A non-legal analysis – as by a journalist or academic, a ‘tinker, tailor soldier or spy’ or anyone else – can use any standard s/he likes: ‘A felt sure’, ‘A felt reasonably confident’, ‘A was absolutely convinced’, ‘A had my suspicions’ etc. In a document dealing with alleged criminality on a major scale – that names those who may be responsible and who merit further judicial and other process – it might be thought better to turn to, and carefully to apply, the standards of proof recognised by international criminal courts. This is something the Report failed properly and consistently to do.

39. The Panel pointed out that it sought “to assess whether the allegations that are in the public domain are sufficiently credible to warrant further investigations”. To this end the Panel stated that it employed the ‘reasonable basis to believe’ standard of proof “to characterize the extent of the allegations, assess which of the allegations are credible based on the information at hand, and appraise them legally”. 22 The Panel said that it “determined an allegation to be credible if there was a reasonable basis to believe that the underlying act or event occurred.

40. The Panel stated that it settled on this standard because it “gives rise to a responsibility under domestic and international law for the State or other actors to respond. No authority or further explanation is given for this proposition; the authors of this Review are unable to fill in this glaring citation gap from their own knowledge.

41. The Panel also offered no definition of the ‘reasonable basis to believe’ standard it said it was applying and it is, thus, not possible to be certain whether they had in mind the `reasonable basis to believe’ test in international law for which authoritative definition does exist.

42. It should be noted that international courts and tribunals have confirmed that the `reasonable basis to believe’ standard — if that is what the Panel had in mind — is the lowest evidentiary standard of proof.. The standard does, nevertheless, require that there exists a proper foundation of identifiable evidence on which to forma reasonable belief that crimes have been committed. It allows for, and expects, an ability on the part of anyone applying the standard to be able to articulate why the standard has been met. That ability is not revealed by this Panel where it asks its readers to take its analysis of evidence — and its partition of primary from secondary corroborative evidence — entirely on trust.

43. The highest standard of proof is that of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ which is required to convict an accused of a crime.26Below the standard of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ is a standard of ‘substantial grounds to believe’. At the ICC, this standard is considered during the confirmation of charges process and requires that the Prosecution provide the Chamber with sufficient evidence to establish that “substantial grounds [exist] to believe that the person committed each of the crimes charged.”

44. The ‘reasonable basis to believe’ standard is used at the ICC to determine whether an investigation should be launched and if any persons should be charged as a result of this investigation. Although this standard does not require that the available evidence lead only to one conclusion, 28 it does demand that there is sufficient reliable and verifiable evidence available to establish “the criminal responsibility of an individual” which can result in charges being brought and the person losing her / his liberty through arrest and detention pending trial.

45. The ICC has held that “the Chamber must be satisfied that there exists a sensible or reasonable justification” for the allegations after “evaluating the available information provided by the Prosecutor.” 30 The ICC has emphasised that the ‘reasonable basis to believe’ standard must be viewed in light of its purpose and the context in which it operates — “to prevent the Court from proceeding with unwarranted, frivolous, or politically motivated investigations that could have a negative effect on its credibility.”

46. The European Court of Human Rights has defined this standard (which it termed to be one of “reasonable suspicion”) to require “the existence of facts or information which would satisfy an objective observer that the person concerned may have committed the offence.”

47. The Panel seems to have used the standard that is recognised under international law to be at the very lowest end of the calibration of proof of allegations, but which nevertheless requires clear and demonstrable evidence (which is open to examination) to support the allegations relied on. It is hard to understand why the Panel — that had legal expertise available to it — should have failed to articulate openly and precisely which recognised standard it was applying, and how. The fact that it did not do so makes it easier to look with skepticism at its work and to fear that it may be characterised by amateurism and enthusiasm. The advantage of applying known legal tests strictly to work that requires legal analysis is that anyone reviewing the product of that work will have more, not less, confidence in its reliability and trustworthiness. The reverse, as in this case, has also to be true.

48. The Panel’s findings could have very serious consequences for Sri Lanka and its leaders but are based on the very lowest threshold of proof while using the language and discourse of international courts to introduce these findings without adopting — or seeming to pay any regard to — the practices of these courts that would reveal and explain the evidence on which the Panel has proceeded to its conclusions. The neutral observer might find it hard to overlook the fact that this has all been done in a time when — right or wrong — there has been substantial publicity adverse to the Sri Lankan Government. It would be naive not to recognise that in such times it is easier to advance conclusions in line with publicity without proper evidential support but in the hope, and with the reasonable expectation, of a busy world accepting what is asserted.

49. The Panel does acknowledge that its findings require further investigation but it has not set out what human or documentary sources should form the subject of such an investigation. Moreover, the concession that further investigation is required is overshadowed by the Panel asserting that it has conducted its own inquiries, applied a legal standard of proof, and found the allegations to be credible. It is these claims which have allowed the Report to become much more than a record of allegations and counter allegations that require diligent investigation before any conclusions are reached. The Panel has gone substantially further in concluding that its findings are reliable and trustworthy, and accordingly that the case put forward by the Government should be rejected.

Primary source materials not identified

50. As noted above, although the Panel was at pains to stress that it only relied on primary sources to find that the allegations were trustworthy, the reader is left in the dark as to which were the primary sources.

51. It could be that confidentiality required that certain of these sources remained undisclosed. The Panel noted that,

In some instances, the Panel received written and oral material on the condition of an assurance of absolute confidentiality in the subsequent use of the information. The Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) confirmed through formal legal advice that the provisions set out in the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on “Information sensitivity, classification and handling’ (ST/SGB/2007/6) could be applied to its records. This Bulletin provides for classification of a document as “strictly confidential” with correspondingly strict limits on any access fora period of 20 years, following which a declassification review may be undertaken that weighs the equities involved in retention or release. Moreover, OLA confirmed that, where necessary and appropriate for the Panel’s work, the Panel could give an undertaking of absolute confidentiality in the subsequent use. As a result, nearly all of the Panel’s substantive records will be classified as “strictly confidential” with, in some cases, additional protections regarding future use.

52. These key sources therefore remain completely anonymous, which further weakens the weight that can be given this evidence and the findings based upon it. The Panel did not indicate whether consideration had been given to making anonymised, redacted or summarised versions of this evidence available for evaluation when considering the Report’s findings and recommendations. The reader has no idea about the quantity and scope of this evidence even in the most general of terms.

53. There are very many instances in the Report in which strong allegations and statements are made with no sources to substantiate the findings put forward, for example:

• First NFZ: paras 80-89 of the Report allege that the Government unlawfully shelled civilians; however, not a single source for this accusation is identified, except a footnote referring to a Government denials of the shelling. It appears that UN staff were present but there is no evidence provided from these persons whose need for absolute anonymity would be hard to justify if relied on. The Report acknowledges that the LTTE were firing “from approximately 500 metres away” from the UN hub in the NFZ and “from further back in the NFZ”.35 No evidence is provided about these positions and what actions the LTTE were taking. As set out below, this is a repetitive shortcoming of the Report – it lacks analysis of the nature of the attacks and detailed consideration of their lawfulness as a matter of international law, particularly in respect of military necessity and proportionality.

• The Report claims that UN convoys into the Lanni were allegedly being used by the parties in the conflict, yet there is no evidence of the way in which this occurred, nor any analysis of the consequences for legitimate military action.

• Alleged shelling of the PTK hospital – paras. 90-96 of the Report: there are some sources provided – including from the ICRC – about this alleged attack which confirm that incidents of shelling and killings occurred, but no evidence is provided about those who may have been responsible.37 This occurs in other parts of the Report as well – certain sources report on the occurrence of an incident but without providing evidence of those who may have been responsible. It may be that these sources are in possession of such evidence, but without them being identified and made available it is impossible to assess their veracity. The overall value of the Report is undoubtedly diminished as a result.

• In this part the Report does note that the PTK hospital “was a strategic stronghold in the LTTE’s fight against the SLA” and that the LTTE thus had a “sizeable presence” in the PTK. 38 The Report acknowledges that the LTTE were firing artillery from the vicinity of the hospital.39 Once again, the significance of this evidence (which is not made available in any form) is unexplored. It is essential when considering the alleged attacks to take full account of these factors both to determine the source of the attacks and (depending in part on the answer to this question) the legality and proportionality of the return military action.

• Some journalistic accounts are footnoted as sources. However it is unclear whether these are cited merely for corroborative purposes, or whether they are regarded in any way and if so when, as primary sources. If they ever have been, questions over the reliability of such materials might arise; notoriously one particular series of news programmes (Channel 4) has drawn substantial, sustained and evidence-based criticism of unreliability from the Sri Lankan Government.

• Given that the UN had withdrawn from the Vanni by September 2008, as the Reports notes, there were virtually no international observers able to report on what was happening in the Vanni .40 The Report states that journalists working with the SLA or LTTE continued to report from the area as did other organisations, including Tamil Net, a pro-LTTE website.41 It is unclear from the Report the extent to which the information from these bodies has been relied on by the Panel and taken in account when shaping the Report.

• Second NFZ: paras 109-114 of the Report include allegations about the SLA inflicting civilian casualties “at the same time” as breaking through the LTTE defences.42 UNICEF and ICRC reports are referenced, but it is riot clear that these reports contain any concrete evidence about the lawfulness of the alleged attacks and who was responsible for the particular deaths reported on. It is also not clear whether these are the primary sources relied by the Panel or whether there are witness statements or other confidential reports that constitute the underlying principal evidence.

• Other hospitals: the Report refers to attacks on other hospitals by the SLA, such as the Putimattalan hospital where only a single source is footnoted 43 , an ICRC news release, which does not appear to assist with identifying the alleged perpetrator/s on the basis of any clear evidence. This news release could of course be a piece of evidence to consider in any investigation, ‘but the question is left open when these allegations are reviewed about whether there is any primary evidence in existence on which the Panel based its conclusions. The extent to which the LTTE targeted the population and prevented injured persons from leaving the area, including via ICRC ships”, is not taken into account at all in the Panel’s assessment of who may have been responsible for alleged attacks on civilians in hospitals.

• The same lack of sourcing is evident in the findings of the Panel in respect of the alleged violations that occurred after the end of hostilities. No source is provided for the wide-ranging allegations that are made about Government clandestine operations’ against the LTTE . Similarly, the allegations about there being a policy to target, torture and execute LTTE and other persons after the conflict are made as statements of fact without a body of clearly identifiable primary evidence, including witness statements, to back them up.

54. The lack of proper sourcing is a matter of particular concern when considering the Report’s overall findings about the alleged shelling into the NFZs (which as noted above forms a major part of the Panel’s discussion of the alleged violations). The Panel acknowledged that the LTTE did not accept the NFZs as “binding”. 48 According to the Report, the LTTE were present in the NFZs, firing from them and in them, and keeping the civilian population hostage:

Retaining the civilian population in the area that it controlled was crucial to the LTTE strategy. The presence of civilians both lent legitimacy to the LTTE’s claim for a separate homeland and provided a buffer against the SLA offensive. To this end, the LTTE forcibly prevented those living in the Vanni from leaving. Even when civilian casualties rose significantly, the LTTE refused to let people leave, hoping that the worsening situation would provide an international intervention and a halt to the fight. It used new and badly trained recruits as well as civilians essentially as “cannon fodder” in an attempt to protect its leadership until the final moments.

55. The Report records that as the LTTE suffered military setbacks in the final phases of the war, the NFZs were used as places to retreat with the civilian population being used by the LTTE to bolster their military campaign.50 The extent to which the use of the civilian population — whether acting voluntarily or forced into action and whether this was known or not by the Government forces — should be taken into account when determining the lawfulness of any Government military action against the LTTE is not addressed at all in the Report. It could well be a critical issue. The truth may be — and it may be an underlying truth of greater significance than the Panel might like to be understood and known — is that the evidence of what occurred in these final phases in and around the NFZs is simply not available for analysis by the Panel and this has severely limited the Panel’s ability to comment on these crucial questions. 51 Its failure properly and fully to acknowledge this limitation on its ability to do its work and to address a highly significant legal issue smacks of the same possible amateurism and enthusiasm referred to above. The issue would certainly be central to any full and robust legal inquiry into the alleged incidents, something the Panel has simply not undertaken.

56. The civilians as LTTE fighters issue (above) is exacerbated as a problem for the Panel’s conclusions by the Panel’s failure to clarify the extent to which the civilian population – which was estimated to be about 300,000 – 330,000 persons – was itself targeted and killed by the LTTE. This may be an absolutely critical question given that the Report appears to allege that these same persons were unlawfully targeted by the Government. Once again, the lack of identified primary sources and analysis of these sources means that these vital questions are not addressed and the Report’s credibility and integrity are much diminished as a result.

Alleged civilian deaths

57. This very same problem arises in the Panel’s findings about the number of civilian deaths. The Panel notes that “a number of credible sources” have estimated there to have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths. 53 None of these sources is named in the Report, yet the figure is used in the Report and has been relied on repeatedly after publication of the Report as the correct figure with which to accuse the Government.

58. It is well-known that there are other sources which estimate the figure to be much lower, but these are not mentioned in the Report. At the very least it would be expected that a UN report of this type should set out the various competing accounts. The Panel does acknowledge that only a proper investigation can lead to the identification of an accurate figure, but it has not provided the full range of views from which to begin this important task.

59. The UN Country Team figure of 7,721 (up until 13 May 2009) is mentioned in the Report but then disputed by the Panel without it explaining how it is that over 30,000 people could have been killed in the final days of the war up until 18 May 2009 if the figure of 40,000 is ever to be correct and accurate. 56 The Report provides no concrete evidence to support the considerable leap from the UN Country Team’s figure of less than 10,000 to the substantial number of 40,000 adopted by the Report.

60. As noted above, the use of this figure by the Panel, over that of the UN Country Team, has been a central pillar in the argument of those who have accused the Government of being responsible for unlawfully killing civilians. The Report’s reliance on such a high fatality figure has naturally drawn attention, condemnation, and the leveling of strong accusations. Hence, the need for scrupulous accuracy — which is lacking in the Report —before circulating any figures which can then be taken as credible when they are entirely unsubstantiated. Otherwise, the very real danger exists that those with genuine concerns about the truth of what happened can be misled and have their views fuelled and provoked by accounts that lack any truth and substance.

61. The Panel also refers to the numbers of persons who were able to leave the Vanni at different times (which it claims total approximately 290,000), but again without any reliable source materials. 57 It is thus hard to see how any of these figures can be relied on to try to support the very high fatality figures that are alleged.

62. An obvious gap in the Report’s discussion of the number of deaths is how it can be said that these are all civilian deaths (whatever the number) or what portion of those who died were civilians entitled to the full protections of international humanitarian law. There is no analysis of this vital issue which would plainly have, to be at the centre of any assiduous investigation.

Lack of analysis of the alleged attacks under international law

63. The Report provides an overview of the law applicable to military attacks. 58 Yet it does not apply these intricate legal standards in any detail to the available evidence in reaching its conclusions about the unlawfulness of each particular alleged attack. The assertion is simply made repeatedly in the Report that the Government forces indiscriminately killed civilians, for example:

• Para. 100: “the SLA continuously shelled within the area that became the second NFZ from all directions. It is estimated that there were between 300,000 and 330,000 civilians in that small area”. No source is provided for these figures other than a footnote that UN documents “generally reference this number”.

• Para. 105: “While individual incidents of shelling and shooting took place on a daily basis, destroying the lives of many individuals and families, the SLA also shelled large gatherings of civilians capable of being identified by UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]. On 25 March, an MBRL attack on Ambalavanpokkanai killed around 140 people, including many children”. No sources are given for these claims and no evidence-based analysis is provided of the circumstances of the alleged incident.

• Para. 117: “The shelling within the third [and final] NFZ [declared on or about 8 May 2009] was such that it was impossible for the ICRC to conduct any more maritime rescues. As the SLA neared the hiding places of the senior LTTE leadership, its offensive assumed a new level of intensity, in spite of the thousands of civilians who remained trapped in the area”. No study is made of the nature of the military actions involved, and no account is properly taken of the fact that, as noted by the Panel in the very next sentence, the LTTE leadership were sending many persons in to die in their defence, “including through suicide missions”.

• Annex 3: the Panel attaches some examples of satellite imagery (of damage to certain sites) and diagrams of SLA artillery positions apparently derived from satellite images which purport to show the direction in which SLA artillery batteries were pointed at the NFZs over time. No expert report or evidence is provided with this material to explain its probative value and relevance to establishing whether any of the alleged attacks were unlawful. The Panel concedes that the images do not assist in showing which artillery hit any of the hospitals. The materials are discussed briefly in the Report in order to accuse the SLA of adjusting their artillery to target the NFZs. no consideration is given to any evidence about whether these positions were used, and if so in what specific circumstances, to attack NFZs. The Report notes that the LTTE also had heavy weapons (although fewer and in less space from which to fire them). 62 No attempt is made in the Report to assess the extent of the LTTE’s targeting of the NFZs and other areas with its heavy weapons and, most importantly, to juxtapose such evidence with any evidence of SLA artillery fire. The diagrams do not show or confirm any artillery fire.

• Para. 195: The Report asserts that “the Government of Sri Lanka did not respect the fundamental principle distinction [between combatants and civilians]”. Yet it offers no examination of the particular circumstances in which this is said to have occurred with the requisite intention to render the Government forces’ conduct unlawful as a matter of international law, or of the very real difficulties of making the distinction [between combatants and civilians] given the ways in which the LTTE was using the population in their final stand, and the fact that, as the Report notes, uniforms were not always worn by the LTTE, its supporters and those who fought for them. 63 The Report accepted that the line between combatants and civilians was “blurred”, but fails to apply this factual reality to any of the attacks under consideration.

64. This overly simplistic approach to characterising the alleged attacks represents a major flaw, as the Report simply does not grapple with the difficulties and intricacies of establishing whether any particular attack was justified militarily on all of the available evidence.

65. It is well-established under international law that military objects may be targeted and that an attack which causes loss of civilian life may be justified if it is not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.64 The range of factors to be taken into account when applying these legal standards to the evidence in question is sizeable and their application demands a meticulous study of all available evidence.

66. As the ICRC has noted:

“Several States have indicated that in their target selection they will consider the military advantage to be anticipated from an attack as a whole and not from parts thereof The military manuals of Australia, Ecuador and the United States consider that the anticipated military advantage can include increased security for the attacking forces or friendly forces.

Many military manuals state that the presence of civilians within or near military objectives does not render such objectives immune from attack. This is the case, for example, of civilians working in a munitions factory. This practice indicates that such persons share the risk of attacks on that military objective but are not themselves combatants. This view is supported by official statements and reported practice. Such attacks are still subject to the principle of proportionality … and the requirement to take precautions in attack … The prohibition on using human shields is also relevant to this issue”.

“State practice often cites establishments, buildings and positions where enemy combatants, their material and armaments are located and military means of transportation and communication as examples of military objectives. As far as dual-use facilities are concerned, such as civilian means of transportation and communication which can be used for military purposes, practice considers that the classification of these objects depends, in the final analysis, on the application of the definition of a military objective. Economic targets that effectively support military operations are also cited as an example of military objectives, provided their attack offers a definite military advantage. In addition, numerous military manuals and official statements consider that an area of land can constitute a military objective if it fulfils the conditions contained in the definition.”

67. The ICRC has also clarified that in relation to the principle of proportionality and assessing the potential military advantage of any attack:

“Several States have stated that the expression ‘military advantage’ refers to the advantage anticipated from the military attack considered as a whole and not only from isolated or particular parts of that attack. The relevant provision in the Statute of the International Criminal Court refers to the civilian injuries, loss of life or damage being excessive ‘in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated’ … The ICRC stated at the Rome Conference on the Statute of the International Criminal Court that the addition of the word ‘overall’ to the definition of the crime could not be interpreted as changing existing law. Australia, Canada and New Zealand have stated that the term ‘military advantage’ includes the security of the attacking forces.”

“Upon ratification of Additional Protocol I, Australia and New Zealand stated that they interpreted the term ‘concrete and direct military advantage anticipated’ as meaning that there is a bona fide expectation that the attack would make a relevant and proportional contribution to the objective of the military attack involved. According to the Commentary on the Additional Protocols, the expression ‘concrete and direct’ military advantage was used in order to indicate that the advantage must be ‘substantial and relatively close, and that advantages which are hardly perceptible and those which would only appear in the long term should be disregarded’”

68. It should also be taken into account that the ICTY Appeals Chamber has emphasised that the assessment of what constitutes an unlawful attack is a complex one that requires several factors to be taken into consideration. 68 The Appeals Chamber specifically rejected the Trial Chamber’s standard for determining whether an attack was lawfully carried out against a military target — “that all impact sites within 200 metres of a target deemed legitimate could have been justified as part of an attack offering military advantage.”

69. Instead, the Appeals Chamber found that such a determination requires a much deeper and more detailed analysis of the facts and evidence. The Appeals Chamber noted that the Trial Chamber’s standard failed to “explain the specific-basis on which it arrived at a 200 metre margin of error as a reasonable interpretation of evidence on the record” and provided “no indication that any evidence” supported this standard. The Appeals Chamber found that “detailed evidence” of such factors as “muzzle velocity, wind speed, air temperature and density” must be provided to ascertain the range of error compared to the location of impact. In addition, the Appeals Chamber found that a rigid standard based on the impact site cannot be applied uniformly especially considering that the factors listed above “such as wind speed would affect range of error” and also that “increased distance from a target would increase range of error” as wel1. The Appeals Chamber found that “detailed evidence” must be provided fully to evaluate these “crucial findings and calculations” before making a conclusion on the lawfulness of the attack.

70. In addition, the Appeals Chamber found that evidence must be examined to determine whether there was “any indication that targets of opportunity existed” and whether the specific impact sites of the attack were “reasonably attributed to lawful attacks on opportunistic targets.” The Appeals Chamber found that any evidence supporting a conclusion that the alleged perpetrators “could identify tactical targets of opportunity, such as police and military vehicles” must be addressed and “discount[ed], If there is evidence supporting such a conclusion, the evaluation of the evidence must examine “how, in these circumstances, it could exclude the possibility that … [the perpetrator’s] … attacks were aimed at mobile targets of opportunity.”

71. The Appeals Chamber thus rejected the notion of “Impact Analysis” being critical in determining whether an attack was unlawful.

72. The Darusman Report, however, that was published without the advantage of the law as more recently articulated at the ICTY, appears to consider only the impact of the shelling, and does not identify, let alone consider in any detail, any of the various factors and issues set out above when addressing the particular attacks under consideration, or the final stages of the conflict as a whole. On the contrary, the Panel made sweeping and unsubstantiated conclusions based on its finding of “credible allegations” that “attacks on the NFZs were broadly disproportionate to the military advantage anticipated from such attacks.” This completely pre-judges the issue without any authentic and careful examination of all of the factors relevant to determining the lawfulness of military action.

Accountability mechanisms

73. The Report provides a very thorough overview of the different accountability mechanisms which could be adopted . This part of the Report appears to be the primary purpose of the Report. However, as the Report itself recognises, the various potential avenues of accountability must by definition be shaped by the nature and extent of the alleged violations that were committed. It is here that the Report falls short in its assessment of the alleged violations which should be the subject of any accountability process.

74. This Review has thus focused on the Report’s analysis, or rather its lack of rigorous analysis, of the underlying alleged violations by the parties to the conflict. The Report claims that the Government of Sri Lanka has failed to pursue effective accountability measures, but this is to put the ‘cart before the horse’ as any assessment of the Government’s post-conflict inquiries and initiatives depends entirely on the what the available evidence shows about the nature and extent of any transgressions.

75. It is thus imperative that the proper precursor to any evaluation of the Government’s accountability measures is a good faith and impartial examination of the available evidence of what actually occurred in the final stages of the war taking into account the developing and often complex legal standards applicable to armed attacks in times of armed conflict under international law.

76. There are at least four key issues that must -be addressed on the available evidence, properly sourced and verified, in order that any appropriate accountability measures can be devised:

• The nature and extent of the LTTE’s use of the population in the Vanni as part of their military campaign in the final phases of the war;

• The specific circumstances of the particular alleged attacks in the Vanni, analysed in light of the applicable legal requirements under international law including of distinction, necessity and proportionality to cover and compare both the actions of the Government and the LTTE (who the Report acknowledges were firing from and within the NFZs);

• The manner in which persons were treated after the conflict in order to ensure that hostilities were at an end and to guarantee the human rights of those on both sides under national and international law; and,

• The accurate numbers of deaths during the final period of the conflict (to the best extent possible), and the degree to which these were properly to be counted as civilian in all of the circumstances of the conflict. This figure must, of course, include the numbers killed by the LTTE as a result of their actions during and after the conflict.

77. The current work of the national authorities in Sri Lanka to investigate and prosecute any perpetrators, including prosecutions that have taken place, should also not be overlooked, based as they are on the available evidence.

Concluding remarks

78. A report of this kind, emanating from experts in the area, could have carried significant weight. The proper conclusion, on analysis, may be that this Report chaired by Mr Darusman missed a great opportunity and has failed to do what it should, and could, have done in the interests of all the citizens of Sri Lanka.

79. This Review has highlighted the shortcomings of the Panel’s work when measured against well-established legal standards for the assessment of evidence. The absence of identified and verified primary sources of evidence and information, susceptible to rigorous analysis, is a clear and substantial gap in, and weakness of, the Panel’s workings. It dilutes / undermines / invalidates the Panel’s conclusions and recommendations.

80. The Panel has, it is true, candidly indicated that further investigation would be required but the Panel has hampered – or perhaps rendered impossible – such an investigation by its Report’s own – but unexplained – failure to reveal any of its primary sources, to the extent they exist in any useable form.

81. The work of the Panel has in many ways fallen between two stools. On the first stool the Panel accepted that it was not capable of conducting a full investigation. Despite that, and on its second stool, the Panel went on to make certain inquiries and to gather some evidence from sources (mostly unidentified) in order to make pronouncements of responsibility, however subtly expressed.

82. In a long (241 page) document such inconsistency might go undetected. This is why the Government’s concern fora detailed analysis of the Panel’s work was justified. It is also justification for how the Panel’s work may now be exposed as having fallen between the two stools on which the Panel sought to stand.

83. Before starting its work the Panel should have sought a mandate to conduct a proper investigation in accordance with international legal standards, making plain that without such a mandate all it would be able to do was no more than to assemble allegations and counter allegations from all sides but without making any findings. It should have explained that without such a mandate it would inevitably be recommending further investigation in due course, investigation that would have to start from scratch, as is now the position. Instead, the Panel sought to reach conclusions and to make recommendations without showing any proper reservation about, or even understanding of, its willingly-accepted and very limited abilities.

84. Any future investigation – and any findings and recommendations by the UN or other bodies – will only be given any weight if it / they address this fundamental weakness and seek to contribute meaningfully to establishing an evidence-based, reliable record and only thereafter to identify appropriate accountability measures. 79

85. Accepting – without more – the present findings of the Panel as reliable and as having been established (even though the Panel has stated that they are not proved) would be to subjugate cool reason and intelligence to what may be seen as an outcome popular for those with limited understanding of the complex realities of the sort of armed conflict that was s undertaken by the Government of Sri Lanka. The authors of this Review repeat that they have formed no conclusions, one way or another, about any of the issues central to the Darusman Report. Through this Review they note the incompleteness of the Report that, unhappily, purports to be what it cannot be.

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC

Rodney Dixon QC

24 July 2014

London

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New Year Epitomize India’s Rebuilding of Asian Cultural Pathways

April 18th, 2018

By Kalinga Seneviratne

April 14^th marked the dawn of a New Year to most communities in South and Southeast Asia, especially those along the two great Gangas (rivers) of Asia, the Ganges and the Mekong. It is based not on any religious scriptures but on astrology and the harvesting cycle. So we could say it is pre-Buddhist in origin.

Last month I attended a two-day conference at Thammasat University in Bangkok that brought together Indian and Southeast Asian scholars to discuss re-building cultural links along the two great rivers that have in ancient times provided transport links to build rich civilizations influenced by Hindu and Buddhist philosophies. Thus the celebration of the New Year this week in the region epitomizes these cultural links. But, Sri Lanka, which has played an important role in taking Buddhism to the Mekong region was absent from the proceedings. When I raised this at one of the roundtable discussions many Indian Buddhist scholars agreed that Sri Lanka should be part of the process, but some of the other participants said it is an issue of geography because Mekong (nor Ganges) flow through Sri Lanka.

In welcoming the invited guests, Prof NitinantWisaweisuan, Dean of PridiBanomyong International College (PBIC) of Thammasat University, which hosted the conference, said this conference is a realization of the need to provide a cultural platform for more cooperation in the region”.

While China has been promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to rebuild the ancient Silk Routes” trading corridors pouring billions of dollars to build railway, ports and industrial parks across the Southeast Asian region focusing mainly on economic issues, India is slowly building cultural pathways through Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi’s Look East” policy spending modest funds in comparison in developing river and road links.

They are doing it through the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) grouping that includes India, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. MGC was formally established on 10^th November 2001 at a meeting in Vientiane, Laos, and has been somewhat slow in progressing. Nevertheless, India has been spending millions of dollars in developing so-called ‘East-West Corridor” and the ‘TransAsian Highway” which would link Delhi via Kolkata, Dhaka, Mandalay, Yangon, Chiang Mai, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

The cultural focus India is giving to this project has attracted the attention of tourism authorities in the region who see great potential in developing community based cultural tourism projects and they are also talking about developing Buddhist circuit tourism as a common thread that links most of the Ganga communities is Buddhism. Again Sri Lanka could be left out of this circuit.

Indian scholars taking part in the conference repeatedly emphasized that India’s ancient cultural links to the region were not of an invading resource grabbing nature like the European colonialism that came to the region later.

Pointing out that Indians have been travelling as far as China since at least 1^st century AD marrying princesses and establishing communities influenced by the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, keynote speaker, Prof Ram Madhav, General Secretary of the ruling BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) and Director, India Foundation said from Cambodia to Bali Indian influence was not seen as colonizing” and he added that though Indians saw the region as greater India or further India traders, monks and travellers did not come across ‘savages’ in the lands they encountered. They came across people living in similar civilized societies like them”.

Prof Madhav argued further that people in these regions saw the Indian infiltration as offering a framework from India which could be used to develop their own societies”.

There is no doubt that the Mekong basin was the bridge between India’s and China’s dominions and its economic activities flourished” noted DrSupruetThavornyutikarn of the India Studies Centre at Thammasat University. He argues that China’s BRI and India’sMGC have economic potentials for the betterment of respective peoples. But, he warned that both basins must overcome the invisible, but mutual obstacles”.

These obstacles DrSupruet explained were implanted – perhaps unintentionally – by Europeancolonizers who separated different nationalities, established diverse political and legal systems making closely linked neighbours estranged. This estrangement intensified when they need to gain their own independence. In trying to do so and repulsing colonizers, they started to fear their own neighbours too” he noted. To realize the potential for MGC cooperation, he argues that such colonial ghosts” have to be overcome.

Prof S.RBhat, Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research agrees that these strong cultural bonds have become weak in modern times because of centuries of European colonial rule. Thus, India has to take the initiative to strengthen and revitalize these relationships. River Ganga and River Mekong are the two arteries of Asia through which culture flows in different parts of Asia,” he argues. Ramayana and Mahabharata have been adopted by the societies of Ganga-Mekong valley as their own creations”.

He presented a paper where he looked at how Myanmar adopted both Hinduism and Buddhism without any confrontation with each complimenting the other. It has also led to a strong linguistic interface between Pali and the Myanmar language of today. Similar adaptations have taken place in Thailand where the Thai version of Ramayana is recognized as an excellent literary piece of Asia” and where all kings of Thailand have declared themselves as reincarnations of Rama” and loved to be called as Rama One, Rama Two, Rama Three, etc. And Cambodia, Prof Bhat noted is a centreof wonderful architectural specimen (that is) the best example of Indo-Cambodian Hindu-Buddhist Art”.

To overcome what DrSupruetdescribes as colonial ghosts”, the April 14^th New Year would be a good occasion for Asians to reinvent common cultural bonds. Even Sri Lanka could play a role in joining this process in building such cultural pathways in the region by introducing an Asian cultural festival to coincide with the April 14^th New Year that could be rotated around the region each year.

While the Chinese New Year is basically for the ethnic Chinese this New Year could encompass a wide range of Asians and their cultural expressions (not necessarily water flashing). A major component of this New Year across Asia is paying respect to our elders on the day. We could get rid of the western consumerist cultural imposition of Fathers Day and Mothers Day and instead celebrate both these together on this New Years day.

Prof Madhav argues that the Ganga-Mekong cultural flows (in ancient times) was interplay of cultures and history of India has shown how culture has helped to prosper others”. Perhaps we can learn from history in crafting an Asian Cultural Renaissance.

( Dr Kalinga Seneviratne was a speaker at the Mekong Ganga Conference where he presented a paper titled ‘Linking the Ganga with the Road and Belt”.)

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Bay of Pigs, Cuba: CIA’s unlearned lesson in regime change

April 18th, 2018

Courtesy RT

The looming end of the Castro era in Cuba coincides this week with the 57th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion – a failed attack by the CIA that greatly catalyzed the Castro approach to resisting American encroachment.

On Thursday, Raul Castro, the 86-year-old brother of the late Fidel, will step down as the president of Cuba. For the first time in almost 60 years, the island will not be led by a Castro, although the man who is widely assumed to take the post next, First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, has vowed to stay on the path of Fidel’s revolution.

Bay of Pigs, Cuba: CIA’s unlearned lesson in regime change

Two days prior to this, however, the island marks the day when, in 1961, Fidel and his forces beat back an assault which, it was then hoped in Washington, could unseat the leader and nip Cuba’s communist dream in the bud.

The Bay of Pigs invasion (or the invasion of Playa Giron, as it is known in Cuba) was a staple of American regime-change tactics. Orchestrated, prepared, planned, bankrolled, and combat-supported by the CIA, it was fronted by defectors from Castro’s Cuban revolution who had earlier fled to the US. Warplanes were painted in Cuban Air Force colors, ships were procured from a Cuban-owned company, and political asylum was granted to combatants – all for the sake of “plausible deniability.” It was hoped that a small force of returning exiles would sound a wake-up call for Cubans to rise up and topple Castro.

Deniable assault

Before thundering down in a three-day fiasco, the invasion spent a year in the making. It was approved by one US president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and set in motion by another, John F. Kennedy. It cost the US $13 million, killed almost 300 people, ended in a major foreign policy embarrassment for Washington and achieved the exact opposite of its goal: a Cuba more opposed to the US, and closer to the Soviet Union, than ever.

False flags are real – US has a long history of lying to start wars

The Bay of Pigs was to be a multi-pronged assault, with air raids, seaborne infantry, paratroopers, underwater demolition teams and tanks. The CIA gathered and trained some 1,400 recruits – Brigade 2506 – on an island off the coast of Florida. Pilots were trained at a specially-constructed airfield in Guatemala, where, a few years prior, the US had succeeded in a similar operation, codenamed PBSUCCESS, which began a line of American-backed dictators there.

It started off on April 15, 1961, with a series of air raids aimed at crippling Fidel Castro’s air power – an opening strike used numerous times since then, including in the most recent wars in Libya and Syria. This time, though, the B-26 light bombers received special treatment: they were painted the colors of the Cuban Air Force (FAR, for Fuerza Aérea Revolucionaria) and given other external refurbishment to appear as if defecting pilots were attacking the Cuban airfields. In one case the redecorations went a few steps farther: various items “typically found in Cuban military aircraft,” including a fake flight log, were placed in the cockpit. And, finally, parts of the warplane’s hull cover were removed, riddled with bullet holes and then put back on – so that it would seem the “defecting” pilot encountered return fire from the communist forces.

When presented to the international community as proof of no US involvement in the Bay, that disguise soon cracked. Cuba called a UN Security Council meeting on the same day as the raids took place, to which US ambassador Adlai Stevenson, unaware of the CIA plot, brought pictures of the “defector’s” redecorated plane. On the pictures, the plane’s metal nose was visible. FAR planes had plastic noses.

Dead in the water

From there, it only went downhill for US President Kennedy; in a bid to prevent more exposure of the American hand, he called off further bombing runs, which the CIA plan envisioned as crucial for the success of the entire operation. This allowed parts of the Cuban air force to survive and come back with a vengeance, bombing the Brigade as it landed in the Bay of Pigs.

Cuban armed forces and militias were also there, after Castro was tipped off by the early bombings and, possibly, double agents within the Brigade. The invasion quickly stumbled into a stalemate.

One American vessel, carrying troops and supplies, was hit by FAR rockets and beached. Another, with aviation fuel on board, exploded and sank. Cuban warplanes shot up landing craft as they tried to bring troops ashore.

Out of the four para-drops, one was botched, with paratroopers missing their mark and some heavy equipment sinking in a swamp. Others landed in the midst of militia forces, but with superior training and equipment managed to block off roads to the bay for two days.

Meanwhile, Cuban police were rounding up thousands of potential rebels, detaining them en masse in stadiums, theaters and military bases.

With most of their supplies lost and air cover prohibited by Kennedy’s order, the outnumbered Brigade ran out of ammo and was either killed, taken prisoner or surrendered. Total losses in the operation are estimated at 176 killed and over 500 wounded on the Cuban side, 118 killed and 360 wounded in the Brigade; on the American side, four air crew were killed, two bombers shot down and two ships lost.

What little vestiges of trust remained between the Castro government and Washington were wiped out. Cuba was pushed firmly into the arms of the Soviet Union, solidifying its role as a bastion of the much feared “global communism” at America’s doorstep. The stage was set for the scariest 13 days of the Cold War: the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Lessons to learn

In the US, bickering ensued. A swift (as far as these things go) audit followed in February 1962, in which CIA Inspector General Lyman Kirkpatrick picked apart the Bay of Pigs multi-million botch, listing reasons like bad planning, staffing and intelligence, poor treatment of Brigade members by their American supervisors, and failure to alert the President when chances of success started flagging.

That report was forcefully rebuffed by the invasion’s planner, CIA Deputy Director of Plans Richard Bissell, and buried under the ‘classified’ label for the next 35 years. The report was not discussed within the CIA or the Congress. It was deemed that, should it fall into “unfriendly hands” (i.e. shared with the public), it would undermine the CIA’s authority, which it would desperately need in the proxy insurgencies to come.

And come they did: from supporting coups all across Latin America, to supplying weapons to revolutionaries in Africa, to arming Islamic militants in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 80s, to orchestrating a coup attempt in Iraq in 1996… to backing anti-government rebels in Syria with weapons and training. In another 30 years, we might even learn how much the US is really involved there – provided the world survives the interim.

https://www.rt.com/usa/424416-cuba-bay-pigs-cia/

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වානිජ බෝගයක් ලෙස කංසා වගාව නීතිගත කළ යුතුයි.

April 18th, 2018

තුසිත බාලසූරිය ලේකම් ශ්‍රී ලංකා සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය

පොහොර සහනාධාරයකින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කෘෂි කර්මාන්තය නගා සිටුවිය නොහැකි නිසා කෘෂි ආර්ථිකය නගා සිටුවීමට වානිජමය වටිනාකමක් සහිත නව වානිජ බෝග ගොවීන් වෙත හදුන්වා දිය යුතුය. කංසා යනු එවැනි විශාල වානිජමය වටිනාකමක් සහිත ශාකයකි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වගා කෙරෙන සෙසු වානිජ බෝගවලට වඩා වැඩි ලාභයක් කංසා වගාවෙන් උපයා ගත හැකිය. මන්ද අඩු පිරිවැයකින් වැඩි අස්වැන්නක් ලබාදෙන කංසා ශාකය ඇසුරෙන් විවිධ නිෂ්පාදන කරති. එමනිසා වානිජ බෝගයක් ලෙස කංසා වගාව නීතිගත කිරීම ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය වේගවත් කරනු ඇත.

බෙහෙත් නිෂ්පාදයට කංසා විශාල වශයෙන් යොදා ගනී. බටහිර රටවල් මෙන්ම අසල්වැසි ඉන්දියාවද කංසා යොදාගෙන බෙහෙත් නිපදවා විශාල වශයෙන් මුදල් උපයති. කංසා වගා කොට බෙහෙත් නිෂ්පාදනයට අපනයනය කිරීමෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට විශාල විදෙස් විනිමයක් උපයා ගත හැකිය.

උසස් තත්වයේ රෙදිපිලි සහ ස්භාවික කඩදාසි නිෂ්පාදනයට කංසා යොදා ගැනෙන අතර කංසා වගාව නීති ගත කිරීමෙන් නව කර්මාන්ත ශාලා බිහිවීමට සහ නව රැකියා අවස්ථා ඇතිවීමට වැඩි ඉඩක් පවතී. එමෙන්ම කාංසා ශාකයෙන් නිපදවන ජෛව ඉන්ධන හා ජෛව ප්ලාස්ටික් පාරිසරික ගැටලු රැසකට විසදුමකි.

දැනට ක්‍රියාත්මක නීතියට අනුව කංසා වගාව අපරාධමය වරදකි. එම නීති සංශෝධනය කොට වානිජ බෝගයක් ලෙස කංසා වගාව නීතිගත කිරීමෙන් රජයට විශාල මුදලක් උපයා ගත හැකිය. ඊට නව නීති සම්පාදනය කොට වගා බලපත්‍ර‍ නිකුත් කරන ක්‍ර‍මයක් ස්ථාපිත කරන මෙන් අපි රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

තුසිත බාලසූරිය
ලේකම්
ශ්‍රී ලංකා සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය

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රස පොහොරට පොහොර දමන බත් බැලයෝ

April 18th, 2018

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

යහපාලන රජය පත් වූ අලුත ජනාධිපති තුමාගේ විශේෂිත සංකල්පයක් බවට පත් වූයේ වස විස නැති ගොවිතැනයි. වකුගඩු රෝගයෙන් පිළිකා සහ වෙනත් බෝ නොවන රෝග වලින් හෙම්බත්ව සිටි රජරට ජනතාව ඉන් මුදවා ගැනීමේ සද් චේතනාවෙන් ඇරඹි මේ වැඩ සටහන නිසා උග්‍ර පිළිකා කාරකයක් ලෙසට නම් දරා ඇති ග්ලයිෆොසොට් හෙවත් වානිජ වශයෙන් සර්පාර්ස් රවුන්ඩ් අප් වැනි නම් වලින් හඳුන්වන වල් නාශකය තහනම් කරන ලද්දේය. එයට අමතරව රසායනික පොහොර සහනාධාරය වෙනුවට ගොවියාට මුදල් ලබා දීමේ ක්‍රම වේදයක්ද ඇරඹිණ.දැන් වසර දෙකක පමණ කාලයක් එම ප්‍රතිපත්තියේ සිටි රජය හිටි හැටියේ වල් නාශක තහනම ඉවත් කරන්නටද නැවත රසායනික පොහොර සහනාධාරය ලබා දීමටද ලක ලෑස්ති වෙයි. මේ අරුම පුදුම ප්‍රතිපත්තිය කුමක්ද. වකුගඩු රෝගීන් සුවපත් කිරීමේ සද් චේතනාවක් සෑබෑවටම රජයට තිබුණාදැයි සැකයක් මතු වන්නේ මේ වෙස් පෙරළියෙනි.

යහපාලන රජය පත් වන්නට ප්‍රථම පෙර කී වල් නාශකයන් ගැන කරන ලද රසායනාගාර පරීක්ෂණ වලින් තහවුරු වූයේ මෙරටට ගෙන්වීමට තහනම් කරන ලද ආසනික් මේ වල් නාශකයන්ට කලවම් කර නිකුත් කරන බවයි. එසේම සහනාධාර පොහොර වශයෙන් නිකුත් කරන තොග වල තිබෙන අප ද්‍රව්‍යෙ මෙන්ම සයනයිඩ් වැනි උග්‍ර වස වර්ගද මේ පොහොර වලට මිශ්‍රව තිබී අතැයි සොයා ගන්නා ලදී.සැබවින්ම පොහොර සහනාධාරය වෙනුවට මුදල් දීමේ ක්‍රම වේදය ආරම්භ කිරීමට හෙතුවක් වූයේ මෙයයි. නමුත් මෙම තීරණය ගත් පසු කැඳවන ලද කාබනික ගොවීන් ගේ රැස්වීමකදී කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් වරයාට මෙන්ම අමාත්‍ය වරයාට මා විසින් කාරණා දෙකක් ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් පැහැදිලි කර දෙන ලදී. එකක් නම් දිවයින පුරා විසිරී සිටින පාරම්පරික වී වගා කරන ගොවීන් මෙන්ම කාබනික ගොවීන් වෙනුවෙන් ඔවුන් දිරිමත් කරලීමේ ප්‍රායෝගික වැඩ සටහනක් ආරම්භ කරන ලෙසයි.ඒ සඳහා දැනට සිටින කෘෂි නිළධාරීන් සහ බලධාරීන් හට පාරිසරික ගොවිතැන පිළිබඳ අවබෝධයක් ලබාදීම කළ යුතු විය. අනෙක් කාරණය නම් පොහොර සහනාධාරය වෙනුවට මුදල් ලබා දීමේ ක්‍රම වේදය ට එන්නේ නම් එම මුදල් ගොවියාට සෘජුවම ලබා නොදී ගොවි සංවිධාන වලට බැර කොට ක්‍රමානුකූලව පොහොර වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලෙසයි. නමුත් මේ වැඩ පිළිවෙල ආරම්භයේදීම ආණ්ඩුව අනා ගත්හ. ගොවියාගේ බැංකු ගිණුමට සෘජුවම මුදල් බැර කරනු ලැබිණ. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලය වූයේ ඒ කන්නයේදීම වගා ඉලක්ක කඩා වැටීමයි. ගොවියා තම අතට ලැබුණු මුදල් වෙනත් කරුණු වලට වියදම් කර සිටියහ. මේවා පිළිබඳ රජයේ ආයතන වල සම්බන්ධීකරණක්ද නොවූයෙන් මේ කඩා වැටීම බරපතල විය. එයින් පසු යලි වගා ඉලක්ක සඳහා යෑමට සෑහෙන වෙහෙසක් දැරීමට සිදු විය. නමුත් විශේෂයෙන්ම බස්නාහිර පළාතේ වගා ඉලක්ක මේ වනතුරු සපුරාලිය නොහැකි විය.

පොහොර යනු ආපෝ තේජෝ වායු පඨවි ආකාශ යන්නෙහි එකතුවකි. මෙම පංච සාරය ගොවියා විසින් කුඹුරට ලබා ගන්නේ දිරාපත් වන කොළ රොඩු ගොම සූර්ය ශක්තිය වැනි දේ වලිනි. අවසානයේ පඨවි ධාතුව පෝෂණය වෙයි.කලට කන්නෙට කතාවට ගොවිතැන් කිරීමෙන් සෝදා පාලුව අවම වී පසේ තිබෙන පොහොර රසය සෘජුවමඉතා ඉක්මනින් ගොයම් ගසට එකතු වේ.එසේම පසේ ජීවත්වන ක්ෂුද්‍ර ජීවීන් හට ආහර ලැබීමෙන් දිරිමත්ව පසේ වයනයද සාරවත් බවද වැඩි දියුණු කරනු ලබයි. මේ පාරම්පරික මූලධර්ම නොසලක හැරි නිළධාරීන් සහ ගොවීන් නිසා රසායනික පොහොරට වහල් වී පසත් ජලයත් දූෂණය කර තිබේ. පස සරු කරන ක්ෂුද්‍ර ජීවීන් ගහනය වඳ භාවයට පත් කර තිබේ. රසායනික පොහොර ලබා දීම පිටිපස තවත් මාෆියාවක් ක්‍රියාත්මකය. පොහොර සහනාධාරය ලබා දෙන්නේ පොහොර ගෙන්වන සමාගම්වලටයි. එවිට ඒ හරහා ඉහළ නිළධාරීන් ගේ දරුවන්ට ශිෂ්‍යත්ව රැකියා ලැබේ. දෙපාර්තමේන්තු වලට මේ පොහොර ලැබුණු කල්හි මේවා පැටවුම බෑම බෙදා හැරීම ආදී සියල්ල කරන්නේ නිළධාරි සමූහයක් විසිනි. ඔවුහු මේ ක්‍රියාවලියේදී අතිරේක ලාභයක් ලබා ගනිති. ඒවා ලැබෙන්නේ බැර වන්නේ ගොවි සංවිධාන වල ගිණුම් වලට නොව ඔවුන්ගේ සාක්කුවටයි. ඉතින් රසායනික පොහොර ලබා දීමේ ක්‍රායාවලිය දශක කීපයක් තිස්සේ මාෆියාවක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ. ඒවායින් ප්‍රතිලාභ ලැබූ කිසිවකු වස විස නැති ගොවිතැනට යන්නට අකමැතිය.දේශපාලකයන්ටද මේවායින් ලැබෙන්නේ ඉහළම කුට්ටි බව දන්නෝ දනිති. නවීන් දිසානායක ඇමතිවරයා ග්ලයිෆොසොට් තහනම ඉවත් කරන්නට වලිකන්නේ යම් සේද දුමින්ද දිසානායක ඇමති තුමා නැවත් පොහොර සහනාධාරය ලබා දෙන්නට වලිකන්නේ ඇයිද යන්න සරල ලෙසට තේරුම් ගත හැකි දෙයකි.

දැන් රසායනික පොහෙර සහනාධරය මෙම අප්‍රියෙල් මස සිට ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට රජය තීරණය කර තිබේ. රසායනික භාවිතාවට හුරු ව තිබෙන ගොවීහු මේ ප්‍රතිලාභය ලබති. නමුත් පාරම් පරික වී වර්ග වගා කරන වස විස නැති ගොවිතැන් ක්‍රියාවලිය නිසා රසායනික ගෙවිතැනෙන් ඈත්ව කටයුතු කරන ගොවීන් විශාල පිරිසක් අද වන විට රට පුර සිටින බව කිව යුතුය. මෙම් පොහොර සහනාධාර ක්‍රමයෙන් ඔවුන්ට වැඩක් නැත. පෙර කන්න වල ලැබුණු මුදල්ද ඉදිරියේ දී නොලැබේ. එවිට රටේ නිෂ්පාදන ක්‍රියවලිය පණ ගන්වන එමෙන්ම මහජනතාවගේ සෞඛ්‍ය මෙන්ම පසේ සෞඛ්‍යත් ආරක්ෂා කරන්ට වෙර දරන පිරිසට බලවත් අසාධාරණයක් ඇති වෙයි.ජාතික පොහොර ලේකම් කාර්යාලය විසින් මෙම දෙපිරිසට තම තමන්ට ආවේණික ලෙසට පොහොර සහනාධාරය ලබා දෙන්නට තීරණය කරන්නේ නම් සතුටු විය හැකිය. එනම් වස විස නැති ගොවිතැනෙහි නියැලි ගොවීන් සඳහා කොම්පෝස්ට් සහනාධර ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කිරීමයි. එහෙත් එවැනි තීරණයකට පැමිණි බවක් දැන ගනන්ට නැත. එයට හේතුව රජයේ චක්‍ර ලේඛන වලින් මහජනයාට දෙවිදියකට සැලකීමට නොහැකියාව බව නීලධාරීන් පවසයි. නමුත් දැනටමත් පාසල් ළමුන්ට නිළ ඇඳුම් සඳහා රෙදි ලබා දීමේදී මුස්ලිම් ළමුන්ට එක් ආකාරයකටත් සිංහල ළමයින්ට තවත් ආකාරයකටත් මුදල් ලබා දීම දැක්විය හැකිය. ගොරකා වුවත් දඩමස් කිරීමේ න්‍යායේ සිටින මේ බත් බැලයන් අවශ්‍ය තැනදී රජයේ චක්‍ර ලේඛන වෙනස් කරන ආකාරය එයන් පෙනේ.එසේ නම් වස විස නැති ගොවිතැනේ නියැලි සමස්ත ගොවි ජනතාවගේ සාධාරන ඉල්ලීම ඉටු කිරීමට රජය බැඳී සිටින බව ඉඳුරාම මේ අවස්ථාවේ දී මතක් කර දය යුතුය.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

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Mirage – The Great Tamil Novel Of Our Time

April 18th, 2018

By H.L.D Mahindapala

Part 1

When two distinguished authorities on the history of Jaffna — Bishop S. Jebanesan of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India, and Richard Fox Young who holds a Chair in the Princeton Theological Seminary, USA., – collaborated to translate the novel Mirage (Kanal in Tamil), depicting the plight of the despised Tamil outcasts (Dalits) of the North, it automatically raised the significance and the value of the novel to a level way above the rest of modern Tamil literature. In addition to recognising its literary merits, their selective act to translate this particular novel conveys the measure of respectability and socio-political meaning they attached to the narrative written by K. Daniel, a Turumbar, the lowest of low-castes in Jaffna. The Turumbars were the dhobies to the dhobies of Jaffna.

A low-caste writer achieving this recognition is a rare honour. This translation opens up an opportunity for the silenced voices of the Tamils oppressed by the Vellalas, to be heard in the wide world and the translator (Bishop Jebanesan) and the editor (Young) must be congratulated for undertaking this task. Theirs is valuable service because it throws light into the hidden horrors committed behind the ubiquitous cadjan curtains of the Jaffna Vellalas. Unlike other scholarly studies which tend to drift in the conceptual/theoretical levels, Daniel’s delineation of the existential experiences that were etched into his memory exposes Jaffna as the hell-hole of the Tamil outcasts. Reading this novel would certainly make you wonder how the world was taken for a ride by the Vellala propagandists who diverted attention from their historical role as victimisers of Tamils to be the victims of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority.

The two scholars who produced the translation describes the novel as historical fiction”. Daniel too confirms that the novel is based on incidents that occurred in his little village and adds in his preface : All of the characters who pass through it were people I saw with my own eyes. Some are still living (in the eighties). Each incident that occurs in the novel actually happened.” (p. xiv). Daniel states that only difference is that he had changed their names. For instance, he introduces a Christian priest to the village as the alternative to Hindu Saivite Vellala oppressor. But he changed his name from Fr. Gnana Prakasar, a towering figure of Jaffna in his time, to Cwami Nanamutar”. So there could not have been a more sensitive and truthful eye witness of the Hindu Saivite Vellala crimes against their own Tamil people than that of Daniel, who viewed the dialectics of his caste-dominated, hierarchical, dichotomised, oppressive society through Marxist lenses.

Mirage, which was written in the eighties, has been hailed by those acquainted with Tamil literature as a mini-classic. But its value was played down by the Vellala elite who defined and determined, at all times, the parameters, the contents and the icons of Jaffna Tamil culture. For instance, they hero-worship as a literary lion Arumuga Navalar, the caste fanatic who revised Saivite Hinduism to elevate the Vellalas to the apex of the caste hierarchy. At best, he unearthed the old Tamil texts from S. India and reproduced them which led to a revival of the past glories of Tamil literature in Tamil Nadu. His works did not lead to a lasting Tamil renaissance in Jaffna. But the outstanding creative writer of Jaffna, Daniel, who exposed the savagery of the Vellahla oppression is marginalised. His greatness is not only in breaking away from the artificiality of the rigid, formalised, conservative style of traditional Tamil that was in vogue and writing in the spoken idiom but also in daring to penetrate deep into the most oppressive and cruel culture of Jaffna society and exposing their hypocrisy and horrors which were hidden from the public eye.

It is in this context that the translation of Bishop S. Jebanesan, edited by Richard Fox Young, (2016) sweeps in as a breath of fresh air opening up the hidden culture of the Vellalas. It lifts the novel from its obscurity to the English-speaking readers in all communities. It also elevates the novel as a brilliant study of the divided society of Jaffna in the throes of changing in the early decades of 20th century when Jaffna was still trading in fanams. In very light brush strokes Daniel dramatizes the evil and dehumanising culture of the Vellalas who denied the outcast Tamils to walk this earth even with a modicum of dignity. Daniel exposes, in quiet and sober tones, the Vellala masters who warped Jaffna society with unrelenting Vellala violence down the ages. The underlying theme that comes out of every tragic episode highlights the misery of the Tamils struggling to escape the inhuman cruelty of the Vellala overlords. This is something the Vellalas hate to admit. They loathe being confronted by their brutalities that reduced their own people to subhumans.

From feudal and colonial periods to modern times Jaffna remained as an abominable gulag of Vellala violence. They dare not face their guilt. Their defence is to parade in the theatre of the world at large as the innocent victims of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. But Daniel, a Catholic turned Marxist, refuses to focus on the alleged acts of discrimination” by the Sinhalese which looms large in the politics of the Vellalas. His silence is a virtual rejection of the Vellala accusation. There isn’t a single reference to the politicised accusations of Sinhala oppression” or discrimination”, the common cry of Northern politics, His narrative is focused entirely on the internal caste factors that turned the hidden layers of Jaffna society into a perennial black hole from which there was no escape.

The theatre of all action in the Mirage is the little village of Pirikattayali where the Vellalas rule with an iron fist. It is a microcosm of the overarching Vellala fascism that reigned supreme right across the Jaffna peninsula during feudal and colonial periods until the late nineties. There are doubts as to whether Vellala casteism has been eradicated totally from Jaffna even today. There are no heroes and heroines in Mirage. There are only protagonists and antagonists playing out their respective roles, highlighting, every step of the way, the internal contradictions clashing at all levels. Both as a political force and as a Hindu ideology Vellahlaism reigned supreme riding rough shod over any rival caste/political force. They either absorbed the rival castes (e.g., Madapallis) into their fold or crushed the rivals under their jackboots.

A dark and ominous ambience hovers over the grim village of Pirikattayali ruled by the Vellahlas. Those below them survive as virtual slaves. They were kept alive, on minimum wages and provisions, to serve the agricultural, domestic, social, political, religious (nautch girls dancing in temples) and even sexual needs of the Vellahlas. Daniel’s village is in perpetual conflict with the ruthless ruling class/caste. There are only two dominant figures that play their dialectical roles : 1. the Vellala landlord, Tampapillaiyar, ordering, threatening, and enforcing his will with force, or bribing the authorities, to have his way in the village and 2. Cwami Nanamutar, the Catholic reformer, who steps into the village as a liberator”. The oppressed Nalavar and Palla converts expect the priest to bring salvation through the Church and take them to the promised land. In the end the Church too succumbs to the overwhelming forces of Vellalas and divides the Church pews into the Vellahla front rows and non-Vellala back rows. The villagers who suffered under Vellala servitude are told by the new messiahs that they are slaves of Jesus”. It as if they had exchanged worldly slavery to an ethereal slavery imposed by invisible fascist dictators sitting in the skies. Before long, the Church becomes the ally of the Vellalas in maintaining the oppressive status quo.The poverty, the misery, the oppression, the suffering and the hunger remains unabated. The Church goes along with the contractors who exploit the the low-castes on starvation wages. The Church becomes a part of the establishment. The mirage is in seeing the Church as the liberator.

The coming of the missionaries to Jaffna was also a period of confrontation. It was the first serious invasion of modernity challenging the feudal Hindu structure. It opened up a transitional phase which failed to deliver their expectations of escaping Vellala servitude. In any case, the Vellala Hindus, led by Arumuga Navalar, resisted the Christian invasions. They saw it as a threat to their supremacy with the early Christian missionaries backing the low-castes, mainly as a means of conversion. The conversions by the Christian beef-eaters” were limited mainly to the low-castes who saw them as their redeemers, socially, politically and spiritually. But in the end it was the Vellalas who won. The powerful Vellalas took on every new ideological, political, social, religious force that threatened to challenge their supremacy and crushed them. They remained throughout the feudal, colonial, and post-independent periods as an ineradicable force. In the last resort, when their Hindu theology was running out of steam to sustain their divine right to rule the low-castes, they turned Jaffna into an enclave of mono-ethnic extremism. Under Saivite theology the enemy of the Vellalas was the low-caste. When the ideological power of Saivism ran out the Sinhala-Buddhists became the bogeyman in the post-Donoughmore period. Their biggest selling point was to claim victimhood, accusing the Sinhala-Buddhists as the victimisers, while hiding under the carpet their unrelenting role, over the ages, as the most vicious victimisers of the Tamils.

Their success in propagating this myth is a remarkable feat in caste/class history. They turned Marxism on its head and proved that a decadent, oppressive class need not necessarily collapse under the revolutionary forces of the oppressed. The Vellalas proved, time and again, that they could manufacture a false consciousness” and survive successfully by donning the Emperor’s clothes of saviours / liberators. Daniel’s unique place as a Tamil intellectual was in his refusal to buy this anti-Sinhala-Buddhist line. A Catholic turned Marxist, he viewed the internal struggle convulsing Jaffna in caste/class terms. Not in racist terms.

The Vellala political elite, on the other hand, turned the tables and portrayed themselves – the most privileged community in Sri Lanka — as the victims of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. The cover-up of their crimes against their own people is one of the biggest propaganda coups. The reality, however, is that the Vellala cruelty to the low-caste Tamils has no parallel either in the Bible Belt of America against the Afro-Americans or the indigenous S. Africans confined to apartheid ghettoes. For instance, in segregated America the Afro-Americans could ride in the seats reserved for them in the back of the bus while the whites had the privilege of sitting in the front. But in Jaffna the low-castes were allotted only the buck” seat – i.e., the floor between the aisle seats of the bus. They could not sit at the same level in any place in the bus with that of the high-castes. That is how low the Vellalas placed their fellow-Tamils in Jaffna.

Part II

In his preface to the Tamil classic Mirage, the author, K Daniel wrote a revealing note in the opening line. He said: On the day which I finished writing this novel was the 9th May, 1983”. Mark you, within two months the whole of Sri Lanka was to explode with the worst communal riots between the Jaffna Tamils and the Sinhala-Buddhists – a momentous event which the Tamil political class had never ceased to exploit to their advantage as an indicator of Sinhala-Buddhist oppression and discrimination against the Tamils. But there isn’t a single word / reference in the novel to Sinhala oppression or discrimination against the Tamils in the novel. Why didn’t Daniel, the most sensitive Tamil novelist of Jaffna, ignore totally the Sinhala-Tamil communal tensions at a time when the North-South issue had reached its peak point? Why did he focus exclusively on the Tamils oppressing and exploiting the Tamils as a subhuman species? In May 1983 when Daniel was putting the last touches to his novel the whole of Sri Lanka was on the verge of going up in flames on the alleged issue of Sinhala oppression and discrimination. And yet the Marxist-oriented Jaffna Tamil intellectual ignores this issue as an irrelevancy and focuses exclusively on the suffering, the discrimination and the criminal oppression of the low-caste Tamils by the arrogant and the ruthless Vellalas who had, over the feudal and colonial centuries, relegated the low-castes as pariahs and excluded them even from their Saivite temples for fear or polluting their caste purity.

Why did the greatest novel that came from Jaffna ignore the external communal hysteria whipped up by the Vellala supremacists and focus exclusively on the internal caste oppression? Also, why was the Tamil separatist lobby and their intellectuals (example: Prof. S.J. Tambiah Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam and Dr Radhika Coomaraswamy – all of whom were champions of human/minority rights of sorts) obsessed with the communal issue which affected the elitist Vellalas and not their own people who were denied their basic human right to even walk the earth in daylight by the oppressive Vellala rulers? The denial of the basic human rights of the low-castes was never a part of the Sinhala-Buddhist state”, as characterised by the anti-Sinhala Tamil activists. So why did the Tamil lobby in academia and NGO divert attention from the internal crisis that was reaching a critical point for the ruling Vellala caste? Was it not because the internal crisis of casteism was threatening to overthrow the Vellala supremacists from their political pedestal – a privilege they held from feudal times? Didn’t they diverted the internal politics of Jaffna to the external bogeyman in the South to retain their grip in Jaffna?

In the 20th century the Vellalas had exhausted their legitimacy of ruling under Saivite casteism. The creeping invasions of modernity had eroded Arumuga Navalar’s Saivite casteism which had legitimised Vellala supremacy. Besides, the Vellala elite was transiting from a caste into a class at this stage. Since Navalar’s Saivism of feudal times was losing its ideological legitimacy the Vellalas were forced to switch their ideological dependence from casteism to communalism for survival.

To Daniel the reality was the suffering of the Tamils under Vellala fascism. Not the demonised communalism of the Sinhala-Buddhists. Communalism was an issue which originated under G. G. Ponnambalam in the thirties, under British rule. It was a time when the Vellala elite was competing for power with the Sinhalese in the south. Ponnambalam was demanding 50-50 – a disproportionate share of power for 11% of the population which was disguised as share for all minority communities. Daniel’s characters did not fall for this line. His characters wage a struggle against the Vellala oppressors, not Sinhala-Buddhists. As a low-caste victim of Vellala supremacists his novel was aimed at exposing Vellala horrors that reduced a segment of Tamils to outcasts who were deprived of their basic human rights and dignity. No community in Sri Lanka had suffered the indignities imposed on the Tamil outcasts by the Vellalas.

Prof. Bryan Pfaffenberger of the Syracuse University, USA, produced magisterial studies of the Jaffna caste system, in which he detailed the misery of low-castes. In Political Construction of Defensive Nationalism: The 1968 Temple Entry Crisis in Sri Lanka he wrote: In Jaffna in the 1940s and 1950s, for instance, minority Tamils were forbidden to enter or live near temples: to draw water from the wells of high-caste families; to enter laundries, barber shops, or taxis; to keep women in seclusion and protect them by enacting domestic rituals; to wear shoes; to sit in bus seats; to attend school; to cover the upper part of the body; to wear gold earrings; if male, to cut one’s hair; to use umbrellas; to own a bicycle or car; to cremate the dead; or to convert to Christianity or Buddhism.” Compare this to the hue and cry they raised to high heaven about the Sinhala Only Act of 1956 which would have affected, if at all, only the Vellala high-caste in government service. The champions of the Tamil masses, the Marxists, the Churchmen, the NGO-allied academics, and fashionable pro-Tamil (Vellala) pundits turned a blind eye to the insufferable indignities imposed by the Vellalas. This gave the Vellalas the opportunity to turn their guns on the Sinhala-Buddhists who had given to all layers of Tamils what the Tamil leadership of Jaffna refused to give their own people.

Daniel is one rare Tamil intellectual who did not swallow the racist rhetoric. Driven by his personal experiences he delved deep into the historical suffering of the Tamil masses which the other intellectuals refused to see. The refusal of our intellectuals to examine critically the Vellala politics that warped Jaffna society has strengthened and solidified their mistaken belief that the Tamils have been the victims of the majority. Daniel is the only Marxist who had the guts to unmask the Right-wing Tamils and the Left-wing Sinhala mytho-maniacs who diverted attention from Vellala evils to Sinhala-Buddhists. In siding with the Vellala masters of Jaffna the Left-wingers and the liberals served the most cruel ruling class ever to darken the pages of Sri Lankan history. They used the vocabulary, the theories and concepts available in human rights, Marxism, Leninism etc., to serve the Vellala caste/class, abandoning their moral responsibility to stand up for the y oppressed Tamil by the Tamils.

Daniel, however remained faithful to his Marxist tenets. He identified the Vellalas, the ruling caste/class, as the enemy of the Tamils. He steadfastly refuse to conform to the communal cries of the Vellala elite. Why? Perhaps, as a Turumbar, his memory of Vellala oppression ran deep in him. Can he be blamed? Consider the way in which the Jaffna Vellalas treated the slaves. Jaffna had the most number of slaves. The following statistics of the slaves were cited by Bishop Jebanesan from the Census of 1837 in his book The American Mission and Modern Education in Jaffna (Kumaran Book House, 2013) :

Western Province – Male: 393; Female 332
Southern Province — Male: 432; Female 342
Eastern Province — Male : 12 ; Female : Nil
Central Province – Male 687 ; Female 694.
Northern Province – Male: 12, 600; Female : 11,910 – (p. 157)

This figure of 25,000 slaves was quite disproportionate to the overall population of Jaffna. In the census of 1881 the population of Jaffna district was 261,902. (Cited in Distinctive Features of English in Jaffna– Sri Lanka , M. Saravanapava Iyer, p. 8., – Kumaran Book House). The Vellalas controlled and kept nearly 25,000 slaves in line by cracking the whip over their backs. They were slave-drivers who forced the Tamil slaves (atimal) to sit in buck seats” in buses, making sure that they will never rise to higher level. Daniel’s memory of these experiences of his ancestors would have been sharpened by his 1968 experiences at Maviddipuram Temple where (low-caste) protestors conducting a satyagraha were attacked by Vellalars using iron rods and sand-filled bottles…” – (p. 296, Mirage, Afterword (2), Richard Young.) Amidst all this, who can forget Prof. C. Suntheralingam, a caste fanatic, walking up and down the inner courts of Maviddipuram Temple threatening to bash with his walking stick any low-caste pariah who dared to step inside the outermost court of the Temple!

The Vellala obscenities portrayed in Mirage make a mockery of the Vellala claim to be the victims of the Sinhalese majority. The horrors of the Vellala crimes against their own exploited people condemns the Vellalas as a brutal caste/class that showed no mercy to the non-Vellala Tamils of Jaffna. Worst was when the Vellalas, quoting Hindu religious texts, assumed the divine right to oppress and exploit their fellow-Tamils as slaves. Their contempt for their own people was displayed when they categorised a segment of their own people as pariahs who were kept out of high-caste Vellala society. Some of them were forbidden to walk even in daylight. The Turumbars, for instance, were allowed to walk only in the night just in case they should pollute the purity of Vellala eyes. No other community suffered the humiliating indignities as the Tamil slaves of Jaffna society at the hands of their Vellala masters. And no one is better qualified to document the agonies of the oppressed Tamils than K. Daniel, a Turumbar.

(Publishers : Kumaran Book House, No. 39, 36th Lane, Wellawatta)

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‘EXPLOIATION OF THE CONSUMER’

April 18th, 2018

Sarath Wijesinghe former Chairman Consumer Affairs Authority and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel

Consumer and consumerism in exploitation process

Consumer is always exploited and at the receiving end every minute. This process aggravates during the festive seasons due to excessive demand on consumer items and services. Consumer is cheated and misguided by bogus year end and, clearance sales to get rid of the unwanted stock and sale of consumer items and services to the consumer who is in a hurry in the midst of congestion in preparation for the festival. Consumer in Sri Lanka is a group not organised and has not realised their power if properly organized like in other parts of the world. In the United Kingdom consumer organizations and magazines let by consumer international and the magazine Which has taken the leadership on organization of the consumer and the education process of the consumer and educating the trader, assisted by the Department of Trade and Industry -the main regulator in addition to other regulators such as the Rail regulator , Ombudsman in most sectors such bank, insurance, trade and other government and private organizations such as Law society with legal aid Solicitors, Law centres, Citizens Advice Centres taking a pivot role in the balancing exercises of the trader and consumer in dispute resolution process. Technically every citizen is a consumer as any citizen is required to buy items or services in their day to day life in this fast changing society in which the mode and pattern of consumerism is changing according to the modern developments in business information technology and developments in digital and scientific developments, so mush so the theme of the world consumer day has changed accordingly as Building a Digital World ( 2017) and Making digital market places fairer (2018) indication of the transformation from traditional themes such as food, water, junk food etc. Whether world modernization has helped the ordinary citizen in Sri Lanka is a moot issue as the situation of the Sri Lankan Consumer is in the lowest ebb today as John Kennedy stated in 1983 that though the largest group in the economy affecting and affected by every private or public economic decision taken the consumer is the most vulnerable and unheard in the society today exploited by the trader, industrialist and the manufacturer.. Consumerism in other parts of the world is developed and organized to pressure the trader to be fair and reasonable, Sri Lankan consumer is helpless and exploited despite the presence/existence of the main regulator – Consumer Affairs Authority and other regulators such as Telecom Regulator, Bank, Commerce, Insurance Ombudsmen, Health Ministry, Bureau of Standards Institutions established under Weight and measures, Company house, public health establishments and local bodies, and many statutory bodies set up for the protection of the citizen all of whom are consumers. We eat contaminated food, polluted water, treated and perished vegetables and fruits, substandard and chemically treated provisions at high prices in the absence of a price control system abolished with the introduction of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act of 2003 which provides for prizing the maximum prize to an item which is essential to the life of the citizen by way of a gazette notification in place of prize control.. Recently over 2000 oranges and 1000 apples have been taken into custody by public health officers from payment hawkers. Which is a very rare incident of that nature as sale of substandard and contaminated food takes place all over with no check balance or restrictions.

Health is wealth

Health is wealth for a nation or an individual as wealth or material benefit will be of no use to a sick body full of ailments. Sri Lanka once a healthy nation enjoying long life, self-sufficiency in food and other needs in the village full of peace and stability is now invaded by drug addicts, sex maniacs, and a new generation indifferent to religion, culture, and good behaviour, based on traditional breeding of historical traditional and religious values adored and respected by the world. Deforestation, clearing of jungles and partitioning /destruction of lands, environmental disasters such as sand mining have accelerated the man-made self-destruction.Food pattern and food culture is transferred to fast foods freely and easily available in lical and foreign franchised food chains with imported meat beverages and other food items which are health hazards in Sri Lanka and the food origins where the laboratory made chemically treated chicken ready for consumption in few days is cooked in most unhealthy conditions/ingredients.

“Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

Future of a Nation depends on food and nutrition provided for the citizen especially children – the future generation. It is a known fact that most food items we eat are poisonous, downgraded, substandard and mostly not fit for human consummation – yet we are forced to consume it knowingly or unknowingly, which is applicable to dry as well as cooked and other consumer items, especially junk food available in fast-food-chains as well as small restaurants and other outlets. Fast food and cola chains in the west have invaded us targeting the school children and the young adopting various methods and strategies to attract – using sports, competition, gifts and fierce advertising campaigns among the rich multinational companies successfully minting money of the very citizens who consume them not realizing that they are subject to slow poisoning, that increases obesity and diabetics among the citizens. Sri Lankan adults being subject to diabetes and children subject to obesity due to wrong food habits. “Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

Ajinimoto

“Ajinomoto Kabushiki-Gaisha” (MSG) Monosodium Glutamate (a weed killer of Japanese origin) is used in most food chains including small restaurants and so called reputed food outlets in preparation of food which is hazardous and harmful to the human body. Due to excessive use of chemicals, powerful fertilizers and pesticides, the soil and the ground water is contaminated, as poisonous materials flow downstream spreading pollution. Excessive use of poisonous fertilizer on vegetation renders it unsafe for consumption, as these vegetables and fruits, are treated with highly toxic and powerful chemicals to help preserve them over longer periods of time. Banana is treated with carbide a practice which originated in “Amibilipitiya” before being transported to Colombo for distribution countrywide. Many food, drinks, consumer items and prepared/junk food are fully or completely adulterated and unfit for human consumption and goes on unchecked by the Consumer Affairs Authority – the main regulator which is the powerful and ultimate authority. When listed, it would run into thousands including the freely imported cheap items from the west as well as India and China. Our country has become the dumping ground of many developed and developing countries, when many other countries take drastic health and preventive security measures for the protection of their citizens from dumping and waste. Careful look at any artificially treated vegetable or fruits can be distinguished with the unusual dry appearance of the product with no fresh appearance. Imported fruits are worse. An imported apple will be fresh even in the hottest weather in Sri Lanka for months with the application or injunctions of chemicals to the fruit. It is unfortunate that we import fruits from Australia, Switzerland and Europe when we have plenty of tasty and nourishing fruits here in abundance. Even fresh “Gotukola” found in the market is subject to this menace due to over consumption/application of unregulated poisonous and pesticides and fertilizer used with no control or checks and balances. It is the responsibility of the CAA the main regulator and other regulators to use the powers given under the act No. 9 of 2003 with regulations spending millions for the maintenance of the staff and the machinery countrywide Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

“Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

diabetics among the citizens. Sri Lankan adults being subject to diabetes and children subject to obesity due to wrong food habits. “Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

Weed killer as a food item used countrywide

“Ajinomoto Kabushiki-Gaisha” (MSG) Monosodium Glutamate (a weed killer of Japanese origin) is used in most food chains including small restaurants and so called reputed food outlets in preparation of food which is hazardous and harmful to the human body. Due to excessive use of chemicals, powerful fertilizers and pesticides, the soil and the ground water is contaminated, as poisonous materials flow downstream spreading pollution. Excessive use of poisonous fertilizer on vegetation renders it unsafe for consumption, as these vegetables and fruits, are treated with highly toxic and powerful chemicals to help preserve them over longer periods of time. Banana is treated with carbide a practice which originated in “Amibilipitiya” before being transported to Colombo for distribution countrywide. Many food, drinks, consumer items and prepared/junk food are fully or completely adulterated and unfit for human consumption and goes on unchecked by the Consumer Affairs Authority – the main regulator which is the powerful and ultimate authority. When listed, it would run into thousands including the freely imported cheap items from the west as well as India and China. Our country has become the dumping ground of many developed and developing countries, when many other countries take drastic health and preventive security measures for the protection of their citizens from dumping and waste. Careful look at any artificially treated vegetable or fruits can be distinguished with the unusual dry appearance of the product with no fresh appearance. Imported fruits are worse. An imported apple will be fresh even in the hottest weather in Sri Lanka for months with the application or injunctions of chemicals to the fruit. It is unfortunate that we import fruits from Australia, Switzerland and Europe when we have plenty of tasty and nourishing fruits here in abundance. Even fresh “Gotukola” found in the market is subject to this menace due to over consumption/application of unregulated poisonous and pesticides and fertilizer used with no control or checks and balances. It is the responsibility of the CAA the main regulator and other regulators to use the powers given under the act No. 9 of 2003 with regulations spending millions for the maintenance of the staff and the machinery countrywide”Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

“Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

pollution. Excessive use of poisonous fertilizer on vegetation renders it unsafe for consumption, as these vegetables and fruits, are treated with highly toxic and powerful chemicals to help preserve them over longer periods of time. Banana is treated with carbide a practice which originated in “Amibilipitiya” before being transported to Colombo for distribution countrywide. Many food, drinks, consumer items and prepared/junk food are fully or completely adulterated and unfit for human consumption and goes on unchecked by the Consumer Affairs Authority – the main regulator which is the powerful and ultimate authority. When listed, it would run into thousands including the freely imported cheap items from the west as well as India and China. Our country has become the dumping ground of many developed and developing countries, when many other countries take drastic health and preventive security measures for the protection of their citizens from dumping and waste. Careful look at any artificially treated vegetable or fruits can be distinguished with the unusual dry appearance of the product with no fresh appearance. Imported fruits are worse. An imported apple will be fresh even in the hottest weather in Sri Lanka for months with the application or injunctions of chemicals to the fruit. It is unfortunate that we import fruits from Australia, Switzerland and Europe when we have plenty of tasty and nourishing fruits here in abundance. Even fresh “Gotukola” found in the market is subject to this menace due to over consumption/application of unregulated poisonous and pesticides and fertilizer used with no control or checks and balances. It is the responsibility of the CAA the main regulator and other regulators to use the powers given under the act No. 9 of 2003 with regulations spending millions for the maintenance of the staff and the machinery countrywide unused in the right direction.

Contaminated water and drinks, and junk food in abundance

There is no guarantee that water we consume provided by State, in bottled form, and well water is safe to drink with no poisonous and foreign bodies. Consumer Affairs Authority, Bureau of Standards, Health Department or Local Authorities and Public Health Officers have no plans or mandate to implement the existing legislature on food water and consumer items. Water bottles cannot be relied upon although the consumer blindly consumes it in the market with no health or purification protective tests or guidelines followed.

Situation in Sri Lanka has worsened due to frequent and severe droughts and floods mainly due to manmade disasters such as sand mining deforestation and similar environment disasters due to the inefficiency of the Ministry of Environment. We are fortunate to be with abundance of water with a network of rivers and water resources but unfortunately not managed properly, wasting 40% of tap water due to bad planning, when Israel, with no water 70 years ago is now self-sufficient in water by desalinating water from the sea and selling the excess to neighbours.

Our traditional system of price control was completely overhauled by the introduction of the free economy and subsequently introduction of the present consumer Authority Act No. 9 of 2003 which has replaced the consumer protection act fair trading commission and control of prices such implemented policies of the government of closed and planned economy today the only piece of legislation in this area is the CAA which the consumer is protected mainly by regulatory powers in part two of the Act which has power of indirect price control or certain items only by enforcing S/18 of the Act. CAA is a mixture of USA Australian Canadian ad Traditional UK Sri Lanka systems with lot of hopes but unsuccessful as it lacks teeth for implementation. California CAA regulates 2.3 million professionals successfully, EU regulates EU countries including UK. This gives food for thought for us. It states that the policy of the government is to provide better protection to the consumers through regulations of trade and prices of goods as services and to protect trader and manufacturer against unfair and restrictive trade practices but CAA is helpless before multinational companies stand against regulatory powers decisions consumer organisations

Sri Lanka has become the “Narcotic and Drug Hub of Asia” with shiploads of Hashish imported with sugar regularly and what happens to the stocks taken into custody is not known. We are a nation with highest consumption of liquor which is freely available officially and unofficially as a part of the food habit. We have become a sick nation due to wrong food and consumption habits with no control or supervision of regulatory and statutory bodies. Alcohol addiction is high with 40% with Rs 143 billion spent on smoking and liquor consumption as a result. 40% school children are addicted to smoking and junk food. Today the drug addiction amongst school children is high resulting in rape, disappearances and other disasters to innocent children despite many authorities, ministries, ministers and organizations to protect them. Tony Blair then Prime Minister increased the quality of food to students by 100% and in some Boroughs in England famous Junk food chains are prohibited to function in the vicinity of schools. Water and liquid drinks provided are of high standards

Legal Basis and Solutions to protect the Consumer

Consumer protection law or Consumer Law is considering as area that regulates private law relationships between individual consumers and business that sell these goods and services within law the notions of consumer is primarily used in relation to consumer protection laws and definition of consumers this offer restricted to living persons or business and excludes commercial users. Consumer protection is a form of government regulations which protects the interest of consumer. Consumer under CAA act is defined as actual or potential user of any goods or services made available for consideration by any trader or manufacturer.

This gives a broader meaning to include all citizens as consumers as even a person who intends to purchase of a consumer item or services is considered consumer by definition. Government may require business to disclose detailed information about products particularly in areas where safety or public health is an issue such as food. Consumer protection linked to consumer rights and consumer organizations.

Citizen should be organized as in other parts of the world as a pressure group and a guiding force as specified and required by the CAA. The consumer should be guided and educated on eating/ buying habits with training/guidance when to buy, where to buy and what to buy and how to buy, as an alert consumer armed with knowledge organizations power and skills to direct and work together with other groups in this system to promote friendly relations with the parties concerned and maintain the trade practices and standards of consumerism. Legal cover to protect the consumer is available in the forms of legislature, regulations, and the network of state officers performing their civic duties as required, including the main regulator Consumer Affairs Authority, Other Regulatory bodies such as the Public Utilities Commission, Telephone Regulatory Commission, Ministry of Health, Local Authorities and the offices attached including Public Health Officers.

Way forward

Our ultimate goal should to protect the consumer to provide with quality consumer items and services of required standard while maintaining the goodwill and equilibrium with the other players namely the State, Industrialist, Trader and the Consumer. We need and alert educated and organized consumer and a “Just Trader” as trader can be just while trading an honest profession when the State acts as fair and impartial Umpire. CAA which is inactive and inert should make use the powers given and a qualified leader should be appointed devoid of politics appointed by the Constitutional Council and not a political appointee of the Minister.

{The writer Sarath Wijesinghe is a (Solicitor/Attorney-at-Law, former Chairman Consumer Affairs Authority and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel) and takes full responsibility for the contents and could be contacted on sarath 7@hotmail.co.uk}

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The search for truth in the rubble of Douma – and one doctor’s doubts over the chemical attack

April 18th, 2018

Robert Fisk Douma, Syria Courtesy independent

Exclusive: Robert Fisk visits the Syria clinic at the centre of a global crisis

This is the story of a town called Douma, a ravaged, stinking place of smashed apartment blocks – and of an underground clinic whose images of suffering allowed three of the Western world’s most powerful nations to bomb Syria last week. There’s even a friendly doctor in a green coat who, when I track him down in the very same clinic, cheerfully tells me that the gas” videotape which horrified the world – despite all the doubters – is perfectly genuine.

War stories, however, have a habit of growing darker. For the same 58-year old senior Syrian doctor then adds something profoundly uncomfortable: the patients, he says, were overcome not by gas but by oxygen starvation in the rubbish-filled tunnels and basements in which they lived, on a night of wind and heavy shelling that stirred up a dust storm.

As Dr Assim Rahaibani announces this extraordinary conclusion, it is worth observing that he is by his own admission not an eyewitness himself and, as he speaks good English, he refers twice to the jihadi gunmen of Jaish el-Islam [the Army of Islam] in Douma as terrorists” – the regime’s word for their enemies, and a term used by many people across Syria. Am I hearing this right? Which version of events are we to believe?

France, meanwhile, has said it has proof” chemical weapons were used, and US media have quoted sources saying urine and blood tests showed this too. The WHO has said its partners on the ground treated 500 patients exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals”.

At the same time, inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are currently blocked from coming here to the site of the alleged gas attack themselves, ostensibly because they lacked the correct UN permits.

Before we go any further, readers should be aware that this is not the only story in Douma. There are the many people I talked to amid the ruins of the town who said they had never believed in” gas stories – which were usually put about, they claimed, by the armed Islamist groups. These particular jihadis survived under a blizzard of shellfire by living in other’s people’s homes and in vast, wide tunnels with underground roads carved through the living rock by prisoners with pick-axes on three levels beneath the town. I walked through three of them yesterday, vast corridors of living rock which still contained Russian – yes, Russian – rockets and burned-out cars.

So the story of Douma is thus not just a story of gas – or no gas, as the case may be. It’s about thousands of people who did not opt for evacuation from Douma on buses that left last week, alongside the gunmen with whom they had to live like troglodytes for months in order to survive. I walked across this town quite freely yesterday without soldier, policeman or minder to haunt my footsteps, just two Syrian friends, a camera and a notebook. I sometimes had to clamber across 20-foot-high ramparts, up and down almost sheer walls of earth. Happy to see foreigners among them, happier still that the siege is finally over, they are mostly smiling; those whose faces you can see, of course, because a surprising number of Douma’s women wear full-length black hijab.

I first drove into Douma as part of an escorted convoy of journalists. But once a boring general had announced outside a wrecked council house I have no information” – that most helpful rubbish-dump of Arab officialdom – I just walked away. Several other reporters, mostly Syrian, did the same. Even a group of Russian journalists – all in military attire – drifted off.

It was a short walk to Dr Rahaibani. From the door of his subterranean clinic – Point 200”, it is called, in the weird geology of this partly-underground city – is a corridor leading downhill where he showed me his lowly hospital and the few beds where a small girl was crying as nurses treated a cut above her eye.

I was with my family in the basement of my home three hundred metres from here on the night but all the doctors know what happened. There was a lot of shelling [by government forces] and aircraft were always over Douma at night – but on this night, there was wind and huge dust clouds began to come into the basements and cellars where people lived. People began to arrive here suffering from hypoxia, oxygen loss. Then someone at the door, a White Helmet”, shouted Gas!”, and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other. Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia – not gas poisoning.”

Oddly, after chatting to more than 20 people, I couldn’t find one who showed the slightest interest in Douma’s role in bringing about the Western air attacks. Two actually told me they didn’t know about the connection.

But it was a strange world I walked into. Two men, Hussam and Nazir Abu Aishe, said they were unaware how many people had been killed in Douma, although the latter admitted he had a cousin executed by Jaish el-Islam [the Army of Islam] for allegedly being close to the regime”. They shrugged when I asked about the 43 people said to have died in the infamous Douma attack.

The White Helmets – the medical first responders already legendary in the West but with some interesting corners to their own story – played a familiar role during the battles. They are partly funded by the Foreign Office and most of the local offices were staffed by Douma men. I found their wrecked offices not far from Dr Rahaibani’s clinic. A gas mask had been left outside a food container with one eye-piece pierced and a pile of dirty military camouflage uniforms lay inside one room. Planted, I asked myself? I doubt it. The place was heaped with capsules, broken medical equipment and files, bedding and mattresses.

Of course we must hear their side of the story, but it will not happen here: a woman told us that every member of the White Helmets in Douma abandoned their main headquarters and chose to take the government-organised and Russian-protected buses to the rebel province of Idlib with the armed groups when the final truce was agreed.

There were food stalls open and a patrol of Russian military policemen – a now optional extra for every Syrian ceasefire – and no-one had even bothered to storm into the forbidding Islamist prison near Martyr’s Square where victims were supposedly beheaded in the basements. The town’s complement of Syrian interior ministry civilian police – who eerily wear military clothes – are watched over by the Russians who may or may not be watched by the civilians. Again, my earnest questions about gas were met with what seemed genuine perplexity.

How could it be that Douma refugees who had reached camps in Turkey were already describing a gas attack which no-one in Douma today seemed to recall? It did occur to me, once I was walking for more than a mile through these wretched prisoner-groined tunnels, that the citizens of Douma lived so isolated from each other for so long that news” in our sense of the word simply had no meaning to them. Syria doesn’t cut it as Jeffersonian democracy – as I cynically like to tell my Arab colleagues – and it is indeed a ruthless dictatorship, but that couldn’t cow these people, happy to see foreigners among them, from reacting with a few words of truth. So what were they telling me?

They talked about the Islamists under whom they had lived. They talked about how the armed groups had stolen civilian homes to avoid the Syrian government and Russian bombing. The Jaish el-Islam had burned their offices before they left, but the massive buildings inside the security zones they created had almost all been sandwiched to the ground by air strikes. A Syrian colonel I came across behind one of these buildings asked if I wanted to see how deep the tunnels were. I stopped after well over a mile when he cryptically observed that this tunnel might reach as far as Britain”. Ah yes, Ms May, I remembered, whose air strikes had been so intimately connected to this place of tunnels and dust. And gas?

Full Story

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-gas-douma-robert-fisk-ghouta-damascus-a8307726.html

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Western media cover tracks of Trump, May and Macron’s war crime in Syria

April 18th, 2018

Finian Cunningham Courtesy RT

Published time: 17 Apr, 2018 15:51Edited time: 18 Apr, 2018 08:03

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With astounding double-think, the US and Britain accuse Russia of “tampering” with the alleged chemical-weapon attack site in Syria’s Douma – just days after the US, UK and France barraged the county with over 100 missiles.

If anyone is guilty of tampering with the alleged crime scene, it is the NATO trio who rushed to bomb Syria just as inspectors belonging to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Syria – invited there by the Syrian and Russian governments.

The frenzied Western media campaign to find Syria and Russia guilty of a war crime involving alleged chemical weapons is further highlighted by the reporting this week by award-winning British journalist Robert Fisk.

Western media cover tracks of Trump, May and Macron's war crime in Syria

Fisk, who has been covering Middle East war zones for nearly 40 years, went to Douma city to file his report for The Independent. Credit goes to The Independent for publishing Fisk’s investigative work.

‘Oxygen starvation, not gas’: Veteran UK reporter Fisk doubts MSM narrative on Douma ‘chem attack’

In the aftermath of the weekend’s airstrikes, what he found from interviewing local people and medics is arresting, if not shocking. From Fisk’s witness-gathering report, there was no gas attack carried out on April 7 – in stark contradiction to what the US, British and French governments have been declaring in hysterical tones for the past two weeks.

Those declarations culminated in the US-led bombing of Syria at the weekend. What’s more, the US, British and French leaders are reserving the right to carry out further strikes on Syria – if “the regime repeats its chemical-weapons attacks on civilians.”

What Robert Fisk reports from inside Douma corroborates what the Syrian government and its Russian ally have been saying consistently since the alleged incident on April 7. The incident, they say, was staged by the so-called “first responder” group known as the White Helmets, who work hand-in-glove with notorious terrorist outfits like Jaysh al-Islam and Al-Nusra Front. The White Helmets are also on the pay roll of the American CIA, as well as British and French intelligence agencies.

Similar to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s earlier claim, Fisk reports that on April 7, a panic scene was engendered in Douma’s hospital by White Helmets activists who shouted that “chemical weapons” were being deployed. These activists began dousing people with water hoses and conveniently had video cameras on hand to capture the chaotic scenes acted out by unwitting civilians. A doctor in the hospital confirmed this to Fisk.

As for the supposed dozens of dead that Western governments and media blamed on “animal Assad” and Russian complicity, there is no evidence of the alleged victims. Video footage of dead people in a war zone is hardly proof.

This means that US President Trump and his British and French counterparts, Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron, just launched a criminal aggression on Syria in grave violation of international law and the country’s sovereignty. This is exactly what many independent observers were decrying at the time of the missile barrage, warning that the presumed evidence for a chemical attack was far from substantiated.

False flags are real – US has a long history of lying to start wars

Indeed, the suspicion is that Trump, May and Macron knew that their evidential ground for attacking Syria was impossibly thin, and that is why they rushed to bomb the country. It was a decision hastened by the arrival of the OPCW inspectors heading to Douma. The inspectors are due to start their investigative work on Wednesday – delayed apparently by security concerns.

In all probability, the Douma incident was a propaganda stunt orchestrated by Western-backed anti-government militants and their White Helmets media agents, precisely in order to provoke an external military attack on Syria by the US, Britain and France.

Several things stand out about Robert Fisk’s latest reporting. This is exactly the kind of critical journalism that other Western media outlets should have been engaged in following the alleged chemical weapon attack on April 7. Credit goes to Fisk and The Independent. But it is a shameful case of “too little, too late.”

Also, it is notable how Fisk’s reportage is being roundly ignored – at least so far – by other mainstream Western media outlets. That’s an impressive feat of self-censorship at a crucial time when the US, British and French governments should be open to accusations of committing a war crime on Syria over their latest blitzkrieg.

This is especially so, given their warnings of more to come, over “further” chemical-weapons use. The urgent concern is that these governments are giving themselves a license to act on more false flags. They should be held rigorously to account for their claims.

This disregard for international law is made possible because of the appalling willingness of Western mainstream media to regurgitate self-serving claims made by terrorist-affiliated groups in Syria and their propaganda outlets.

American, British and French mainstream media have given saturated coverage to the White Helmets and the Syrian American Medical Society, and the dodgy one-man-band operation in Coventry known as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. CNN, the BBC and France 24 cite these groups as if they are “authoritative” and impartial, when in fact they are all part of the regime-change campaign in Syria sponsored by the US and its British and French allies.

It is telling, too, how Robert Fisk is being assailed as a “Syrian, Russian stooge” on social media. The one Western mainstream journalist who has had the integrity to delve into Syria’s Douma to uncover a very different critical perspective – one that disproves the claims peddled by the US, British and French leaders and other mainstream media – is being vilified for principled journalism.

Western corporate media are a grotesque mockery of public information and critical, independent accounting of government power.

The Russians are coming for you through your phone, computer and internet… or so the MSM says

Apart from Robert Fisk, the few other Western journalists to have ventured into Syria to report on what is really happening are independent, “alternative” sources like Eva Bartlett, Vanessa Beeley and Patrick Henningsen. They have exposed the “Oscar-winning” White Helmets group, which is actually complicit in staging atrocities against civilians living under a reign of terror imposed by their terrorist affiliates. It is understood the White Helmets activists behind the Douma provocation on April 7 have since fled the city along with the terrorist gangs under the cover of an evacuation deal with the liberating Syrian and Russian forces, who are now in control of most of the Eastern Ghouta suburbs near Damascus.

Western media journalists, if they were really committed to principles of accuracy and critical investigation, should be poring over the rubble in Douma, interviewing local people and finding out what really happened. But they are not.

That is why, one suspects, they are not there. That is why the US and Britain are now accusing Russia of “tampering” with the site in Douma – because there is no evidence of a chemical-weapons attack, as Robert Fisk reports.

That means the US, British and French governments just committed a brazen war crime.

This would also explain why Western mainstream media have now quickly moved their focus to allegations of “Russian cyberattacks” on American and British infrastructure. This is a classic case of “keeping ahead of the story.” Western governments and their dutiful media do not have a “story” – at least not the one they claim – in Syria, so the imperative is to change to another subject as quickly as possible.

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WATCH Syrian Boy in White Helmets FAKE Chemical Attack Video Reveals Truth

April 18th, 2018

Courtesy Sputnik

Earlier the White Helmets, a Western-backed NGO known for its ties with terrorist groups, released a video showing alleged victims of the false-flag chemical attack in Douma. The US and its allies used the video as a pre-text to conduct a missile strike on Syria.

The Russia 24 TV channel released an exclusive interview on April 18 with a boy, who participated in filming a fake video, as evidence of the false-flag chemical attack in Douma by the White Helmets. In the interview, Hassan Diab says that he and his mother heard loud voices on the street, urging everyone to rush to the hospitals. When Hassan entered the hospital, unknown people grabbed him, poured water on him and then put him with other patients.

“We were in the basement. Mom told me that today we don’t have anything to eat and that we will eat tomorrow. We heard a cry outside, calling “go to the hospital.” We ran to the hospital and as soon as I entered, they grabbed me and started pouring water on me,” Hassan Diab said.

His father continued the story. He was at his work when he heard that his son was in hospital. He rushed to the hospital and found his family there in good health. He added that he was on the street, smoking and didn’t feel any chemical weapon. According to him, it turned out militants gave all the participants food — dates, cookies and rice — and then released them.

“There were no chemical weapons. I smoked outside and felt nothing. I entered the hospital and saw my family. Militants gave them dates, cookies and rice for participating in this film and released everyone to their homes,” Hassan’s father said.

The TV channel also broadcast an interview with a doctor who was in the hospital when the White Helmets filmed their fake video. He said that no patients with signs of chemical weapons-related injuries arrived that day, but there were many people with respiratory problems due to smoke and dust from the recent bombing. All doctors were busy taking care of them and didn’t have time to react to the White Helmets’ film crew.

The White Helmets is a Syrian NGO, financed by several Western countries, which is associated with staging and filming false-flag chemical attacks. They have been seen several times working with terrorist groups in Syria.

On April 9 the group published another video suggesting that doctors in one of the Douma hospitals were treating patients that had suffered from the chemical attack and accused Damascus of the ordeal. However, the information that later surfaced, as well as witness testimonies, demonstrated that it was staged, performed by the White Helmets.

Immediately after the alleged attack, Moscow dispatched its chemical corps to determine whether there was an actual attack and if there were victims in need of treatment. The Russian crew didn’t find any traces of chemical weapons or any victims in the nearby hospital. Moscow and Damascus invited the OPCW to come to Douma and investigate the incident.

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Mission Accomplished? Certainly not in Syria

April 18th, 2018

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island

April 17, 2018, 12:00 pm

Donald Trump’s Twitter message announcing success of the missile attack on Syria by the US, the UK and France last Saturday (April 14) has revived memories of a similar message by former president George W Bush, at the height of the war against Iraq, which certainly haunted him in the later years of his presidency.

Trump tweeted: A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

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The US and other media question whether this phrase may come back to haunt him, too. It would appear that far from Syria, the mission accomplishments were in the US, the UK and France, where the missile attacks on Syria for “alleged” use of chemical weapons, had much to do with domestic political issues faced by President Trump, Prime Minister Theresa May and President Macron.

President Trump is in the midst of a huge political turmoil over emerging details of his alleged sexual involvement with Porn or Adult film star Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) , to whom his lawyer paid US$ 130,000 just before the Presidential Election of 2016, reportedly to keep her silent about her intimate relations with presidential candidate Trump.

The situation worsened when the lawyer Michael Cohen’s hotel room and offices were raided by the FBI on a judicial order, seizing documents and digital material, which may include recordings of discussions Cohen had with Donald Trump, said to have been Cohen’s practice.

This is in addition to the probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, said to be supportive of candidate Donald Trump. President Trump has recently made several statements about his right and interest in firing Mr. Mueller, which is largely opposed as a violation of democratic principles, and could lead to his impeachment.

Trump’s problems have worsened with former FBI Director James Comey, sacked by him early in the presidency due to suspicions of investigations about the alleged Russian involvement with the 2016 presidential poll, coming out with his book, A Higher Loyalty, where Trump is described as ‘unethical’ and ‘untethered to truth” and also recalls Trump’s alleged association with Russian prostitutes.

All of this shows Donald Trump has much more reason to carry out this missile attack, than any interest the nearly 80 Syrians, including children, killed and others affected by the “alleged” chemical attack by the Assad regime, which denies such attack and alleges it was carried out by anti-Syrian terrorist forces active in the Douma a region, where it took place, and is now reportedly cleared of enemy forces.

British problems

The ally of the US and Donald Trump – UK Prime Minister Theresa May – must know by now that only a quarter of Britons backed the US decision to carry out missile strikes to punish the Syrian regime for allegedly using chemical weapons.

The Independent reports that Theresa May told a press conference at Downing Street yesterday (Saturday): “While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, we are confident of its success.” But the new polling will be a blow for the Prime Minister, who threatened further strikes and prepared to justify the attack to MPs, whom she has so far denied a vote on the matter.

Asked to what extent people would back “UK forces conducting targeted air or missile strikes on Syrian government military targets”, just 28 per cent supported them, while 36 per cent opposed, 26 per cent neither opposed nor supported the strikes and 11 per cent did not know.

May would have had more interest in the missile attack on Syria, to move the public interest away from her increasing failures and difficulties over Brexit, far from being an ‘Easy Brexit’ she offered but a very ‘Hard Brexit’. She sees increased concerns about the continuance of peace in Northern Ireland, with the likelihood of a Custom’s checkpoint between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the threat of a breakdown of her alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) whose 10 seats in the Commons props up her minority government.

She clearly avoided seeking the opinion of the House of Commons on carrying out the missile attack on Syria, knowing her weakness in the Commons, and recalling how her predecessor, David Cameron’s proposal to carry out similar attacks on Syria in 2013, was rejected by the Commons. The Labour and Opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has stated Theresa May was wrong in carrying out the attack of Syria without the consent of the Commons.

May is also losing much of the impact gained by allegations against Russia for allegedly using nerve agent Novichok, on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, at Salisbury in April this year, because neither the UK investigating agent on chemical weapons nor the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) who identified the nerve agent used as the Russian originated Novichok, have identified a Russia as the source of the agent in the Salisbury attacks.

In a situation where an alleged nerve agent chemical attack by Russia remains is part of the political debate in the UK, Theresa May, with her limited control in the Commons, certainly has much cause to support Trump in carrying out this missile attack on Syria, while claiming it is not for ‘regime change’.

It is certainly a good political mission accomplishment for Theresa May.

France

As France 24 reports, critics have swiftly accused France and Britain of playing loyal deputies to an unpredictable American leader, viewed by many in Europe with suspicion or outright scorn. Some worried it could further antagonize Europe’s unpredictable neighbour Russia at an already tense time.

French President Emmanuel Macron is accused of compromising the independence of a country that famously stayed out of former US President George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. It is expected that the missile attack on Syria will be the topic of strong debate at the French National Assembly this week.

What is of special interest is that President Macron is facing the worst labour unrest of his presidency so far, with strikes that halted two-thirds of French trains on Saturday and weeks more of walkouts to come, in a strike campaign planned to go on till June this year. His popularity rates are far below when he was elected last year, as the youngest President of France.

Macron has drawn criticism from the far-left to the far-right. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen tweeted the strikes expose France to “unpredictable and potentially dramatic consequences,” criticizing Macron for not taking an “independent” stance.

Florian Philippot, President of the new political party Les Patriotes, said: “President Macron is reducing our country to the role of subordinate partner to the Americans… The French people must rise up against this belligerent action by President Macron, who is becoming more and more to Donald Trump what Tony Blair was to George W. Bush.”

Far left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon also denounced France’s participation on the missile attack, calling it an “irresponsible escalation” without European or French parliament support.

Macron would certainly have liked the missile attacks on Syria, on his claimed concern against chemical attacks, to be a means of drawing public attention away from the political problems he is facing, especially the huge strikes, and growing lack of support for his political party.

As France 24 states, in nine days, Macron goes to Washington for the first state visit under Trump’s presidency and the French leader can’t be seen as Trump’s lapdog. He also needs to distance himself from comparisons to the 2003 Iraq invasion, which was motivated by suspicions that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that never materialized.

What Mission Accomplished?

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Sunday 15th that “Donald Trump’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ tweet about Syria may come back to haunt him … just like George W. Bush’s premature declaration”.

“Mission Accomplished” were the words on the banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln when President George W Bush spoke in 2003, stating that ‘major combat operations in Iraq have ended”. They certainly had not. The vast majority of the combat deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom occurred after Bush made that speech. Millions of Iraqis were also killed, injured and driven out of their country after this Mission Accomplishment. In fact ‘Mission Accomplished’ is now very much a code word for missions not particularly accomplished, despite politician’s claims to the contrary, stated the SCMP. It is also necessary to look at the claim of the western powers who refer to the ban on chemical weapons after the large tragedies of World War I. It is certainly a good thought, especially after the deaths of so many from Chlorine and other chemical attacks, remembered in places such as Flanders to this day.

But, was it not the United States that carried out the two nuclear bomb attacks on civilian populations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, when it was known that Japan was about to call off its war? Is it satisfying to know that ‘Nuclear Bombing’ is not a chemical attack? Who carried out the Napalm attacks on the people and nature in Vietnam – leading to so much of death and suffering? The US isn’t it?

Was it not the West, particularly the UK and the US that supplied chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein, to carry out attacks killing thousands in the Iraq-Iraq War? Was that not after the ban of use of chemical weapons?

In that other huge military fraud, was it not the US and the UK that carried out attacks on Iraq, leading to the Iraqi War, killing millions, on a false claim that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction? Has anyone in the UK been punished on the findings of the Chilcot Report on that hugely fraudulent war and its massive and tragic destructions?

There is certainly the need to prevent the use of chemical weapons. Those who carried out the missile attacks on ‘chemical weapon locations’ in Syria last Saturday, could certainly have brought these matters, which they supposedly knew, to the United Nations and the OPCW, and prevented their use by anyone – the regime or others?

Also, why could not the anti-chemical weapon allies – the US, the UK and France, wait at least till the OPCW, which arrived in Syria last Friday, completed its investigation, and announced the truth about the use of chemical weapons, before deciding to launch their very “humane attacks”? There are so many Missions Unaccomplished in this crooked diplomacy and militarism of the West.

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900-year drought wiped out Indus Valley Civilisation: IIT-Kharagpur

April 18th, 2018

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent Courtesy The Island

April 17, 2018, 12:00 pm

NEW DELHI, April 16: The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) was wiped out 4,350 years ago by a 900-year-long drought, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp) have found.

Evidence gathered during their study also put to rest the widely accepted theory that the said drought lasted for only about 200 years. The stud will be published in the prestigious Quaternary International Journal by Elsevier this month.Researchers from the geology and geophysics department have been studying the monsoon’s variability for the past 5,000 years and have found that the rains played truant in the northwest Himalayas for 900 long years, drying up the source of water that fed the rivers along which the civilisation thrived. This eventually drove the otherwise hardy inhabitants towards the east and south, where rain conditions were better.

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The IIT-Kgp team mapped a 5,000-year monsoon variability in the Tso Moriri Lake in Leh-Ladakh — which too was fed by the same glacial source — and identified periods that had continuous spells of good monsoon as well as phases when it was weak or nil.

“The study revealed that from 2,350 BC (4,350 years ago) till 1,450 BC, the monsoon had a major weakening effect over the zone where the civilisation flourished. A drought-like situation developed, forcing residents to abandon their settlements in search of greener pastures,” said Anil Kumar Gupta, the lead researcher and a senior faculty of geology at the institute.

These displaced people gradually migrated towards the Ganga-Yamuna valley towards eastern and central UP; Bihar and Bengal in the east; Madhya Pradesh, south of Vindhyachal and south Gujarat in the south, Gupta added.

The IVC encompassed much of today’s Pakistan, western India, and northeastern Afghanistan; extending from Pakistani Balochistan in the west to Uttar Pradesh in the east, northeastern Afghanistan in the north and Maharashtra in the south. Shortugai to the north is on the Oxus River, the Afghan border with Tajikistan, and in the west Sutkagan Dor is close to the Iranian border. The Kulli culture of Balochistan, of which morethan 100 settlement sites are known, can be regarded as a local variant of the IVC, or a related culture.

The geography of the Indus Valley put the civilisations that arose there in a highly similar situation to those in Egypt and Peru, with rich agricultural lands being surrounded by highlands, desert, and ocean.

Recently, Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well. Other IVC colonies can be found in Afghanistan while smaller isolated colonies can be found as far away as Turkmenistan and in Maharashtra. The largest number of colonies are in the Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Gujarat belt Coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor in Western Baluchistan to Lothal in Gujarat.

An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, in the Gomal River valley in northwestern Pakistan, at Manda, Jammu on the Beas River near Jammu, India, and at Alamgirpur on the Hindon River, only 28 km from Delhi. Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on the ancient seacoast, for example, Balakot, and on islands, for example, Dholavira.

It flourished along a system of monsoon-fed perennial rivers in the basins of the Ghaggar-Hakra River in northwest India, and the Indus River flowing through the length of Pakistan. There is evidence of dry river beds overlapping with the Ghaggar River in India and Hakra channel in Pakistan.

A total of 616 sites have been discovered along the dried up river beds of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries, while 406 sites have been found along the Indus and its tributaries. According to Shereen Ratnagar, the Ghaggar-Hakra desert area has more remaining sites than the alluvium of the Indus Valley, since the Ghaggar-Hakra desert area has been left untouched by settlements and agriculture since the end of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

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THE “DARUSMAN REPORT” Part 3

April 17th, 2018

KAMALIKA PIERIS

This essay looks at four assessments of the Darusman Report, by Godfrey Gunatilleke, John Holmes, Geoffrey Nice, Rodney Dixon, and the Paranagama Commission.

Godfrey Gunatilleke wrote ‘An Analysis and Evaluation of the Report of the UN Secretary General’s (UNSG) Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka” for the Law and Society Review under the title ‘Truth and accountability: the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka.” (2011)

Godfrey Gunatilleke said the Darusman Report is worthless as an account of the final stages of the war. However it is extensively used by the pro Eelam groups and therefore counter action has to be taken. ‘He pointed out that the Panel showed bias. It ignored the ample information it had on LTTE’s activities in the No Fire Zone. It made no reference to the army’s rescue of civilians. The emotional tone in certain parts of the Report showed that the Panel was driven by a personal dislike and righteous indignation” against the Government.

The Panel has written a dramatic account of what they thought had actually happened, said Gunetilleke. The Report lacked a neutral objective tone. In many parts of its report the Panel has adopted a tone towards the Sri Lanka government which was unseemly for a Panel appointed by the UN Secretary General.

Gunetilleke observed that the Panel has treated the war in Sri Lanka like any other armed conflict. It has failed to make a distinction between a terrorist organization and the army of a democratic state. War on a terrorist organization is different from any other armed conflict. Further, the Panel has failed to discuss the critical issues arising out of the unique conditions of the Sri Lankan case. It has not examined the impact terrorism has on the existing laws relating to warfare, either.

In 2014 Gunatilleke and the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies issued ‘The third narrative ‘. This focused on Darusman Report’s allegation that the army deliberately killed Tamil civilians. They say that earlier when the fighting was in the eastern province there was no allegation of war crimes against the Sri Lanka Army though it was the same army.

The authors say that note must be taken of the unique context of this war. It was a war fought under extraordinary circumstances, where a large civilian population was forcibly held within the battle zone and deliberate positioned to gain military advantage. It was very difficult for the army to apply humanitarian principles fully.

The authors point out that Darusman Panel ignores the fact that it was the LTTE that initially committed the war crimes of using civilians as a human shield, locating their artillery in the midst of the civilian population, and firing into the advance positions of the SLA from within the NFZ. The LTTE’s actions were such that the SLA was left with limited military options.

The Darusman Report says that the government deliberately tried to starve the civilian population by restricting the supply of food. The authors said that when the population in Kilinochchi was forced by the LTTE to move with their cadres towards Mullaitivu in January 2009, the buffer stocks of food in Kilinochchi district was transported and handed over to GA Mullaitivu to be distributed to the civilians. The buffer stocks were adequate for a period of three months. In addition to this, evidence presented to the LLRC had also shown that there were buffer stocks adequate for a quarter of a year in Puthukudirippu as well in January 2009. Furthermore, there was the purchase of food grains from the locality by the government officials present and also the quantities that were shipped to the No Fire Zone by the ICRC.

Lastly, this book says there must be a comprehensive investigation into the crimes of the LTTE. The activities of the UN and international organizations’ involved in the war should also be scrutinized.

The Paranagama Commission (2014) observed that the Darusman Panel has made very serious allegations about the government of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka army, and these have influenced the thinking about the final phase of the war. Speeches in the British Parliament have been made on the assumption that what the Darusman report said about the government and army are correct and conclusive.

This Commission therefore sees as one of its duties the demonstration of errors in the Darusman Report and the presentation of an alternative narrative which, in this Commission’s view, reflects more accurately the true circumstances and associated responsibilities related to the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka.

In order to do so, the Commission obtained a technical report from Major General John Holmes and a legal report from Geoffrey Nice QC and Rodney Dixon QC and incorporated their findings into the Paranagama Report. The full text of these two reports are given in Pts 4 and 5 of this series. Extracts are provided below.

The Paranagama Commission requested an expert military report from Major General John Holmes. Holmes was Director UK Special Forces, 1999. He commanded the hostage rescue operation in Sierra Leone and was involved in planning operations in Kosovo. Holmes helped evolve the tactics and equipment that have subsequently been used world-wide in hostage rescue operations. His report to the Paranagama Commission is dated March 2015.

Here are some extracts from the Holmes report:.

Holmes firstly mentions the praiseworthy intention of the Sri Lanka army cadres to minimize Tamil civilian deaths. They probably received an order to do so, from the high command. That is why 290,000 Tamil civilians survived to be rescued by the Sri Lanka army. There are many well recorded instances of soldiers helping Tamil civilians to escape indicating that the policy was understood by all ranks. Gordon Weiss says on page 216 of his book ‘The Cage’ It remains a credit to many of the front-line Sri Lanka army soldiers that they so often seem to have made the effort to draw civilians out from the fighting in an attempt to save lives. The capture of approximately 12,000 cadres also illustrates this effort.

In my opinion it might also be argued that some of the deliberate operations completed by the Sri Lanka army had as an additional aim, the rescue of civilian hostages. In a US Embassy cable to the State Department on 20 April 2009, US Ambassador Blake reports a successful Sri Lanka army operation near and in Putumattalan that enabled 35,000 civilians to escape the combat zone with a further 1,500 escaping by sea, continued Holmes.

The Wanni operation was not of the `classic’ hostage rescue variety if only because of the number of hostages involved and the ebb and flow of battle. However, there were similarities; the SLA did not rush in, but instead took its time to plan and adapt its tactics to take account of the civilian presence. It was, in the view of the author, an entirely unique situation and the fact that 290,000 people escaped alive is in itself remarkable.

If I compare this approach to internal conflicts of which I have personal experience, such as in Sierra Leone, where widespread and systematic atrocity crimes took place, this supports my opinion that this was not an army that was seeking to indiscriminately exterminate their enemy or civilians. Of course, this does not exclude individual instances where war crimes may have occurred,” said Holmes.

However, overall and for the reasons considered above, on the available evidence it is my opinion, that the SLA’s operations in broad terms, were proportionate in the circumstances. Whilst the SLA was a relatively unsophisticated army, they had evolved into a battle and ultimately war winning machine that made up for its lack of sophistication by the application of three of the most important principles of war: selection and maintenance of the aim; offensive action and concentration of force. In my military opinion, faced with a determined enemy that were deploying the most ruthless of tactics and which involved endangering the Tamil civilian population, SLA had limited options with regard to the battle strategy they could deploy.

This would have posed a dilemma for the very best trained and equipped armies in the world. The SLA had either to continue taking casualties and allow the LTTE to continue preying upon its own civilians, or take the battle to the LTTE, albeit with an increase in civilian casualties.

The tactical options were stark, but in my military opinion, justifiable and proportionate given the unique situation SLA faced in the last phase. Therefore, on the evidence available to me, taking into account my own combat experience, I do not find, in broad terms that the military and artillery campaigns were conducted indiscriminately, but were proportionate to the military objectives sought.

In everything the author has had access to and reviewed there is no indication that SLA deliberately or disproportionally targeted the civilian population in the course of their operations. In fact, the available evidence suggests the reverse, he concluded.

Homes then spoke on technical matters. The Darusman report makes much of the analysis of artillery shell craters in the war area. The Darusman team had used the satellite imagery to conclude that SLA were guilty of the widespread shelling of a large IDP population” . It is not possible at this point in time, on the evidence available, to accurately state which side’s artillery and mortars caused identified shell craters and civilian casualties.

Most craters make a clearly defined pattern on the ground and differ according to the type of projectile fired and the type of fuze used, said Holmes . It is therefore necessary for such a team to show that a specific crater was caused by a shell from a particular type of weapon which was fired on a particular bearing.

The clinching argument as to where responsibility lies for the shelling is in the direction from which the shells were fired. This can only be retrospectively determined from analysis of the shell craters either on the ground as soon as possible after the event or from available imagery or, to a lesser extent, from credible witnesses at the receiving end. To suggest, as one report does, that because the barrels of SLA artillery tracked the declaration of the ‘NFZs’ is an indication that they fired into those NFZs is inaccurate and speculative,. It is normal artillery practice for guns to be laid in the direction of the threat, but that does not mean they actually fired.

Holmes notes that Paragraph 81 of the Darusman Report states that during the period 19 -20 January 2009 shells hit Vallipunam Hospital in NFZ 1. Imagery dated 21 January 2009 indicates that it was likely that the hospital had not received indirect fire on those dates”.

Paragraph 91 of the Darusman Report states that the hospital at Puthukkudiyiruppu was hit every day between 29 January and 4 February 2009 by Multi Barrelled Rocket Launchers (MBRLs) and other artillery taking at least nine direct hits. Imagery dated 5 February 2009 indicates that the hospital had suffered two possible areas of damage during the time frame, but not nine direct hits. Even one salvo from a MBRL would have devastated the entire area

Paragraph 94 of the Darusman Report states that on 6 February 2009 the Ponnambalam Hospital was shelled causing part of it to collapse and that it was shelled again on the 9 February 2009. Only imagery dated 5 February was available for this site and this shows the hospital to be in relatively good condition.

Three images relating to the Ponnambalam Hospital at page 189 of the Darusman Report are also possibly erroneous. Two of these images refer to specific buildings being destroyed between 21 January and 5 February 2009, yet on the available imagery dated 5 February 2009, both buildings are still standing. The third image again relates to a specific building being destroyed in the same time frame. The building is still standing in imagery dated 16 March 2009.

Paragraph 111 of the Darusman Report states that on 11 and 12 May 2009 the temporary hospital at Vellamullivaikkal was also hit by shells killing a number of people. Imagery dated 10 May 2009 revealed that the hospital had already received damage from probable indirect fire. However, imagery dated 24 May 2009 detected no additional damage.

Paragraph 120 of the Darusman Report states that on 16 May the LTTE destroyed a lot of its equipment in a large explosion in an area of NFZ 3. A change detection study using imagery dated 16 March and 24 May 2009 showed no evidence of large-scale destruction (craters or debris) was noted throughout the NFZ”.

It is unlikely that multi barreled rocket launchers were used , as Darusman Panel alleges, they cause such a high level of destruction that it would almost certainly be identified from imagery. The number of temporary shelters and their lay out that were still standing on 10 May is also significant. It refutes any suggestion of the deliberate targeting of civilians by SLA artillery or indiscriminate use of these weapons. They had the potential to devastate these areas in a very short space of time. My conclusion in this Report is that both sides fired into the so called ‘NFZs’, but only the government that is being held to account, said Holmes.

The Paranagama Commission requested a legal Review of the Darusman report by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC & Rodney Dixon QC. Here are a few selected observations from the report, but this section must not be treated as a substitute for reading the full text. I have given the full text at Pt 4 of this series.

Nice and Dixon thoroughly condemn the Darusman Report and say the government’s wish for a detailed analysis of the Panel’s work is justified. Reports like the Darusman one can be used to spread false ideas, which, when repeated over and over again become the accepted narrative. However, the real purpose of the report is to discuss accountability said Nice and Dixon. Its main task is considering appropriate accountability mechanisms. There is absolutely nothing about modalities , applicable international standards, or comparative experience given in their terms of reference.

Nice and Dixon firmly state that the Darusman Report is not acceptable in law. No international tribunal will accept it. It will be thrown out. ‘Analysis of the complex and intricate legal requirements for an unlawful attack under international humanitarian law and customary international law to the facts in each particular case is completely lacking in the Report.’

Darusman Panel had used ‘reasonable basis to believe’ as its standard of proof. Nice and Dixon point out that this is the lowest standard of proof accepted in a court of law. International Criminal Court uses it only to initiate an investigation. But even at that level sound evidence is required.

Before starting its work the Panel should have sought a mandate to conduct a proper investigation in accordance with international legal standards. Without such a mandate all it would be able to do was assemble allegations and counter allegations from all sides. The Panel however used this to its own advantage. The Panel adopted a ‘halfway house’ solution.

It did not conduct a full fact-finding investigation but consulted various individuals and organizations and examined information, avoiding the detailed inquiries that characterize a full investigation. Instead of saying that there are many disputed allegations which require further investigation, the Panel positively claims that the allegations are credible and reliable and must be seen as trustworthy allegations that should be accepted.

The Darusman Report is highly defective when it comes to evidence, especially when judged by established legal standards for the assessment of evidence. The reader is left in the dark as to which were the primary sources used in the Report. The full body of evidence that was taken into account is unknown,. The statements of those who were interviewed and consulted were not submitted with the Report. Some journalistic accounts are footnoted as sources.

There are very many instances in the Report in which strong allegations and statements are made with no sources to substantiate the findings. For example, the Report says the Government unlawfully shelled civilians in the first No-Fire Zone, but not a single source is given. (paragraphs 80-89) For the shelling of PTK hospital, some sources are provided ,but no evidence as to who was responsible. (paragraphs 90-96) Attack on Putumattalan hospital only a single source – an ICRC news release – is footnoted. This cannot be considered primary evidence.

the Panel attaches some examples of satellite imagery and diagrams of SLA artillery positions pointing at the NFZs. No expert report or evidence is provided with this material to explain its value and relevance. The diagrams do not show or confirm any artillery fire. International tribunals now do not consider “Impact Analysis” being critical in determining whether an attack was unlawful. The Darusman Report, however, focuses only on the impact of the shelling.

Nice and Dixon say that the Report simply does not grapple with the difficulties and intricacies of establishing whether any particular attack was justified militarily on all of the available evidence. It is well-established under international law that military objects may be targeted and that an attack which causes loss of civilian life may be justified if it is not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

They say that it is not clear on what basis the Panel makes conclusions about the responsibility of the Government for the civilian deaths that occurred, The assertion is simply made repeatedly in the Report that the Government forces indiscriminately killed civilians, No attempt is made in the Report to assess the extent of the LTTE’s targeting of the NFZs

Similarly, the allegations about there being a policy to target, torture, and execute LTTE and other persons after the conflict are made as statements of fact without a body of clearly identifiable primary evidence, including witness statements, to back them up. The Panel’s approach also assumes that the persons killed, whatever the number, were in fact civilians as opposed to persons who had taken up arms voluntarily or under compulsion on the side of the LTTE. ( continued)

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JO NEXT ACTION PLANS!- I1) NO CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST SAMBANDAN (2) DEMAND OPPOSITION LEADER’S ROLE FOR JO OR (3) DEMAND DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT

April 17th, 2018

BY M D P DISSANAYAKE

Unseating Sambandan: This ploy could backfire on JO itself. This will further alienate JO from the Tamil community. The TNA will use such a move to obtain the local and international attention in their favour, blowing out of proportion a rapid protest campaign justifying TNA’s long held view that Prez Mahinda Rajapakse is against Tamils and minorities. Such NCM will be defeated in the Parliament, with the support of UNP, SLFP, JVP, TNA, SLMC etc.
Grabbing Opposition Leader’s Role: Even if JO wins the NCM, there will be no guarantee that it will secure the OL’s role. Prez. Sirisena is a clever politician. Why did he allow exactly 16 MPs to vote in favour of previous NCM and leave the cabinet? Currently TNA also has 16 MPs, that is how it secured the OL’s role. Under the strict interpretation of the Constitution, TNA was the second largest party in the parliament as per results of the general election, as a consequence of UNP and SLFP forming unity government. JO did not contest the last election as a separate group, they were part of the UPFA, recognized by the Electoral Commission.

So, if JO wins NCM against Sambandan, the SLFP defected group of 16 will be equal with TNA. SLFP defected group still represent UPFA, not JO. Prez Sirisena will only need one more MP to join the defected group thus making it 17, to qualify as the second largest parliamentary group representing UPFA, bypassing TNA, thus it will meet the criteria to secure the role of Opposition Leader.

The number 16 was not an accident, but it had been meticulously worked out by Prez. Sirisena, to his advantage.

DEMAND DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT: This ought to be the ultimate goal of JO and SLPP. It is possible that the current parliament may not convene on 8 May at all, using the prorogation, the Prez has the power to dissolve the Parliament. In a very carefully crafted manner, Prez. Sirisena will try to discharge Susil Premajante, SB, Dayasiri and the clan into the SLPP, prior to nominations.

Mr Basil Rajapakse has worked extremely hard to construct a political base for SLPP, from bottom up. MR loyal Organisers are waiting to the contest the General Election and they should not be let down by accommodating discarded parachuters.

The country demand the return of Prez Mahinda Rajapakse, with his new team. Those who attacked and insulted MR in the past, should not have any place in the SLPP movement. The country demand not just the return of Prez Mahinda Rajapakse. It is demanding a team of uncorrupt, loyal, hardworking and educated team of new faces of men and women who commit to protect the People, Culture, Religion, Language and the Country at any cost.

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සෝවියට් වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව

April 17th, 2018

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

සෝවියට් දේශය එක් කාලයක් විද්‍යාව සහ තාක්‍ෂණය අතින් ලෝකයේ මුල් පෙලේ රටක් විය. මේ කාලයේදී සෝවියට් දේශය වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව ජයග්‍රහණ රැසක් ලබා ගත්තේය. උදාහරණයක් ලෙස අක්‍ෂි වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව සඳහා ෆියදෝරොෆ් සහ අස්ථි ශල්‍ය විද්‍යාව සඳහා එලිසාරොෆ් යන විශේෂඥයන් ලෝක පූජිත වූහ. මෙම ජයග්‍රාහී සමයේදී සෝවියට් වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාල ලෝක ශ්‍රේණි ගත කිරීමේදී ඉහල මට්ටමක තිබුනහ. ලෝකයේ නන් දෙසින් සිසුන් වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යා අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීම සඳහා සෝවියට් දේශයට ආවෝය.

සෝවියට් අස්ථි ශල්‍ය විද්‍යාව පිලිබඳ මා දන්නා එක් සිදුවීමක් තිබේ. 1980 දශකයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද හමුදාවේ නිලධාරියෙකු වූ සනත් ගුණවර්ධන මෝටර් සයිකල් අණතුරකට භාජනය විය. මෙම අණතුර හේතු කොට ගෙන ඔහුගේ පාදයකට බරපතල තුවාල සිදු වී තිබුනේය. ඔහුව පරික්‍ෂා කල වෛද්‍යවරු සනත් ගුණවර්ධන ගේ පාදය කපා දමා ඔහුගේ ජීවිතය බේරා ගත යුතු බව නිර්දේශ කලහ. සනත් ගුණවර්ධනව ශල්‍යාගාරයට යවනු ලැබීය. නිර්වින්දනය දීමට ප්‍රථම තමාගේ පාදය කපා නොදමන ලෙසටත් තමාගේ සොහොයුරිය අධ්‍යාපනය ලබන සෝවියට් දේශයට තමන්ව යවන ලෙසට ඔහු ඉල්ලීමක් කලේය. මේ අනුව වෛද්‍යවරු පාදය ඉවත් කිරීමේ ශල්‍යකර්මය සිදු නොකොට ඔහුව වහ වහා මොස්කව් වෙත යවන ලදි.

මොස්කව් හිදී සනත්ට ප්‍රතිකාර කරන ලද්දේ අස්ථි ශල්‍ය විද්‍යාව සඳහා සුප්‍රකට එලිසාරොෆ් විශේෂඥයා සේවය කල රෝහලේදීය. මෙම රෝහලෙන් ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා ගැනීමෙන් පසුව සනත් ගුණවර්ධන ගේ පාදය සුව විය. 1993 වසරේදී මට යුද හමුදා නිලධාරී සනත් ගුණවර්ධනව කටුනායක ගුවන් තොටුපලේදී හමු විය. සෝවියට් අස්ථි ශල්‍ය විද්‍යාව විසින් සුවපත් කල සනත් කිසිදු වාරුවකින් තොරව දෙපයින් ගමන් කරන අයුරු මම නිරීක්‍ෂණය කලෙමි. වර්තමානයේදී සනත් ගුණවර්ධන විශ්‍රාමික හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකි. මෙවැනි විජයග්‍රාහී සත්‍ය කථාන්තර රැසක් සෝවියට් වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව ඇසුරු කොට තිබේ.

ඉතා ඉහල තත්වයක් තිබූ සෝවියට් වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව සෝවියට් දේශයේ බිඳ වැටීමත් සමග පරිහානියට පත් විය. මේ කාලයේදී පරියේෂණ සඳහා ප්‍රතිපාදන කපා දමා තිබුනේය. බොහෝ දක්‍ෂ වෛද්‍ය විශේෂඥයන් ඇමරිකාව සහ ඊශ්‍රායලය යන රටවලට ගියහ. මේ නිසා ඉතා කීර්තිමත් යුගයක් සනිටුහන් කල වෛද්‍ය ආයතන කඩා වැටුණහ. මෙය ඉතා කණගාටුදායක තත්වයක් විය. ආර්ථික අර්බුද හමුවේ ඉතා වටිනා වෛද්‍ය උපකරණ නිසි නඩත්තුවට ලක් නොවීය. මේ නිසා එකී උපකරණ විනාශවී යන ලදි. මෙලෙස මිනිස් ප්‍රජාවට සෙත සැලසූ දැණුම පද්දතියක් අභාවයට පත් විය.

කෙසේ නමුත් ජනාධිපති පූටීන් යටතේ පැරණි සෝවියට් වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව නව මුහුණුවරකින් – රුසියානු සන්නාමයකින් ඉදිරියට එයි. ජනාධිපති පූටීන් විසින් යලිත් වරක් ප්‍රතිපාදන ලබා දී පැරණී දැණුම කීර්තිය යලි ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා උත්සහයක නියැලෙයි. මේ නිසා නුදුරු අනාගතයේදී රුසියානු වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව යළිත් හිස ඔසවනු ඇත.

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දේවමත කරෙන් බෙල්ලෙන් එල්ලාගෙන පල්ලි කෝවිල් තනන දේශ පාලකයන් කරගන්නා පවු!

April 17th, 2018

පාලිත ආරියරත්න

දේවමත කරෙන් බෙල්ලෙන් එල්ලාගෙන පල්ලි කෝවිල් තනන දේශ පාලකයන් කරගන්නා පවු!

අද සිංහල බෞද්ධයා මරණින්දේය. හතු පිපෙන්නා සේ සැම තැනම පල්ලි කෝවිල් ඉදිවෙමින් පවතී. දේශපාලකයෝ විශාල පිරිසක් තම සිංහල බෞද්ධකම පසෙකලා අඩුම තරමින් වර්ෂයකට එක හරෙකු හෝ උරෙකු තම දෙවියන් උදේසා ඝාතනය වන ආගමික සත්ව ඝාතනාගාර රාජ්‍ය මට්ටමින් ඉදිකිරමින් යයි. (යම්කසි ආගමික තැනක සතුන් මැරීම සිදු කරයි නම් අප සිංහල බෞද්ධ දැක්ම වන්නේ එය ආගමික සත්ව ඝාතනා ගාරයක් බවයි). පුදුමයට කාරනයනම් පළමුවෙන් තෙරුවන් නැමද පන්සල් ගොස් බණ අසා දෙවනුව මහා පල්ලි විවෘත කොට, අමුතු මාදිලියේ ඉතිහාස කතා ඇතුළත් කර, අප මවු රට විවධ කොන වලින් ඩෑහෑ ගැනීමට මාන බලන ලංකාව තුළම ජන්මය ලත් නමුත් තම සහෝදර මහජාතිය (මහා ජාතිය සුළු ජාතියට සහෝදරයෙක් වුයේ තම ඉඩම් කඩම් බව බෝග නිකරුණේ ලබාදී තම භාර්යා සම්පතද සරණ පවා දීමට කිසිම මිල මුදලක් අපේක්ෂා නොකළ නිසයි) කීප විටක්ම ඉතිහාසයේදී හා මෑත භාගයේදී අසරණ කෙරු විජාතින් ඉහළින් ඔසවා තබා කතා කිරීමයි.

සිංහල බෞද්ධ වන අප ඉතා කණගාටුවෙන් පවසන්නේ හෙළ බෞද්ධ කරුණාව යටතේ සිටින තිරිසන් ආත්ම ඇති නමුත් මිනිසුන් අතින් නිකරුණේ මැරුම් නොකන, පෙර පවට තිරිසන් වී ඉපදුණත් යම්කිසි යහපත් කර්ම බලවේගයක බලයෙන් අප බොදු ලක්බිම ඉපදුන යම්තාක් දුරකට පින් ඇති අහිංසක නිරී සතුන් මරාකන මර්මස්ථාන ඉදිකරීමට සිංහල බෞද්ධ යැයි කියාගන්නා දේශ පාලකයන් ඉදිරිපත් වීම අපේ ජාතියටද අහිංසක තිරිසනා ටද ගැසූ හෙණයක් බවයි.

ඔවු මේ වර්ෂ 2018 නමුත් අකාලික වූ බුදුබණ අමතක කරමින් සිංහල අපි කරන පවු අලුත් ලෝක (මෝඩර්න් වොර්ල්ඩ් අයි) ඇසෙන් වසා ගත හැකිද?. නැතිනම් අපි පල්ලි කෝවිල් ඉදිකළ පලියට අපිට‍ පන්සල් සදා දීමට විජාතින් විසින්ඉදිරිපත් වෙයිද? අරාබියේ ඇති පුණ්ණසිවානු භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේගේ පන්සල (මක්කම) වැදීමට හෝ එය ළගින් අඩුම තරමින් කුඩා බුදු පිළිමයක්වත් තැන්පත් කිරීමට අවසරයක් ලැබේවිද?. රජතුමා අවසර දුන්නත් ආගමික පුජකයන් එසේ කිරීමට ඉඩ දෙයිද? වතිකානුවේ භුමියේ පන්සලක් සාදා ගැනීමට ඉඩම් කැබැල්ලක් (අඩුම තරමින් මතු නිවන් දැකිමටවත්) ලබා දෙයිද?. නැත… දේව වාදීන් සැමදා තම දේවියගේ මතයට ගරුකරයි. ලොවුතුරා බුදුන් අදහන අප මෙය පාඩමකට ගත යුතුය.

සිංහලයන් තම පෞර්ෂත්වය හා තම ජාතික අභිමානය හදා වඩා ගැනීමට කාලය පැමිණ ඇත. (නොදැන හෝ පස් පවු නොකිරීමට) දේශ පාලකයන්ට තම කොන්ද පණ නැතිවෙන විට විවිධ නැටුම් කළ හැක. නමුත් සිංහල අප මේවා රාජ්‍ය මට්ටමින් හෝ, පන්සල් මට්ටමින් හෝ, ගම් මට්ටමින් හෝ පුද්ගලික මටමින් හෝ අනුමත නොකළ යුතු කටයුතුය. ඒ ඇයි කිවහොත් අප අනාගත දු දරුවන්ගේ නිදහස් නිවහල් උරුමයන් විනාශ කිරීමත් ඔවුන්ව සියුම්ව අපාගත කිරීමට විවිධ ක්‍රම වේදයන් ප්‍රසිද්ධ යැයි කියාගන්නා සිංහල බුද්ධිමතුන් ලවාම ප්‍රසිද්ධ කිරීමයි. උරෙකු, එළුවෙකු, බැටළුවෙකු, හරකෙකු, තම අවසාන ගමන් මග එනම් මරණය ලගා කරගන්නේ පල්ලිය හෝ කෝවිල තුළ දෙවියෙක් වෙනුවෙන්නම් එය මිනිසා විසින් තම බඩ වියත රැකගැනීමට කරනා නින්දිත ක්‍රියාවක් බව අප වටහා ගත යුතුය . එය සසර තියෙන තුරු පලදෙන අකුසල කර්මයකි.

යම්කිසි කෙනෙකු රජෙක් විය හැක, නමුත් රජා උන පලියට තම රටේ තිබෙන විවිධ ආගමික මත නිසා විවිධ පල්ලි සදා තමනුත් නොදැනුවත්වම පවු ගොඩ ගසා ගැනීම අනවශ්‍යය. බුද්ධිමත්ව ක්‍රියා කොට යාග හෝම වලට සහභාගි නොවී පවු කරන මිනිසාද අවසනයේ හැකිනම් පවු කරන දෙවියාද පාපයෙන් ගලවා ගැනීමට ක්‍රියා කිරීම සිංහල රජෙකුගේ අපේක්ෂාව විය යුතුය. එය බුද්ධිමත් රජෙකුගේ ක්‍රියා කලාපයයි.

සියුම්ව දේශපාලනය ඔස්සේ පැලපදියම් වන ආගමික දේවස්ථාන දෙස ඇස් කන් යොමු කර බලා සිටිමු !

‘බුද්ධ ධර්මයට අනුව මිනිසාට මෙන්ම සත්වයන්ටත් බුද්ධිමත් භාවයක් ඇත. මිනිසා සහා සත්වයන් අතර හුවමාරු කරගත හැකි පාඩම් බොහෝය. මිනිසාට මෙන්ම ඊළග භවයේදී හෝ සත්වයන්ටද නිවන් දැකීමට අවස්ථාවක් තිබේ. එබැවින් සත්වයන් හා අප අතර විශ්වාසය, ගෞරවය, ආදරය පැතිර යායුතුය. සතෙකු මරා දැමීමට මිනිසෙකු ඉදිරපත් වීම නොවටිනා කාරණයකි. ‘

පාලිත ආරියරත්න

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දුමින්ද-අමරවීර මහ ලේකම්වරු නොවේ.. ඔවුන් ‘මහ කේලාම්’වරුයි.. ඔවුන් කරන්නේ අගමැතිට කේලාම් කීමයි..- නල්ලතන්නියේ සිට ඩිලාන් මහගිරි දඹ නැගීම අරඹයි..

April 17th, 2018

lanka C news

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂයේ හා එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ සිටින්නේ මහ ලේකම්වරු දෙදෙනෙකු නොව මහ ‘කේලම්වරු’ දෙදෙනෙක් යයි ශ‍්‍රීලනිප මාධ්‍ය ප‍්‍රකාශක හිටපු ඇමති ඩිලාන් පෙරේරා මහතා පවසයි.

මහ කේලම්වරුන් කරමින් සිටින්නේ අගමැති රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහට ගතු කීම බවද ඔහු සදහන් කරයි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී මහින්දානන්ද අලුත්ගමගේ මහතාට අධිකරණය විසින් ඇප ලබා දීමේ අවස්ථාවට එක්වෙමින් අධිකරණය ඉදිරිපිටදී ඔහු මාධ්‍ය වෙත මෙම අදහස් පල කලේය.

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ගජමිතුරු කල්ලියේ අමුතු අවවැඩ රෙදි ගලවා පෙන්වයි.. 16 කණ්ඩායමේ ප‍්‍රබලතම හෙලිදරවුව චන්දිමගෙන්..[Video]

April 17th, 2018

lanka C news

ආණ්ඩුවේ ගජමිතුරු කල්ලිය විසින් සිදු කරන අමුතු අතපෙවීම් සම්බන්දයෙන් හිටපු ඇමති පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී චන්දිම වීරක්කොඩි මහතා සදහන් කරයි.

සිරස රූපවාහිනියේ පැතිකඩ වැඩසටහනට එක්වෙමින් මෙම අදහස් හිටපු ඇමතිවරයා පල කලේය.

ඇමතිවරයෙක් ලෙස රාජකාරි කරද්දී ගජමිතුරු කල්ලියෙන් දැඩි බාධා එල්ල වූ බවත් ඔහු එහිදී සදහන් කලේය.

කැබිනට් මන්ඩලයෙන් ඉවත් වූ හිටපු ඇමතිවරයෙකු විසින් සිදු කරන ලද ප‍්‍රබලතම හෙලිදරවුවක් ලෙස මෙම සාකච්චාව සැලකිය හැකිය.

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Rickety yahapalana bus chugs along… Will Sirisena drive towards anarchy or safety?

April 17th, 2018

By Arjuna Ranawana Courtesy Ceylon Today

A popular expression in North America is Who is driving the bus?”, it means who is in charge? Most of us travel by bus and they are the bane of our lives. The private buses competing with each other for passengers, stopping everywhere to pick up people, but refusing to stop for them to get off are universally hated, but it is something we have to put up with. Buses being so much a part of our lives, I thought it would be good to use the bus analogy to describe the politics of today.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bus was like one of those super-luxury vehicles you see, taking high-end tourists to resorts. High above the road, with tinted glasses that ensconced the passengers, it was full of family and friends. In the bus, they were wined and dined with the best and they had more than anyone who was not on it. The bus was policed by a fierce Conductor who would decide who could get on the bus and any disorderly passengers were evicted.

This bus sped along and once it gathered speed all others on our unruly roads stepped aside lest, they were crushed beneath the juggernaut.

Anyone who opposed them was mowed down. After Rajapaksa was defeated in both the presidential elections and parliamentary in 2015 that bus was dented and looked headed for the scrap yard.

The Unity Government bus driven by President Maithripala Sirisena reminds me of some of the ancient buses that used to ply the unpaved country roads in and around Bibile, in the early seventies. These vehicles had been sold off by departing troops after the Second World War. American built they had wonderful engines and very strong chassis and suspension.

Passengers got in and off randomly and the crowded buses were also stuffed with farmers produce and had people hanging off the sides. The Conductor played a dual role, because the gearboxes were so old that when the bus got moving he had to jam sticks against the gear lever to prevent it from slipping.

The wheels were also not all of the same size, but it did not matter because the roads were so deeply rutted.

There was an air of imminent collapse, but the atmosphere was benign. But they chugged along.

Erratic behaviour

So, when the Local Government Polls results showed Rajapaksa’s sleek new bus the Pohottuwa clearly ahead, the rickety Yahapalanaya bus behaved erratically. Although his party had come third, President Sirisena initiated moves to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from his post. In many ways he felt that the PM was not allowing him to wield power and it would be best for him to remove him and make the LG results a reason to appoint a replacement of his choice. Now, the driver was trying to wreck the bus.

Former Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala is on record as saying that Sirisena asked the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Members of Parliament supporting him to vote for a No-Confidence Motion against Wickremesinghe in Parliament on 4 April that was being proposed by the Rajapaksa faction of the party.

At the big test, Wickremesinghe sailed through with flying colours with more than half of the Sirisena faction absenting themselves from the vote and right now the UNP bus looks as if someone had given it a new coat of paint.

Since then, the Yahapalanaya bus, although looking like it was restored, was lying in the middle of the road going nowhere as the driver was at the wheel but not driving it. Dazed and confused, the SLFP/UPFA combine in Parliament then turned on each other. The Rajapaksa faction or Joint Opposition accused Sirisena and his group of not keeping their side of the bargain and screamed ‘betrayal.’

The President let us down,” JO spokesmen said. The SLFPers who voted with the JO turned on their colleagues who failed to be present in Parliament at voting time. The two groups each said that they had followed the collective will of the party. It was never known whether the group had reached a consensus on which course of action they were to follow.

With his faction in disarray like a driver trying to coax errant passengers who had got off the bus to climb back on board, Sirisena tried his very best to keep the entire SLFP group that had initially supported the Unity Government with him.

He told the Media on 7 April that he was inviting all MPs who want to strengthen the Government to join me.” But the UNP demanded that the 16 MPs who voted against Wickremesinghe leave the Government on the grounds that they had no right to sit in a Cabinet headed by the PM. Eventually they did resign on 11 April and fall off the bus.

Finally, Sirisena gave up nearly ten days after the NCM and accepted that the 16 can go, and swore in others to replace them.

Overcoming anarchy

At a seminar held on the Easter weekend in Colombo, several days before the anti-Wickremesinghe vote was taken, various experts debated the question How do we overcome Anarchy” in respect of the current situation in the country which has been described by the Pohottuwa leader Prof. G L Peiris as anarchic.

One of the speakers at the seminar was Prof. Desmond Mallikarachchi who argued that anarchy had not yet set in. The country is in a mess, it is confused but not anarchic,’’ he said. Anarchy he said is when different parts of the country will be controlled by different armed groups like Afghanistan was at one time.

But after the current episode Mallikarachchi says anarchy maybe nearer.
In his 7 April Media conference Sirisena said that the NCM against Wickremesinghe was mooted because there were requests from my group as well as several MPs from the United National Party.” Sources close to the President said that the idea was to incorporate all these elements as well as break off MPs from the Rajapaksa faction so that Sirisena could install a Government with MPs beholden to him.

After 4 April, the 16 dissenters who resigned their Government positions have decided to sit in Opposition and it is no secret that the Rajapaksa-faction would welcome them into their fold. The 26 SLFP/UPFA MPs who stayed with the Government naturally would get closer to the UNP and the rest of the UPFA is already with Rajapaksa. A dejected aide to the President said, He expected to get them all under him, but now he has lost them all.”

Sirisena leaves for London tomorrow (16) to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and returns on the 25th and one of first meetings will a Central Committee Meeting of the SLFP at which the party is expected to decide whether they would stay with the Unity Government or leave. After that it needs to be seen where Sirisena will drive the bus to, anarchy or safety.

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The March of Folly Continuing vacillation

April 17th, 2018

By Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Courtesy Ceylon Today

Two months after the Local Government Elections, which made it clear that the country lacks confidence in the current Government, there has been no change in the course, or perhaps one should say the absence of any course, the government is embarked upon. Its only significant achievements thus far are agreeing to a UN Human Rights Council that puts the country in the dock, and the plundering of the country through manipulation of bond auctions.

The President, and almost everyone in his party, and several of those in the UNP, deplore both these achievements, and it is clear there has been nothing to counter them which would convince this country to continue with the Government if it were permitted to choose. But given the current Constitutional position, we are stuck with this government for just over eighteen months more. It is conceivable that there could be a change, but that requires courage, which the President does not possess.

Decisiveness also seems generally beyond him, though when pushed to the wall he can act, as when he refused to reappoint Mahendran to the post he had abused, when he instituted a Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Bond Scam, when he made Vasantha Senanayake State Minister of Foreign Affairs when Ranil wanted Anoma Gamage, when he made Ranjith Madduma Bandara Minister of Law and Order when Ranil wanted Sarath Fonseka, and when he abolished Ranil’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM).

Putting decisions off

But in general, because he does not always have the courage of his convictions, the President puts decisions off, and then even backtracks when he thinks he might suffer. So, in 2015 he decided, against the advice of his more revengeful supporters, to give Mahinda Rajapaksa a nomination for the General Election. That made sense, because the SLFP would have been decimated otherwise, or might indeed have abandoned him and gone with Mahinda since the writing was on the wall.

But then, having made that decision, he panicked, and sabotaged the campaign, by rude letters to Mahinda and then by sacking the Secretaries of the SLFP and the UPFA a couple of days before the election, so that the UNP did better than the UPFA.

That is why he continues in a mess, having to work with a Prime Minister he finds at best difficult. But since he thought Mahinda Rajapaksa would be more difficult, instead of doing his arithmetic and realizing that Mahinda could not be Prime Minister when a coalition had to be formed, he gave in to the revengeful, and ended a weaker President than he need have been.

The same seems to have happened this time. Having made it clear that he did not want Ranil to continue as Prime Minister, he watched happily as the No-Confidence Motion was prepared.

He seemed to think then that all members of the SLFP, except for Duminda Dissanayake, whose allegiance is clearly to Chandrika rather than to him, would follow his lead. And so they would have done had he made his position clear, instead of playing around and getting other people to do what could only be persuasion rather than iteration of policy.

And when that persuasion did not fully succeed, given that he did not give clear direction, again thinking the numbers might not add up, he panicked, and thus ensured that they could not. Thus, he left the brave members of the UNP who had spoken out, and the less brave who would nevertheless have voted to get rid of Ranil if they were sure of success, in the lurch.

Once again, then his lack of courage has left him in a greater mess than before. In January 2015, when he was the toast of the nation, and could easily have commanded a Parliamentary majority, he abdicated power to Ranil and to Chandrika whom he thought of as a safeguard for the SLFP, even while she was intent on destroying it. So, the first six months of his Presidency passed with no attention whatsoever to the pledges of his manifesto save the only one in which Ranil and his sidekick Jayampathy were interested.

Then, when the Bond Scam worked, and D.E.W. Gunasekara and the rest of us worked overtime to present a coherent report (and Sujeewa Senasinghe and Rosy Senanayake worked overtime to stymie us), he panicked when a No-Confidence Motion against Ranil was threatened, and dissolved Parliament prematurely.

Electoral reform

That incidentally is why electoral reform was put on hold and, when it was thought of again, it was in terms of experimenting without any clear principles with regard to local elections.

That is why the President now has to declare that the system should be changed whereas, had he engaged in full consultation of those who understood a mixed system, the country would not have to foot a massive bill for far too many Councillors. And of course the opportunity was not taken to streamline their functions, to ensure closer consultation of local interest groups, to limit overlaps with the powers of other elected bodies.

Having dissolved Parliament too soon, with most of his promised agenda forgotten, he played games during the election which led to Ranil getting what came close to a Parliamentary majority in August 2015.

I can then understand his permitting his party, or at least part of it, to join the Government, since clearly it would have been a betrayal of everything he stood for to have driven Ranil into the arms of a TNA that was now more rapacious than it had been for years. But it was completely wrong to call this Hybrid Government a National Government and therefore bloat the Cabinet. Unfortunately, he was aided and abetted in this wasteful exercise by someone who should have known better, Karu Jayasuriya, who seems to relish the role of lapdog to which his leader has reduced him.

That government continued for thirty months without challenge, by the simple expedient of postponing elections, which as happened to the last government with the Northern Provincial Council Election, which it should be noted Gota advised against postponing, led to feeling building up against the Government.

So, the SLPP triumphed but, without listening to the country and clearly declaring that it was his obligation to have a new Prime Minister who commanded confidence, he vacillated and allowed Ranil to claim that, whatever the country might think, Parliament had confidence in him.

Nearly two weeks have passed since that affirmation, or rather the negation of the idea that Parliament did not have confidence in him and the Government. But despite that negation, the lack of a clear mandate to continue with a productive programme of government, which after all is what is required of government, not management of crises of its own creation, has meant that the country is suffering a much longer nonagatha than it copes with during the New Year period.

The SLFP is torn between those who think they have a future, and want to abandon what they see as a sinking ship, and those who think they have no future and want to take their money and run. The nicer amongst the latter, in which number I count Mahinda Amaraweera, hopes that there will be a sea change, but that is ineffably foolish of him and nothing will change Ranil, who perhaps also thinks he has no future and wants to allow those who will fund him for the future to take their money and run. And of course he will plot as his uncle JR did to postpone elections, so that he can cling to power for as long as possible.

Initiating change

How that particular game will play itself out cannot be predicted. The President can make it clear that he is prepared to initiate change, by getting rid of Duminda Dissanayake, and now that he has openly suggested that Chandrika has no idea what is going on in the party, perhaps he will have the courage to appoint a new SLFP Secretary. But I do hope that those who are demanding change will accept Mahinda Amaraweera for a few months more at least, to see if he is able to persuade the President, who seems to trust only him of those in Parliament, to shift gear more swiftly.

And meanwhile we wait and see what will happen in the UNP. Once again, we see promises of change, and deadlines being given only to be shifted almost immediately. My own view is that nothing will change in the short term, and we will for instance find Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, being made General Secretary of the Party while also retaining his ministerial portfolio. And perhaps Mangala will become Chairman of the Party, while presiding over financial policies that will alienate the country even more.

But, while change is unlikely, it is good to see greater efforts to promote alternative perspectives. That Navin Dissanayake did best in the internal UNP poll indicates that the party has realized it needs a very different image. Navin is nothing like Gamini, who was turning into a superb leader when the Tigers got rid of him, but the fact that the party wants someone like him shows its understanding of what it lost when Gamini Dissanayake was replaced by Ranil.

And meanwhile, though those who spoke out had to take a back step, amongst them are enough principled persons who will ensure that, the more Ranil prevaricates, the more pressures will mount on him, from the party as well as the country at large.

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PM’s husband’s Capital Group is largest shareholder in BAE, shares soar since Syrian airstrikes

April 17th, 2018

Courtesy RT

Edited time: 17 Apr, 2018 17:33

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Philip May, husband of the UK prime minister, works for a company that is the largest shareholder in arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, whose share price has soared since the recent airstrikes in Syria.

The company, Capital Group, is also the second-largest shareholder in Lockheed Martin – a US military arms firm that supplies weapons systems, aircraft and logistical support. Its shares have also rocketed since the missile strikes last week.

PM’s husband’s Capital Group is largest shareholder in BAE, shares soar since Syrian airstrikes

The fact has not gone unnoticed by some on Twitter, who agree that BAE Systems has done very well out of the UK-US-France allied airstrikes on Syria, which were sanctioned by Theresa May. It has been reported that the UK’s contribution to military strikes was to fire eight ‘Storm-Shadow’ missiles at an alleged chemical weapons facility, each of which cost £790,000 ($1.13 million) – totaling £6.32 million ($9 million). The missiles were manufactured by BAE Systems.

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‘Oxygen starvation, not gas’: Veteran UK reporter Fisk doubts MSM narrative on Douma ‘chem attack’

April 17th, 2018

Courtesy RT

Published time: 17 Apr, 2018 10:40Edited time: 17 Apr, 2018 11:42

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Veteran UK reporter Robert Fisk went to Syria’s Douma and heard that residents shown in notorious gas attack footage” actually suffered from oxygen loss due to hiding in trash-filled shelters, and not from chemicals.

If you feel overwhelmed by MSM coverage of the chemical attack” in Douma, here’s your voice in the wilderness. Robert Fisk, a veteran UK foreign correspondent with the Independent, and one of the few Western reporters to have interviewed Osama bin Laden, went to Douma to go beyond what the Western media portrayed in early April as the Bashar Assad regime’s chemical attack.”

Moscow has ‘irrefutable’ evidence chem attack in Syria’s Douma was staged – Russia’s envoy to OPCW

Fisk’s thought-provoking piece is centered around the witness accounts of Assim Rahaibani, a 58-year-old local doctor who told him that patients caught in the heart-wrenching video – the one claiming to show the aftermath of the alleged chemical weapons attacks in Douma – did not actually suffer from any toxins.

They were overcome not by gas but by oxygen starvation” because they had to live in rubbish-filled underground shelters in order to survive the perils of fighting. The doctor told the Independent reporter that on the night of April 7, when the alleged attack supposedly took place, there was wind and huge dust clouds began to come into the basements and cellars where people lived.”

'Oxygen starvation, not gas’: Veteran UK reporter Fisk doubts MSM narrative on Douma ‘chem attack’

Patients began to arrive in his subterranean hospital suffering from hypoxia and oxygen loss, Dr Rahaibani continued. Then someone at the door, a ‘White Helmet’, shouted gas!” and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other.” He added: Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia – not gas poisoning.”

The footage in question was posted on YouTube on the day of the alleged chemical attack. Shortly after, graphic images purporting to show the horrific consequences of the attack began flooding social media. Though there may have been inconsistencies within the video and the images themselves, they were widely reported by Western media outlets which were quick to put the blame on the Syrian government.

The US and its allies the UK and France cited the purported gas attack in Douma as the pretext for military action against Syria that saw over 100 cruise missiles pounding Syrian civilian and military targets on April 14.

However, in the war-ravaged town of Douma, people seemed unable to link the alleged chemical incident and the US-led air assaults, Fisk writes.

Oddly, after chatting to more than 20 people, I couldn’t find one who showed the slightest interest in Douma’s role in bringing about the Western air attacks,” he notes. Two actually told me they didn’t know about the connection.”

Fisk says people in Douma were happy to see foreigners among them, and were willing to talk about other things. They told him of the Islamists under whom they had lived,” and of militants who had stolen civilian homes to avoid the Syrian government and Russian bombing.”

How could it be that Douma refugees who had reached camps in Turkey were already describing a gas attack which no one in Douma today seemed to recall?” he asks in conclusion, adding that news would have spread incredibly slowly among residents who were so isolated from each other.

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Maithri’s breather

April 17th, 2018

Editorial Courtesy The Island

The prorogation of Parliament, which came as a bolt from the blue, has left many bewildered. Everybody seems to be wondering what is there up President Maithripala Sirisena’s sleeve. Our contention is that there is nothing up there. The prorogation of Parliament is only a desperate measure the President, stuck neck deep in trouble, has adopted to give himself a breather. Faced with the prospect of 16 more UPFA MPs defecting to the Opposition, the President is at his wits’ end and, therefore, he needs time to cogitate on what to do next. It is said that desperate situations call for desperate remedies.

President Sirisena has had to portage the yahapalana canoe which has run aground. But, there is no guarantee that he will ever be able to row it again or float the UNP’s boat, let alone have his ducks in a row. That the UPFA MPs, including ministers who turned against the PM, had his blessings is only too well known. After all, he himself sought to remove the PM, albeit unsuccessfully, following the Feb. 10 local government polls defeat. He had to give in to the UNP’s pressure and ditch the SLFP ministers who voted against the PM. They obviously expected him to defend them and reject their resignation letters which they readily tendered immediately after the no-faith fiasco. But, he had to save his skin at their expense. The problems are not over for the beleaguered President. Now, the SLFP has to remain in the so-called unity government on the UNP’s terms which are infra dig. The executive presidency has been reduced to a paper tiger with the PM being in a position to call the shots for all practical purposes.

President Sirisena may not have realised the extent to which the 19th Amendment had curtailed his powers. He cannot either sack the PM or dissolve Parliament. Some legal experts have even argued that we already have a titular President in all but name. Exaggerated as this argument may sound, it is not devoid of merit. Even prior to the introduction of the 19-A, the President was powerful only when he or she happened to lead the party which controlled Parliament. When a different party formed a government, the executive President became vulnerable as we saw between 2001 and 2004. The yahapalana arrangement, introduced to overcome a similar situation following the 2015 general election, is now past its shelf life.

The SLFP is currently divided into three factions. The biggest of them is loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa; following the abortive no-faith motion against the PM, there has been a split in the Maithri faction of the SLFP with some of its MPs making overtures to the UNP. At this rate, President Sirisena will be lucky if he manages to prevent the General Secretaries of the SLFP and the UPFA from breaking ranks!

Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, who lost his ministerial post the other day, owing to his support for the no-confidence motion against the PM, has called the yahapalana project a farce. He has made no revelation; that is what it has been since its inception in 2015. The coming together of the UNP and the SLFP/UPFA was a marriage of convenience; it served the purpose of the two parties thereto and no one else’s. The composition of the present legislature has become antithetical to all known parliamentary norms as a result.

Parliament has become synonymous with confusion and muddle. A section of the UPFA, which shares power with the UNP in the unity government, functions as the unofficial Opposition; it has come to be called Joint Opposition (JO), which is not legally recognised as a party because all its members are MPs elected from the UPFA! In a dramatic turn of events, 16 UPFA MPs, who are not members of the JO, have declared that they have no confidence in the PM by voting for a no-faith motion against him.

The official Opposition has become a mere appendage of the government. The TNA makes no bones about the fact that it is ready to ensure that the present government remains in power, presumably until the promulgation of the proposed Constitution, which is expected to devolve more power to the provinces. It does not care two hoots about the very serious allegations of corruption and abuse of power against the powers that be because it is all out to advance its agenda at the expense of the national interest. The country is badly in need of an Opposition which cares to address broader national issues which affect all communities. The JVP is taking swats at the Elephant in the hope that it will be seen to be anti-government as a result. In so doing, it only provides some entertainment to the discerning public.

It looks as if President Sirisena had realised, at long last, that the government cannot muddle along and should be given a radical shake-up. But, the question is whether anymore tinkering, which pass for reforms, will help make the yahapalana arrangement workable, try as the President or other government grandees might. They are apparently flogging a dead horse.

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The UNP-SLFP merger and the Mahinda–Ranil choice One more Avurudu to go!

April 17th, 2018

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

April 17, 2018, 9:14 am

“Ranil Wickremesinghe’s…attempt at dragging a third world country, albeit ‘kicking and protesting’ into the 21^st century with a neoliberal paradigm of economic and political structural reform has been found wanting and rejected. Cohabitation…has proved unworkable.”–Bradman Weerakoon, ‘Rendering unto Caesar’, Epilogue, p 386, 2004

Just one more Avurudu to go. Only one more Avurudu to hold on for. Next year is national election year. The Supreme Court has clearly and irreversibly decreed that elections at the apex of the political system mandatorily have to be held in the last quarter of next year, 2019. So there’s only one more Avurudu before the people liberate themselves before next Christmas, from this nightmare of incompetence, soft anarchy, decline and hardship.

In the view of Pohottuwa strategists, the SLFP has died and already been reborn as the SLPP-Pohottuwa. They think that ‘Maroon is the New Blue’. Meanwhile some ‘true blue’ SLFPers – most conspicuously the Rebel Sixteen–think the SLFP still survives, even after the Pohottuwa breakaway and recent election victory. They think there is a space for the more moderate SLFP, within the larger oppositional space, alongside the JO-SLPP and as an ally of it. They think that the Maroon and Blue are natural allies and the two banners can flutter together as did the two “satakayas” (shawls) in 1956. By contrast, some pale blue SLFPers think the SLFP can either survive while remaining with the UNP in government or as a subset of the UNP. They think that that the blue banner should flutter alongside the green or the blue should find itself a shade of aquamarine. So, is the SLFP blue to be dark blue (the Rebel 16), pale blue (MS) or aquamarine (CBK)?

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From its first government, the SLFP had a Right, Left and Center—with CP de Silva being the leader of the SLFP Right until he defected to the UNP. Who will be the CP de Silva or Mahanama Samaraweera of 2018-2019, reviled or forgotten in the SLFP’s and broader patriotic political history?

If the so-called Unity government lives, and the SLFP lives within it, the SLFP dies. If the ‘Unity’ government dies, the SLFP lives. It is quite as simple a choice as that. The SLFP Right or ‘puppet faction’ that will merge with the UNP is politically doomed for many reasons, of which one is obvious: they are, for the most part, electorally marginal to the point of insignificance. But there are far more important reasons for their inevitable fate of electoral extinction. Firstly, the SLFP rightwing puppets will have to opt for Ranil Wickremesinghe over Mahinda Rajapaksa, which is a choice in which no section of SLFP voters will accompany it. Those voters didn’t do so either in January or August 2015, and merely stayed home on the latter occasion. Secondly, the SLFP puppet faction that merges with the UNP will also be asking its voters to make another choice—that of Ranil Wickremesinghe over Mahinda’s nominee as Presidential candidate in 2019. The SLFP voters will ferociously reject that notion too.

Why will the SLFP voter, and indeed the overwhelming majority of Sinhala voters (including Sinhala Catholics), refuse to choose Ranil Wickremesinghe over Mahinda Rajapaksa’s choice? Every generation has a defining experience. That experience is usually sourced in what the country concerned and the world at large were going through during their lifetime. For my generation and the one just before and after mine, it was the Thirty Years War. We cannot but judge public personalities by the stands they took and the role they played during that great historical experience.

In our society today, the dividing line is that between those who prefer Ranil to Mahinda and others who prefer Mahinda to Ranil. It’s a split between “What’s Not to Like?” as concerns one’s favorite personality, versus “How can you possibly support that guy?” as concerns one’s pet peeve. My choice and critique of Ranil is not personal—I supported and worked with him from 1993 to early 1997, up until he (a) signed the Liam Fox agreement and (b) double-crossed his ally, partner and quasi-patron Sirisena Cooray (and the Premadasa Center) when the latter was arbitrarily detained on the accusation of attempted assassination, by President Kumaratunga.

When we look at Ranil and Mahinda, what do those of my generation see and remember? How did they conduct themselves at the height of their political achievement, against the backdrop of the greatest test our country and its leadership faced in our lifetime and possibly several hundred years, if not a much longer stretch, of this island’s history?

I can point to the opinions of credentialed others, non–Sri Lankans, as evidence of the correctness of my own choice as one who openly supported Mahinda Rajapaksa at the three Presidential elections he ran in—2005, 2010 and 2015.

This is how Prime Minister Wickremesinghe comes across in the account of an expert British analyst. Prof Paul Moorcraft is a former senior instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (perhaps the world’s most famous and prestigious military academy), and the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College. He writes:

“…On 20th December 2001 a Special Forces team was in place in the Vanni jungle. For once it knew for certain where the elusive Tiger leader was. The assassination team was due to strike on Christmas Eve. The team leaders were just ready to press the start button when they were countermanded, despite fierce intelligence arguments that Prabhakaran’s death would end the war…The Special Forces operatives were stood down temporarily in a safe house in Colombo. In one of the biggest intelligence own goals of the war, the house was raided by Special Branch police from Kandy. The highly secret operation was exposed. It was not a case of overzealous detectives…The heads of military and national intelligence were overridden when the police arrested the operatives and jailed them in Kandy. They were released after two weeks and, as a scapegoat, a middle-ranking police officer was suspended, temporarily. It didn’t end there: the intelligence leadership was accused of using the safe house as a base to assassinate the Prime Minister. Once again, the Tiger leader was unscathed.“(Paul Moorcraft, ‘Total Destruction of the Tamil Tigers: The Rare Victory of Sri Lanka’s Long War’, Pen & Sword Military, UK, 2012, pp. 38-39.)

By stark contrast, here is how Mahinda Rajapaksa is seen in retrospect by a top South Asian scholar, Prof MD Nalapat, Vice-Chair, Manipal Advanced Research Group, UNESCO Peace Chair & Professor of Geopolitics, Manipal University, Haryana State, India:

“…He or she [a leader] needs to be tough on certain issues, the way former President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa was when faced in 2009 with calls from the US and the EU to give LTTE leader Prabhakaran a safe exit from the trap that the Sri Lankan military had laid for him under the guidance of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Because of the Sri Lankan leader’s refusal to obey powerful countries used to deferential behavior from others, Mahinda Rajapaksa (with help from a few friendly countries) defeated the LTTE and ensured the end of terrorism in the island. As a consequence, the Sri Lankan economy started to improve and these days, the nightmare of violence and terror attacks that was the norm in the past is becoming a distant memory.” ()

And here is how Prof. MD Nalapat sees the Yahapalana leadership in contrast to Mahinda Rajapaksa:

“However, current President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe are seen by many as too eager to please the “international community” (CNN and BBC-speak for the US and the EU) by giving unprecedented concessions on sovereignty and self-respect to the US-EU combination who interfere in the guise of ” protecting human rights”. The concessions given by Sirisena and Ranil to Washington and its European allies will not save the Sri Lankan government from harsh demands to punish the Sri Lankan military for shaming NATO by defeating the LTTE in a way that NATO failed to do with the Taliban in Afghanistan and with Al Qaeda and Daesh in the Middle East, despite killing several tens of times more civilians than the Sri Lankan military did in its war with the LTTE.” (Ibid)

This reconfirms what Lord Meghnad Desai wrote about Mahinda Rajapaksa when he was re-elected in 2010. Meghnad Desai, who initially earned his reputation as an authority on Marxian economics but is much better known as a renowned economic theorist, Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics and member of the House of Lords, likened the role of Mahinda Rajapaksa to that of Abraham Lincoln. In a piece entitled Unity in Diversity: Sri Lanka @62, Lord Desai wrote:

“Was Abraham Lincoln a war criminal? He took the US or at least its northern states to a war with the South, which resulted in the largest loss of lives in that nation’s history. The South was ruined and did not recover economically for at least 50 years.

The Black slaves were freed, but their condition remained miserable for another 100 years. Lincoln fought in the name of the Union, not for the abolition of slavery, which did not happen till halfway through the War, while the Southern Confederacy fought in the name of States’ Rights. Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, remained a hero in the South as did General Robert E Lee. Lincoln remains a hero not just for the Americans but the world over.

I write this because within India’s neighborhood we have had a civil war, which has just ended. The man who led the nation to a victory has just been re-elected President. Yet he is widely reviled internationally and even within Sri Lanka. Except that a majority of his people re-elected him, Mahinda Rajapaksa has few friends in high places…

By some device or other, Rajapaksa, whom many underestimated, took the decision that he would end the war regardless of the loss of life involved. The carnage was incredible but in the end, Prabhakaran was defeated and killed. The LTTE’s gamble had failed.

It may sound callous to say this, but Rajapaksa would be regarded as the savior of his nation. Modern nations, especially post-colonial ones, value the integrity of their territory and do not entertain violent sub-nationalisms. India has had its share in Khalistan and in the many struggles in the north-east and continues to have problems in Kashmir. Yet, Indian citizens have allowed their government to ride roughshod over human rights as long as national integrity has been preserved…”

There is no single political personality in today’s Sri Lanka who can come close to the popularity of Mahinda Rajapaksa. There is no combination of personalities that cannot benefit from being partnered with him. With the right choice of Presidential candidate, it could be the most popular political and electoral combination that Sri Lanka has ever seen—the previous peak being JR Jayewardene and R. Premadasa in 1977.

When Mahinda Rajapaksa is no more, he will be elevated from folk hero to folk deity, for centuries to come, if not millennia. Yahapalana spokespersons may counter that Mahinda was defeated in January 2015, but his legend has grown and his iconic status elevated after that defeat—when the people realized just how much they missed him; just how much they had lost.

In 2019 the people will vote against a government that has been the most wretchedly unsuccessful ever in our post-independence history (with the runner-up being 2001-2003, the humiliating CFA years, when Ranil was Prime Minister earlier). The only ‘common program’ the SLFP has to negotiate with Ranil’s UNP is their shared electoral funeral arrangements late next year. To think otherwise is not tragic; it is pathetically delusional.

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History behind the 1915 ethnic riots that inflamed Gampola

April 16th, 2018

This article is being translated & commented from the Sinhala article appearing in the Lankadeepa newspaper by Pushpanath Jayasiri Mallikarachchi. Pushpanath Jayasiri Mallikarachchi brings out some previously unspoken facts which demands comparison of similarities with the present in Sri Lanka as well as similar sentiments presently emerging across UK, Europe, Australia and even throughout US & Canada.

As in all cases activists & supposed rights-groups purposely ignore the background to animosities. They conveniently avoid mentioning what initially looks innocent & unimportant but when consistently & regularly added creates a larger issue & outcome.

The scenario brought out by the author is of a date on 28 May 1915 where a group singhing Bhakthi songs (Buddhist songs) accompanied by musicians were making their way down Ambagamuwa Street having obtained approvals from police & relevant authorities. Not mentioned is that pre 1505 and arrival of western Christian colonial invaders such approvals were not necessary. Buddhism was part of life & governance while non-Buddhists practiced their faiths respecting the state religion. There was no Christianity or local Christian followers (Sinhalese or Tamils) before 1505.

As happens presently even within the police there are questionable characters & it is their actions that often lead to bigger issues. Likewise, a policemen had informed that the procession had no authority to sing along Ambagmuwa Street. The police had also instructed that the procession had to stop their music 100 yards from the mosque. Though the Basnayake nilame objected, the police were influenced by the mosque.

What also needs mentioning is that in 1911 the Government Agent approved the procession to take its original route. However, in 1912 the Moors obstructed to the procession and it had turned violent. The case was heard by Paul E Pieris in 1914 & he upheld the rights of the Buddhists which were however opposed by the British Attorney General who challenged the verdict and the verdict was reversed in the Supreme Court of Ceylon on 2 February 1915.

The Buddhists made an appeal to the Privy Council in London arguing that centuries old Buddhist customs were being denied as it was part of the 1815 Kandyan Convention to protect Buddhism. 1915 was the centennial of that 1815 Convention but the failure of the colonial British to uphold the assurances of that Convention disappointed the majority Buddhist populace. The British Privy Council rejected the appeal by the Buddhist leaders in Gampaha and orders were given against the Buddhist procession passing the Muslim mosque.

British were taking the side of the Muslims while curtailing and obstructing Buddhist rituals & rights. These discrepancies are highlighted by Michael Roberts.

Why were all these objections emerging after arrival of colonial rulers? Were there such objections by Moors to Buddhist processions before 1505? None that we can historically find. So what was the reason for these objections to come so suddenly & so consistently?

Heeding orders, the group proceeded along another street and when they were going 120 yards down that street people from inside a mosque (which was opened only in 1907) started hooting at them and when the procession immediately turned, stones were hurled at them from the mosque. Who threw the first stone is guilty of igniting the fire and cannot complain thereafter. Was this not the same allegation that came in Aluthgama before the riots broke out? It was the stones hurled from the mosque that resulted in the attack upon the mosque. As a result of people throwing stones from the mosque, the eventual outcome was damage to property of both sides and loss to lives of both sides too. Innocent people suffered because of the actions of a handful both in 1915 and in 2014 as well as more recently in 2018. As in the case in 1915, 2014 & 2018 the whole narrative is written omitting key facts & the usual culprits engage in planting sentiments for further and future chaos.

Alleged suspects were arrested but the incident justified the white colonial administrators to bring down the Punjab Army from India, just the way they brought Indian sepoys against the natives that defended their island in 1818 and 1848. We can also recall the damage the Indian Peace Keeping Force caused by killing not only Sinhalese & Muslims but Tamils as well. The colonial British concluded the attacks were against them by the Sinhala Buddhists – they got an opportunity to justify their main aim to squash the majority populace that were against colonial rule and they informed London that the freedom struggle had taken a religious dimension.

Thus the 1915 riots became categorized as an ethno-religious riot between Sinhala Buddhists & Muslims/Islam

The similarities in actions are also noteworthy after the 1915 riots the damage to Muslim (Moors) lives and property were exaggerated (25 dead, 189 injured, 4 raped, 86 destruction of properties, 4075 thefts, 350 shops guttered) In 2014 and recent 2018 the damage to the Sinhala Buddhists & temples hardly got any attention by supposed unbiased press!

The British saw the Sinhala Buddhists as a threat for it was only they who were defending the nation and so the British took inhuman measures against them. Notice the similarities in the usage of the term ‘extremists’ the colonial British were quick to brand the Sinhala Buddhists as ‘extremists’ no different to how they are presently being labeled even by so-called smart ‘patriots’ acting as sepoys. This was how D S Senanayake, DB Jayatilake, W A Silva, A E Gunasinghe, Anagarika Dharmapala were all arrested and put into prison.

The role of Britain in fanning these communal flames cannot be overlooked. Their divide & policy meant dividing people and keeping them at each other’s throats. As a result of this policy the British brought Malayalees, South Indians & Indian Muslims to work on their plantations as labor in 1800.

What often gets omitted from mention is that since 1833 Colebrook Commission, the Muslims were represented through Tamil representation and were categorized as Coastal Yonis, Lanka Malay Yonis. Moor traders who arrived from South Indian Malabar coast & migrated to Sri Lanka were known as Indian Malabars.

Malays thereafter forged their own identity. Only after 1889 that the identity of Muslims was treated separate to that of the Tamils.

The first moor mosque was opened in Ambagamuwa in 1907 and immediately afterwards began opposing the annual procession that started near the Wallabhagoda Devale and passed the mosque. It is also one of the valid reasons why non-Muslims object to new mosques being built close to other religious sites as Muslims have a tendency to use power of money as influencers to curb religious events of others who have been holding theirs far before their mosques became erected. These are good food for thought for fair-minded Muslims to ponder.

There was a background story to the riots that resulted which many chose not to connect with and that continues to occur even presently.

Another key element that added to the animosity built up between Muslims & Sinhalese was the monopoly of foods & commodities by the Muslims. Taking advantage of the food shortage accrued following World War 1 the Muslims were manipulating the prices of food & goods to their advantage and profit. Muslims were excellent tradesmen. They were masters at charging unfair high interest against loans which gave rise to calls to resentment among non-Muslims to stop frequenting Muslim owned shops & eateries.

That the Sinhala-Muslim conflict was not ethno-religious and was associated & as a result of trade-competition is revealed by K. M. de Silva.

The rise in price of coconut & rubber & unemployment together with the shortage of food & essential commodities led to social unrest among Sinhala Buddhists & that automatically directed attention towards the Muslims who were unfairly profiting in manipulating the system. This was highlighted by Kumari Jayawardena in her writings on the Sinhala-Muslim conflict too.

According to Michael Roberts to address the threat of Buddhist cultural heritage the British used & manipulated the Muslim minority against Buddhist cultural events thus artificially creating an ethno-religious conflict.

Shenali D Waduge

Sinhala version of the Article that appeared in the Lankadeepa newspaper http://www.lankadeepa.lk/diyatha_news/අතීතයේ-ගම්පොළ-ඇවිළුණ-ජාතිවාදී–ගිනිමැලය/48-525587

R Chandrasoma

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge

ALI SUKHANVER

Courtesy RT

Courtesy RT

KAMALIKA PIERIS

By Kalinga Seneviratne

Courtesy RT

Deniable assault

Dead in the water

Lessons to learn

තුසිත බාලසූරිය ලේකම් ශ්‍රී ලංකා සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

By H.L.D Mahindapala

Part 1

Sarath Wijesinghe former Chairman Consumer Affairs Authority and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel

Consumer and consumerism in exploitation process

Health is wealth

“Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

Ajinimoto

“Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

Weed killer as a food item used countrywide

“Quality of food, health hazards in food and consumer items”

Contaminated water and drinks, and junk food in abundance

Legal Basis and Solutions to protect the Consumer

Way forward

Robert Fisk Douma, Syria Courtesy independent

Exclusive: Robert Fisk visits the Syria clinic at the centre of a global crisis

Finian Cunningham Courtesy RT

Courtesy Sputnik

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island

British problems

France

What Mission Accomplished?

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent Courtesy The Island

KAMALIKA PIERIS

BY M D P DISSANAYAKE

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

පාලිත ආරියරත්න

lanka C news

lanka C news

By Arjuna Ranawana Courtesy Ceylon Today

Erratic behaviour

Overcoming anarchy

By Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Courtesy Ceylon Today

Putting decisions off

Electoral reform

Initiating change

Courtesy RT

Courtesy RT

Editorial Courtesy The Island

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

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