By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

September 6, 2016, 7:46 pm

The admission by the United Nation’s Secretary General (UNSG) Ban Ki Moon during his visit to Sri Lanka from 31 August to 2 September 2016 that the UN “made big mistakes” and “…learned very hard lessons” in Sri Lanka is in keeping with the traditions set by former UNSGs whenever the UN failed to meet its obligations as happened in Rwanda, Bosnia and more recently in Haiti. Continuing, he is reported to have stated: “Reports by experts, independent panels that I appointed found serious systemic problems on the part of Member States and Secretariat alike”… “We found serious mistakes, inactivity. Had we been more actively engaged we could have saved many more human lives” (Adaderana News, September 2, 2016).

These “big mistakes” were made during the separatist armed conflict in Sri Lanka. More “mistakes” that cost Sri Lanka dearly, occurred following the conclusion of the conflict. Within a week of the end of the conflict May 23, 2009) the UNSG, visited Sri Lanka and issued a joint statement with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The last paragraph of the statement states:

“Sri Lanka reiterated its strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, in keeping with international human rights standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations. The Secretary General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The Government will take measures to address those grievances”. The UNSG has violated the commitments in that Joint Statement.

POST-CONFLICT “BIG MISTAKES”

VIOLATING the UN CHARTER

Without appreciating that the humanitarian needs of over 350,000 post-war civilians and former combatants had to take precedence over accountability issues, the UNSG began proposing the appointment of an advisory panel in early 2010. Then, on March 16, 2010 the UNSG at the UN News Center stated: “The panel I am establishing will advise me on the standards, bench marks and parameters, based on international experience, that must guide any accountability process such as the one mentioned in the joint statement. Now that panel will report to me directly and not to any other body”.

In the appointment of such a panel, the UNSG is required to abide by the provisions in the UN Charter as to the formalities that the UN Secretariat should follow, i.e., provisions in Article 100 of the UN Charter.

Article 100 states:

1. “In the performance of their duties the Secretary-General and the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organization. They shall refrain from any action which might reflect on their position as international officials responsible only to the Organization”.

2. “Each Member of the United Nations under-takes to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities”.

The UNSG violated these provisions and appointed a Panel of Experts (PoE) from outside the UN. The report of the PoE was meant for INTERNAL USE ONLY, again as per Article 100 cited above, and asserted by his statement in New York. Despite the strict need for confidentiality, the report of the PoE was unofficially made available in the public domain.

The consequence of these two actions were irreparable. According to the UNSG’s own admission in New York the panel was only to set the “standards, benchmarks and parameters” for an accountability inquiry. Instead, the panel issued a report that was damaging to Sri Lanka; the most serious charge being that possibly 40,000 civilians died. This excessive figure has haunted Sri Lanka ever since the report was made public. For this the UNSG has to take full responsibility.

VIOLATING COMMITMENTS in JOINT STATEMENT

The second act of the UNSG to seriously affect Sri Lanka related to violating the commitments in the joint statement between him and President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In keeping with this commitment, the Sri Lankan President appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on May 15, 2010. Despite this, the UNSG went ahead an appointed his panel one month AFTER the LLRC was appointed, on June 22, 2010, in violation of the joint statement that requires Sri Lanka to address accountability issues. This was compounded by the Panel report being submitted to the UNSG on April 12, 2011 well ahead of the LLRC report that was presented on November 2011, thereby prejudicing international and public opinion against Sri Lanka. Consequently, the LLRC report was initially not received with the objectivity that it deserved.

VIOLATIONS by the UN HIGH COMMISSIONER for HUMAN RIGHTS (UNHRC)

Paragraph 10 of the Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka specifically states: “…the need for an international inquiry mechanism in the ABSENCE (emphasis added) of a credible national process…”. On July 14, 2014, a national process was initiated in the form of a Presidential Commission headed by Justice Paranagama under the 2nd mandate to look into allegations of war crimes and other violations of international law. Despite the fact that the Commission was assisted by 3 internationally eminent legal experts headed by Sir Desmond de Silva, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) set up “a special investigating team within the OHCHR in Geneva, that came into operation in mid- August 2014 i.e. 1 month AFTER the national process was initiated.

The measures adopted by the UN clearly demonstrate that they violated their own commitments by initiating actions that should have been taken ONLY in the ABSENCE of initiatives by Sri Lanka. The measures resorted to by the UN and its agency, the OHCHR, violate concepts that are required to guide the work of the Council such as “impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, and cooperation with a view to enhancing the promotion and protection of human rights”; concepts that the OHCHR is expected to exercise as per paragraph 4 of the General Assembly Resolution that set up the Human Rights Council in 2006. The levels of unprofessionalism and misconduct reflect the degree to which the UN and its agencies are being manipulated; a fact that should be a matter of deep concern for all Member States.

The undertaking given in the Resolution of the UNSG and the UNHRC was that any inquiry into alleged violations should ONLY be undertaken in the absence of inquiries initiated by Sri Lanka. Both the UNSG and UNHRC violated their respective undertakings. The most egregious act was the unofficial release of the Report of the UNSG-appointed Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka. This action was in complete violation of the remit granted to a UNSG by the General Assembly. The contents of this unofficial report which should NOT have seen the light of day except by the UNSG, have become the official source for other reports, the most specific being the arbitrary allegation that 40,000 civilian may have died.

COLLECTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY

During his current visit to Sri Lanka, the UNSG is reported to have stated: “The decades-long civil war saw terrible violence, terrorism, the use of human shields and other grievous violations of human rights and humanitarian law. In the conflict’s decisive final stages, tens of thousands of civilians perished. The war was ended – an unquestionable good for Sri Lanka, the region and the world. But we also know that even in its ending, the price was high”.

The admission by the UNSG that “Had we been more actively engaged, we could have saved many more human lives” means that the UN along with the parties to the conflict are collectively answerable for that “high price” in varying degrees. The UN – for not doing enough to save lives. The LTTE – for committing war crimes by compelling thousands of children to become combatants and by taking nearly 350,000 civilians hostage for the purpose of using them as a human shield, and shooting those who attempted to escape; facts confirmed by the UN and UNICEF. The Government – for using legitimate means appropriate to the circumstances presented to maintain and re-establish law and order in the State or to defend the national unity and territorial integrity of the State granted under Article 3 of the Additional Protocol II of 1977, bearing in mind that principles of distinction and proportionality were not applicable due to the inability to distinguish between civilians and combatants.

CONCLUSION

The facts presented above demonstrate conclusively there are 3 parties that should be associated with the accountability processes. They are:

1. The UN and its agency the UNHRC, for the “big mistake” of not “been more actively engaged”. Had they done so, the UN “could have saved many more lives”. In addition, there were serious improprieties in the manner the UN and the UNHRC conducted itself during the post-conflict period. These actions not only seriously disadvantaged and discredited Sri Lanka and its international image with consequences on its economy, but also violated the need for impartiality. The inappropriate procedures adopted by the UN during the post-conflict period were seen by the Sri Lankan public as efforts driven at the instigation of the Tamil diaspora and their supporters in the International Community. These perceptions have further polarized the communities, and continues to be a barrier to the reconciliation process to which the Sri Lankan government is committed.

2. The LTTE, for committing war crimes by taking nearly 350,000 civilians hostage to be used as a human shield, shooting any who attempted to escape and for conscripting over 6000 child soldiers equipped with suicide capsules one third of whom were girls.

3. The Government, for using legitimate means that could be deployed under the circumstances created by the LTTE to maintain and re-establish law and order in the State or to defend the national unity and territorial integrity of the State granted under Article 3 of the Additional Protocol II of 1977 bearing in mind that principles of distinction and proportionality were not applicable due to the inability to distinguish between civilians and combatants due to the conditions imposed by the LTTE.

These facts would demonstrate conclusively the complexities that would be associated with apportioning accountability through a Transnational Justice process as attempted by the UNHRC resolution or any other. In the course of such a process, it would be necessary to establish who is more accountable:

Is it the UN for not doing enough to save civilians trapped by the LTTE and preventing serious potential violations? OR

The LTTE for creating circumstances that compromised the safety of the civilians by taking them hostage and using children as frontline combatants thereby presenting moral challenges to the Security Forces? OR

The Government and the Security Forces who were compelled to make hard choices to separate the civilians and re-establish the territorial integrity of the State?

Clearly, attempting to unravel these complexities would cause more injustice than justice. Therefore, the component pertaining to accountability aspects of Transnational Justice should be abandoned.

Nirangi Abeywickreme Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Forensic Video and Surveillance Technology Laboratory – British Columbia Laboratory in Canada has informed the Colombo Magistrate Court that the CCTV footage in connection with the murder of rugger player Mohammed Thajudeen were not clear and as such its experts are unable to come to a conclusion in connection with the murder.

According to the report submitted to Court, the Canadian institute had stated that because of low resolution and unclear of images (pixels) in the CCTV footage, they were not in a position to reach any conclusion.

The CID had sent ten copies of the CDs containing the CCTV footage and 36 questions with regard to the Thajudeen murder. An ASP and a Sub Inspector attached to the CID visited the Canadian lab between August 22 to 31 with the CDs.  (Nirangi Abeywickreme)

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/115317/Thajudeen-case-Canadian-experts-say-CCTV-footage-unclear#sthash.m8Rvprwg.dpuf

චාර්ල්ස්  එස්  පෙරේරා විසිනි

ගුත්තිල පඬිතුමා  මුසිල නම් බාලයෙකුට විනා වැයීම උගන්වා ඔහුට රජ මාලිගාවේ සන්ගීතගායන පදවිය  ලබා දුන්නාට  පසු කෙලෙහිගුණ නොදත් මූසිලයා මහලුවියට පත් ගුත්තිල පඬිතුමා පරදවා එතුමාගේ තැන ගන්න ගුත්තිල පඬිතුමාට සංගීත  තරඟයකට පැමිනෙනලෙස ආරාධනය කලා.  එදා මහලුවියේ සිටි ගුත්තිල පඬිතුමා සංගීත තරඟයකට කෙසේනම් මුහුනදෙන්නේදැයි නොදැන අසරණව සිටියේ. නමුත් එදා ඒ තරඟය පටන්ගැන්මේදී  මුසිලයා ඔහුගේ ජයග්‍රහණය ගැන සැකයක් නැතිව  මහා ආඩම්බරයෙන් විනාව වාදනයකලා. පින්වත් ගුත්තිල පඬිතුමා ගේ  අසරණභාවය දුටු ලෝක භාර දෙවිවරු එතුමාගේ සහයට පැමිණ මුසිලයට උන්හිටි තැනක් නැතිවනතරමට අන්ත පරාජයක් අත්කරදුන්නා. 

අද අප ඉදිරියේ සිටින්නේත් එවැනිම කෙලෙහිගුණ නොදත් අමන මූසලයෙක්. මූටත් එදා මූසීලයාට ලැබුණ පරාජයටත් වඩා  අන්ත පරාජයක් උටත් උගේ හත්මුතුපරම්පරාවටත් අත්වනවා නියමයි. එහෙම කියනඑක නරකයි. නමුත් කරනදෙවල් බලබලා  නොකියා හිටින්න විධියකුත් නැ. 

මේ කල්ලිය රටගැන හිතන්නේ නැ. සංහිදියාව කියා කියා දෙමළුන් ඉල්ලන හැම දේම දෙනවා. සිංහලයන්ට අද පුලුවන්කමක්නෑ තමන්ගේ ජාතිය වෙනුවෙන් කතාකරන්න, ජාතිවාදියෝ කියල හන්වඩු ගහනවා. 

අද ලංකාවේ සමන්‍යය ජනතාවට ඔවුන්ගේ සන්ස්කෘතික සමාජයික හා ආගමික  අයිතීන් පවා නැතිවියනවා. උතුරේ හා නැගෙනහිර බෞද්ධ දාගැබ්  බූදුපිලිම අයිතිහාසික බෞද්ධ නෂ්ටාවශේෂ විනාස කරනවා. ලාංකික සිංහලයෝ මහා දෙමළ ප්‍රහාරයකට මුහුනදිසිටිනවා. 

මැලේසියාවේදී එහි ජීවත්වෙන දෙමළුන්  අපේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති තුමාට විරුද්ධ පෙළපාලි පවත්වා ඔහුගේ  රුකඩයකට සපත්තුවලින්  ගසමින් අවමන්කර පුච්චා දැමුවා   මැලේසියාවේ පන්සලක බෞද්ධ භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේකෙනෙකුට අතවරකලා. ඉන්දියාවේ සිටින ලාංකික දෙමළුන්  සිය ගණනනින් ලංකාවට එනවා. නමුත් උතුරෙන් හා නැගෙනහිරින් ත්‍රෂ්තවාදීන් විසින්  පලවා හරින ලද සිංහලයන්ට ආපුසු ගිහින් පදින්චි වන්න දෙමළුන් ඉඩදෙන්නේ නැ. කරුනුමෙසේවෙතත් යහපාලන කල්ලිය  මේ කිසිවක් ගණන්ගන්නේ නැතිව  සංහිදියාව වෙනුවෙන් කියා කියා දෙමලුන්ට තව තවත් වරප්‍රසාද දෙනවා.  

මොකක්ද මේ සංහිඳියාව ? දෙමලුයි මුසලිම් කාරයොයි  හිතා ගෙන ඉන්නේ සංහිඳියාව වෙනුවෙන් හැමදෙයක්ම කලයුත්තේ  සින්හලුන් පමනක් කියලද ? ඒ සඳහා ඔවුන් විසින් කලයුතු දෙයක් නැද්ද ? ටමිල් නාඩුවේ දෙමලුයි  මැලීසියාවේ දෙමලුයි අපේ  භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලාට ගහනකොට ලංකාවේ එක දෙමළෙක් විරොධ්යක් පලකලාද ? අපේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිතුමාට විරෝධය දක්වා එතුමාට අගෞරව කලාට ලංකාවේ එක දෙමළෙක් විරෝධය පළකලාද ?

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ සංවත්සරයට උතුරෙන් හා  නැගෙනහිරෙන්  දෙමලු 2000ක්  ගේන්ට දෙමලසන්ධානය පොරොන්දුවෙලා කුරුණෑගල රණවිරු ස්මාරකය අහක්කරන්නයි කිවාම සීරිසෙන කටවහගෙන ස්මාරකය අයින්කරලා මිනිසුන්ට කීවා පාර ලොකුකරන්නයි  ස්මාරකය අයින්කලේ කියලා.

ඒ සංවත්සර උත්සවයෙදී  ජනාධිපති සිරිසේන මහා හයියෙන් කතාකරලා කිවා අපි නියම ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පාක්ශිකයෝ අපි ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයේ ආණ්ඩුවක් වහාම පිහිටුවනවා කියලා. ඒ කියන කතාව බොරුවක් නේ  බණ්ඩාරනායක මහත්මයා යුඇන්පියෙන් වෙන්වෙලා ගිහින් වෙනමපක්ෂයක් පිහිටෙව්වේ  ආයෙත් සැරයක්  යුඇන්පියට මුක්කුගහන්න නොවේ.  එතුමා පිහිටෙව්වේ ලංකාවේ එදා තිබුණු වාමාන්ෂික පක්ෂත් සමග කටයුතු කරන්න පුළුවන් සමාජවාදී පක්ෂයක්. ඉතින් කොහොමද මේ උන්නැහේලා කියන්නේ උන්නැහෙලයි  නියම ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පාක්ශිකයෝ කියල.

අනිත් එක සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති  ඉක්මනින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයේ ආණ්ඩුවක් හදනවා කිව්වට කොහොමද එහෙමදෙයක් කරන්නේ. යුඇන්පී එකත් එක්ක මෑතකදී කොන්ත්රාත්තුවක් අත්සන්කලා  යහපාලන සමගි ආණ්ඩුවක් 2020 වෙනකම් පවත්වාගේනයනවා කියලා. ඒක  මිනිස්සුන්ට අමතකවෙලා නැ. සිරිසෙන ජනාධිපති  ආයිත්සැරයක්  හදන්නේ  මිනිස්සු ගොන්නුන්ට අන්දවන්න.

සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති  තවත් දෙයක් මහා ආඩම්බරයකින් හඞනගලා කීවා. මට හුඟ දෙනෙක් ගහනවා 

මම දුප්පත් පවූලකින් බිහිඋන නායකයෙක් මගේ පියා සොල්දාදුවෙක් රණවිරුවෙක් කියල. පියා සොල්ද්ක්දුවෙක් වෙන්න  පුළුවන් නමුත් රණවිරුවෙකුවෙන්න බැ. රණවිරුවෝ අපේ 

 ජාතියවෙනුවෙන් අපේ රටවෙනුවෙන් ත්‍රශ්තවාදය පරද්දපු  සොල්දාදුවෝයි.  දෙවන ලෝක යුද්දයට ගිය සොල්දාදුවොයි  අපේ රණවිරුවනුයි අතර වෙනසක් තියෙනවා.  

සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති තවත් කීවා, මම මහපොලොවෙන් තනකොලයෙන් ආපු මිනිහෙක්  කියල. නමුත් මහපොලොවෙන් තනකොලයෙන් ආපු හුඟක් මිනිස්සු හොඳ නරක දන්නා, කෙලිහිගුන දන්නා, අතීතය අමතක නොකරන ,වෛර ක්‍රෝධ හිතේ ධාරනයකරගන්නේ නැති බෞද්ධයෝ.  ඒ ගණයට නම් සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති දාගන්න අමාරුයි.

ඒ දුගී මිනිහෙකුගේ පැවැත්ම තිබුනානම් සිරිසේන මැතිතුමාට හොඳ අවස්ථාවක් තිබුනා  එදා රාජපක්ස මැතිතුමා සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති තුමා මුණගැහෙන්න ඇවිත්  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයේ සභාපතිකම භාරදුන්නවෙලාවේ පසුගියාව අමතකකරලා සුහදව පිළිගෙන අපි යන ගමන පුළුවන්තරම් එකට යමු කියල අලුත් මිතුරු දහමකට මුලපිරුවානම්.  ඊට පස්සේ  රනිල් චන්ද්‍රිකාටත්  කියල රාජපක්ස හොරු කියන විලිලජ්ජා කතාව නතරකරල රටටත් ජාතියටත් ප්‍රයෝජනවත් නියම  යහපාලන පිළිවෙතක් ගෙනයන්න තිබුණා. නමුත් මේ රාජපක්ෂ වෛරය නිසා අද රට සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම අගාදියට ගිහිල්ලයි තියෙන්නේ.

මේ අගාදියට යන ගමන නවත්තන්න ජේවීපී එකටවත් බැ. හොරු හොරු කියල රාජපක්ෂලා පන්නන්න හැදුවට නියම හොරු ඉන්නේ යහපාලනය ඇතුලේමයි. රනිල් එක්ක ඉන්න යාලුවෝ ගන්න. පස්කරලිංගම්, අර්ජුන් මහෙන්ද්‍රන්. මහෙන්ද්‍රන් රුපියල් බිලියන දෙකක හොරකම් කරල තියෙන එක වහන්න හදන්නේ රනිල් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා නේද ? මහෙන්ද්‍රන්  බැංකුවෙන් අස්කලාට එයාට අග්‍රමාත්‍යවරයාගේ උපදේසක තනතුරක් දිලතියෙනවා. මොකක්ද මේ රනිල් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාගේ සිංගප්පුරුවට තියෙන විශේෂ ඇල්ම ? එයා  නිතරම යන්නේ සිංගප්පුරුවට. මේක ටිකක් හොයලබලන්න වටින්නේ  නැද්ද ?

විශේෂයෙන්ම යෝශිත, නාමල්, බැසිල් වගේ අය අර්ජුන් මහෙන්ද්‍රන් වගේ හොර කමක්ද කරලතියෙන්නෙ ?  රාජපක්ශලා  අල්ලාගෙන කරන්නේ  මහා  විහුලුවක් නේද ,හෙනගහන තරම් අපරාදයක් නොවෙයිද ?  එෆ්සීඅයිඩි එක රනිල් ගේ බටලන්දේ පුරුද්දට හදපු ඔහුගේ පුද්ගලික පොලිසීයක් නොවෙයිද ?  

ඔය සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති එක්ක ඉන්න රජිත, ඇස්බි, කිරිඇල්ල සුදුපාට කොක්කුද ? අද පත්තරේ දැක්කා යහපාලන ඇමතියෙක් එයාගේ උපන්දින උත්සවයට රුපියල්  මිලියන 8ක් වියදම්කලා  කියල. කතාවනම් දෝලාවෙන් ගමනපයින්.

කොලඹ යුඇන්පී  මන්ත්‍රී මරික්කර් කට අරින්නේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ස මැතිතුමාටයි සන්ධානයේ මැතිවරුන්ටයි නින්දාසහගත ලෙස කතාකරන්නයිම් මුන් එක්ක සිංහලයොත් ඉන්නවා කියන ඒවා අනුමතකරන්න. මුන්ට සිංහලයෝ චන්දය දෙන්නත් හොඳනැ.  පුංචි උදව් බලාගෙන මුන්ට ආවඩන එක  සිංහලකමට වටින්නේ නැ. අසාද් ආලි කියන මිනිහත් මරික්කාර් වගේමයි. 

උතුර දැනටමත් දෙමළුන්ට දීලා සංහිඳීයාව වෙනුවෙන්. විග්නේශ්වරන් කතාකරන්නේ තමිල්නාඩුවේ ජයලලිතා , වෛකො වාගේ. අතුරුදහන්වුවන් පිලිබඳ කාර්යාලයක්  හිටවන්නට  ගත් තින්දුවට විරුද්ධවන්නට තරම් ධෛර්යයක් සිරිසෙන ජනාපතිට තිබුනේ නැ. ඒක මංගල සමරවීරටයි රනිල්ටයි ඔනවිධියට කෙරුණා.  එක්ටා ගිවිසුමටයි  තමිල්නාදුවයි  ලංකාවයි අතර පාලමත් රනිල්ට ඕනෑවිධියටම සිදුවෙයි. උනාට පස්සේ තමයි මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන අවදිවන්නේ. ලංකාවට ආදරයක් තියෙනවානම් සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති මත්තයෝ  අලුතෙන් ලියන්න යන ලංකාවේ ව්‍යවස්තාව ලියන්න ඉඩ දෙන්න එපා. 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථාවම සන්ෂෝධන වලින් වෙනස්කරමින් පවත්වාගෙන යා හැකයි. ඒකවත්කලොත්  ලංකාව දෙකඩවීම වත් නතරකරගන්න  පුලුවන්වේවී.

නැත්නම් ලංකාව විනාශයටපත්වුයේ  මහපොලොවෙන් තනකොලෙන්  ආ මිනිහෙකු රටෙනායකත්වයට ආ නිසායයි පවසන්නට ඉඩතිබේ.  සිරිසේන රනිල් චන්ද්‍රිකා කල්ලියට යහපාලනයෙන් ටිකක් හෝ යහපතක් කලහැක්කේ කරපින්නාගෙන සිටින  පලිගැනීමයි, ක්‍රෝධයයි, වයිරයයි, ඊර්ෂියාවයි අත්හැරියොත්  විතරයි. නැත්නම් මුන් ඔක්කම විනාශයට පත්වීමෙන් වලකාගත නොහැකියි.   

Shenali D Waduge

Question to Tamils & UN/IC: Give examples of discrimination to only Tamils. Tell us what Sinhalese & Muslims enjoy which is not legally given to Tamils in Sri Lanka?

Discrimination is the basis on which the Tamil politicians are arguing he need for a separate state and to rule their own. The discrimination card is being quoted by UN, foreign envoys and aid ctivists and promoted by profit seeking media to promote a separation of Sri Lanka without asking the fundamental uestion – where is the discrimination taking place and is discrimination exclusive to Tamils? This question is posed to the inhalese politicians of all political parties to answer as well. We cannot simply accept political claims to divide the nation without being told what these discriminations are. Moreover, a handful of examples cannot warrant a country to be divided ethnically. Blacks in America and in other parts of the world have been historically discriminated, currently the Black Americans are facing tremendous discrimination issues. Are they seeking a separate state in the US? Hindu Dalits are similarly discriminated against, are they seeking a separate state to rule themselves too?

This is a comment by one Sellathurai Narenthiran

Sinhalese never going to learn from the past. History is repeating here again as it happened many times since independence. I didn’t hear a single Sinhalese journalist or a single Sinhalese citizen said anything about the discrimination suffered by Tamils since independence. This is the curse for Ceylon.”

We all would seriously like to pin down what these discriminations we are being accused of committing are. So my response to Narenthiran was

can you please name these discriminations – discriminations that legally and constitutionally apply to only Tamils and which is not suffered by fellow Sinhalese and Muslims.. name discriminations suffered by ONLY TAMILS which are legally and constitutionally denied them”.

A very polite question desiring to know what the discriminations are.

The response I received from Sellathurai Narenthiran was

I don’t reply to idiots 😎”

Ok so I am an idiot asking a simple question that is on the minds of over 18million people wanting to know what Tamils were suffering from that the rest of the Sri Lankan citizenry were not.

My immediate response to Sellathurai Narenthiran was

This is what happens when cornered to give examples… the best route taken is replies like yours…”

This is the same case when the question is posed to Tamil political leaders. They will not answer the question and will rebuke the person asking the question by namecalling. No one will give direct answers with valid examples.

The few who do are quick to cite lack of development need to be reminded that LTTE was ruling a de facto state in the North. According to Janes Intelligence LTTE was making $300m profits annually but LTTE did not make a single road in the areas they ruled but they had enough money to make plush bunkers and air conditioned homes for themselves, LTTE did not spend on building a single school, LTTE did not allow children to study at least not low caste children – they were kidnapped and sent to LTTE orphanages where they were trained in armed combat. Areas in the deep Vanni did not have electricity because LTTE blew up the transformers. LTTE denied the people much but why is no one highlighting these?

If you asked Black Americans in the US how they were discriminated they would immediately give these as examples.

• We were denied the right to sit with a White American on buses
• We were not allowed to attend the same schools or go to the same churches as whites
• We were segregated – whites separate from blacks
• We were denied owning property,
• We were not allowed to vote
• We had separate film halls only for blacks
• We had separate water fountains to drink water
• We had to use separate public toilets/washrooms.. the list is long

The first Black judge to serve with the Supreme Court of US was in 1967 – Sri Lanka has lists of Tamils in prominent roles. The 70 years plus Chief Minister of the North ranting racism now was living all his life in Colombo amongst the Sinhalese and even became a Supreme Court judge. He has been living in the North of Sri Lanka only for the past 4 years while both his sons are married to Sinhalese.

Has things changed since and inspite of discrimination continuing all that the black Americans continue to say is ‘black lives matter’!

• Fair Employment Practices Commission has found that blacks face discrimination in one out of every five job interviews.
• The American Sociological Association notes tweak the hiring process to offer higher status jobs and pay to white employees.
• According to Huffington Post 123 blacks had been shot at by police in 2016 alone and there is still 4 months to go to complete the year! In 2015 the number of unarmed black Americans killed was 105 http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/ and black Americans constitute 13% of the US population (The Tamils constitute 12% of the Sri Lankan population)

Can Tamils produce examples such as that which the black Americans suffered? Inspite of their sufferings the blacks did not demand a separate state within a united America. All that the blacks asked for was equality and end to racism.

Let us take the next example from India.

Dalits form around 16.6% of India’s population. Half of India’s Dalits live in 4 states (UP, West Bengal, Bihar & Tamil Nadu).

The state of Tamil Nadu literally means state for Tamils. 99% of the populace in Tamil Nadu are Tamils. Is life honky dory in Tamil Nadu?

• 250 Tamil dalits turn to Islam for being kept out of kovils http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/tamil-nadu-dalit-discrimination-conversion-islam-prohibited-enter-temple-2939695/
• Dalits vs Non-Dalits in Tamil Nadu – http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/its-now-dalits-vs-nondalits/article7386959.ece
• There are over 200million Dalits in India – http://idsn.org/india-official-dalit-population-exceeds-200-million/

This is crucial to negating the demand that TNA and Wigneswaran are making seeking a separate state with devolved powers within a united Sri Lanka to rule their own. A state with 99% Tamils, where rulers are Tamils, where Tamil language and Tamil culture is given prominence suffers vices of caste discrimination, corruptions, inequality all that which every country in the world experiences. This state with 99% Tamils is having the same or more problems as other nations. How can creating separate mono-ethnic states be a solution to problems when problems can never be solved by compartmentalizing people.

We should also like to question why Tamils living in areas outside of the North have no problems living with Sinhalese but Tamils living among their own in the North (which is 99% occupied by Tamils) claim to want to separate from Sinhalese. We cannot understand this logic!

Similarly if there are issues, these can be solved administratively. You cannot take the extreme step of dividing the nation. It is wrong of the UN and western foreign interest groups to promote mono-ethnic new states as has been done in Kosovo and South Sudan where years after the division we see that the blueprint is a total failure. We do not wish to have Sri Lanka enter this failed list too.

At the same time we are also trying to understand which is a bigger problem – the pretense or hype about discrimination by the Sinhalese (which is yet to be proved) or the caste problem that exists among Tamils which will never cease and will become worse under their own rule.

We can give ample examples for this.

• During the 1983 UNP-led/RAW instigated attacks on Tamils the refugee camps were facing bigger issues. High caste Tamils refused to share toilet facilities with low caste Tamils and the security forces had to put up separate toilets as a result. The same scenario arose after May 2009 too.

• In Colombo where Tamils live in majorities in areas like Wellawatte, Dehiwela, Kotahena etc… high caste Tamils will not even entertain low caste Tamils – some even have separate cups to serve them. There are families who have not spoken to their children or even looked at their grandchildren because they have married out of caste.

We can give another example.

• In 1957 the Social Disabilities Prevention Act 21 was introduced to end caste/class dynamics. Guess who wrote to the British rulers to stop the Act! The Tamil elite objected to this Bill because it enabled low caste Tamil children to gain education and even though the Bill was passed the Tamil elites forced these low caste Tamil children to sit on the floor and study.

• The other example was the standardization. The elite among Tamils and Sinhalese objected because the Act paved the way for children of less privileged districts/provinces to enter university. High caste Tamils were enjoying a disproportionate number of university seats. Standardization enabled rural Tamils to benefit which the high caste/class Tamils did not like. In 1982, 35% of doctors, 35% of engineers, 33% of accountants, 39% veterinary surgeons, 30% of surveyors were Sri Lankan Tamils!

To be qualified to accuse others of discrimination shouldn’t Tamils not discriminate against their own? When Tamil elites do not allow lowcaste Tamils to enter a kovil to pray where is the human rights and how farcical are these claims of discrimination?

What is the discrimination that ONLY Tamils suffer has to be answered by all parties telling the world there is a problem and presenting solutions. The UN, NGOs and foreign envoys cannot present their notion of solutions without presenting the problem first.

We will not accept tweakings to the constitution paving way for a separate Tamil only state while giving rights for Tamils to live in all parts of the island but barring Sinhalse from living and owning property in the North and East. With time with India making inroads in Central Province through the Estate Tamils, the calls will come to separate that area as well. Sri Lanka is not a piece of cake for people to cut out as they please.

People of all communities are living and working harmoniously. We are all friends and we have fond memories of good times spent together. We laugh together, we share food with each other, we celebrate festivities together, we have our bad times and good times but bad times can’t be solved by carving out an area and declaring it a separate state. This is why we are asking Tamils, the TNA, the UN, paid activists & NGOs and even Sinhala politicians the simple question tell us what the Tamils suffer that Sinhalese & Muslims do not suffer from, tell us what rights are legally denied to Tamils only.

It is totally unacceptable that the UN and vested foreign groups are mixing up the terrorist issue to divide the nation drowning down our throats all sorts of hyped up notions that do not make sense.

Ours is an island nation. We have a long and proud history because ours is not a created country like America, Canada, Australia or even India. We have heroes who have fought enemies to defend the nation and throughout history we have lost our independence only because of local traitors who have handed over our country to the enemy and have been proud of being servants of the enemy. There are enough of ඉඟුරු දී මිරිස් ගත්තාවාගේ stories we can recount.

We are against changing the new constitution to pave the way for a separate Tamil Only administration in the North or a similar such in the East using bogus claims of discrimination unless we are told what it is the discrimination that is taking place. It is appalling that the UN, the so-called international community and even the Sinhala politicians are allowing a terrorist problem to be mixed up with other political gameplans to allow our island nation to be divided and separated which will create more chaos than solve problems.

Shenali D Waduge

Dr D.Chandraratna, Perth

The editorial in the Island (3/10) on the visit of the UNSG was indignant enough to provoke thinking. The thinking alone, if not the SG’s probe, hopefully will bring some consolation to the suffering inflicted on citizens, not only Tamils, by the LTTE whose political foot soldiers were the TNA. Placed in the context of the inertia and monumental failures of this organization the silence on the part of the SG on many issues will not be a surprise to the discerning. That the UN has been the most unproductive international body since the Second World War is well known. It has created one of the world’s largest non-governmental bureaucracy, with the highest pension and salary structure, (tax free), is also mired in pervasive corruption, which has failed to improve its own much-maligned accountability.

The regimes of the previous seven Secretaries General will suffice to illustrate the disappointing history of the UN. The First SG Norwegian Trygve Lie resigned after Soviet Union protested his partiality. The UN under U Thant doubled the size of the UN recording a massive deficit of $175 million more than the size of its annual budget. His withdrawal of the Sinai peacekeepers triggered the six-day War between the Arabs and Israel. His successor Kurt Waldheim claimed rather unconvincingly not to know anything of the massacres of civilians when he was an Oberleutenant in the German Wehrmacht. Boutros-Ghali supplied $35 million worth of weapons in 1990 to the Ruanda regime as Egyptian foreign Minister to the Hutus to kill the Tutsis two years into his regime as UNSG. During his term the Balkans also suffered a series of massacres and he agreed that ‘Disillusion had set in’ after the Cold War. Mr Ban Ki-Moon presided over the current horrendous disaster in the Middle East and as the Chief Administrator, Diplomat and Public relations Chief must bear some of the responsibility. The sad part is that Mr Moon has come belatedly to Sri Lanka probing accountability issues when ‘for nearly 25 years the UN doing precious little to help tackle a terrorist group hell bent on destroying a UN member state’.

While the SG with UNICEF pathetically failed to liberate the child soldiers from the clutches of the Tigers after millions of Dollars in numerous failed projects the TNA is shamelessly leading the protest groups about missing persons about which they were guilty by association when the LTTE went on the conscription rampage. The TNA and Wigneswarams should understand that their defiant demand for the international parties to conduct the investigations to make them 100 percent accurate (in MR Sumanthiran’s words) seems ludicrous when these international parties were guilty of assisting LTTE activists who raised funds and coordinated terrorist activities internationally to destroy so many lives plunging, as the editor noted,  ‘this country into a conflagration’, but now dubiously canvassing only the last phase to be probed so that the West can get away scot-free. Justice seems to be on the side of the mighty as the Greek philosophers said many moons ago.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/115325/Lawyer-files-FR-petition-on-safeguarding-fostering-Buddha-Sasana#sthash.XaWkmAO4.dpuf

  Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/115354/MS-a-Terminator-sent-by-UNP-PHU#sthash.P0U3Lj5o.dpuf

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/115344/Ford-Mustang-bought-with-vehicle-permit-MR#sthash.RC8BKYiW.dpuf

MEERA SRINIVASAN Courtesy The Hindu

​​After completing her AS levels (Class 11) at a Colombo school, Sasmithaa Manickam is exploring options in higher education. If her dream materialises, she might, in a couple of years, be sitting amidst peers at a premier institution in India, learning the fundamentals of computer science engineering.

​The high school student has set her eyes on the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). I got to know about the IITs while reading about top techies in places like Google. I have also heard a lot about the institutes from my friends and relatives living in India,” she said after an interactive session with visiting academics from the IITs on Monday.

A team of six IIT professors is in Sri Lanka to orient students to the IIT admission process. Earlier this year, the IITs announced plans to hold entrance examinations abroad — in Singapore, UAE, Ethiopia and SAARC nations. Following that, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, along with the Ministry of External Affairs, has begun its outreach activities.

The initiative enables foreign nationals to compete for IIT seats for the first time. Until now, the entrance examinations were held in other countries only to admit Indians living abroad. The IITs have made it to top slots in some international ranking lists. However, admitting more foreign students will put the IITs at an even higher level globally,” said Santosh J. Gharpure, Associate Professor, IIT-Bombay.

The quality of education, resources and faculty are comparable to some of the best engineering schools in the world, he told a small group of students gathered at the Indian Cultural Centre here. The discussion was organised by the Indian High Commission in Colombo.

Foreign nationals will be admitted to undergraduate and post-graduate programmes of the IITs from 2017-18. They could appear for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) in Sri Lanka, on the same day and time, like aspirants in India, but unlike Indian students — who will take the JEE main exam and then advanced exam should they qualify for it — ​foreign students ​can appear for the JEE-advanced examination directly. ​

The IITs will add seats to their existing pool, opening up a new space where foreign nationals compete with ​each other, without any change to the admission process that Indian students go through.

​​An international brand

Sri Lanka has for long been setting an example in the region with its highly-regarded public school and university system. However, the last few years have witnessed a stronger push for private education in the island.

​Moreover, many high school students, particularly those from Colombo, are increasingly considering higher education abroad — even at the undergraduate level — targeting schools in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. For students in the humanities, New Delhi and Bangalore have been among their preferred destinations.

Soon, students who aspire to pursue an engineering degree may also consider schools right across the Palk Bay, now that the IITs have opened their gates to them. To start with, it is so close by. The courses also tend to be more affordable than in the West,” said Kavishna Sekar, who wants to study chemical engineering.

The IITs have so far had international students, mostly as part of exchange programmes. This sort of diversity will be great for Indian students. So it’s an advantage not just to the foreign students, but a great value addition to the experience of our students in India as well. It’s a win-win situation,” said U.K. Anandavardhanan, associate professor from the mathematics department of IIT-Bombay.

The professors said they would hold a similar session in Jaffna.

BY HARIZ MOHD  Courtesy NEW STRAITS TIMES

PETALING JAYA: Selangor police have set up a special investigation team to probe Sunday’s assault on Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia Ibrahim Sahib Ansar at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

Selangor police chief Datuk Abdul Samah Mat said they have also acquired a three-day remand order against five suspects arrested in connection with the incident.

The men, aged between 27 and 56, and four others still at large, are being investigated under Section 147 of the Penal Code for rioting.

“Following the incident, police have set up a special investigation team and between 5pm Sunday and 7am yesterday (Monday), they have managed to trace and arrest five suspects.

They are being remanded for three days until tomorrow (Wednesday). “Three of them were detained in Sungai Siput, Perak, while two others were nabbed in Dengkil and Rawang (Selangor).

“A manhunt is ongoing for four others whom police have identified,” he told reporters at the district police headquarters, here today. Abdul Samah was attending the state police monthly assembly.

He said police are also looking into the backgrounds of individuals and organisations who lodged 47 reports against former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit here.

The probe is to, among others, determine if there were any affiliations between the complainants and the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organisation.

Abdul Samah said initial investigations revealed that the attack on Ibrahim was linked to the protests against Rajapaksa’s visit.

When asked on why there were no security details assigned to provide protection to the envoy at KLIA, he said police was not informed of Ibrahim’s plan to send a Sri Lankan minister to the airport.

He said the two policemen who broke up the attack on Ibrahim were also not aware of the envoy’s identity until much later.

On criticism hurled at police that the policemen had failed to make immediate arrests on those who attacked Ibrahim, Abdul Samah said the policemen’s concern at the time was to stop a fight and rescue the victim.

It was reported that Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said police are investigating the case according to procedures under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

The preventive law is also used to probe local groups which demonstrated support for LTTE, which has been banned by the United Nations, during their protests against Rajapaksa’s visit.  Selangor police have set up a special investigation team to probe Sunday’s assault on Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia Ibrahim Sahib Ansar at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/09/171134/police-form-special-investigative-team-probe-sri-lankan-envoy-assault?

Posted by Yashaswani Sehrawat Courtesy India Today

This astrologer Vijayamuni is the  naval officer who tried to hit rajiv Gandhi with the rifle at the guard of honour at Gall Face during JRJ presidency.

https://youtu.be/C5ykOt6USWg

By Noor Nizam. Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLFP Stalwart and Convener – “The Muslim Voice” – Sept. 5th., 2016.

The Muslim Voice” vehemently denounces this attack on our High Commissioner to Malaysia – HE. Ibrahim Sahib Ansar, and the Chief monk of the Sri Lankan Buddhist temple in Sentul, KL, Malaysia by the LTTE gangs of Indian origin as reported.

“The Muslim Voice” wishes HE. Ibrahim Sahib Ansar early recovery from the attack and return to his family, Insha Allah. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka making just a statement that they strongly condemn these attack is not enough.

The government of Sri Lanka should take all necessary steps to demand the Malaysian Government to track down these Indian origin LTTE culprits and bring them before the “Rule of Law” in Malaysia at the earliest and appropriate punishment should be mooted against them.

The Malaysian Police, Airport Security and the Government of Malaysia should tender a formal apology to HE. Ibrahim Sahib Ansar and the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and the Government of Sri Lanka and assure that such a repetition will not occur in the future.

“The Muslim Voice” expresses its concern especially because HE. Ibrahim Mohamed is a member of the Sri Lankan Muslim Community who is a longstanding and respected career diplomat of the Sri Lankan Foreign Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka and the Buddhist monk a native of Sri Lanka, a brother community in Sri Lanka.

“The Muslim Voice” is also concerned about the behaviour of the Sri Lankan High Commission staff member who was accompanying the High Commissioner as the video shows “body language signs” that this official ran away leaving the High Commissioner to be beaten up and later appears casually holding his cellphone camera and pretending to look for something on the floor.

Forensic analysis of this situation will tell the motive behind this officials actions which has to be probed at a high level by the Malaysian police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka.

Muslim Civil Society movements/groups and Muslim politicians should take up this matter with the government and also bring it to parliament for discussion.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

.මේ ලෝකය තුල සිදුවෙන දෑ දෙස ඉතා සුපරික්‍ෂාකාරීව බලන විට, සමහර විශේෂිත දෑ සිදුකිරීම සදහා, විශේෂිත කණ්ඩායම් මේ ලෝකය වෙත මුදා හරින යම් බලවේගයන් ඇති බව මනාව අවබෝධවේ. ඒ අනුව, බණ්ඩාරනායක නම්වූ චරිතය ඒ බලවේගයන්ගේ නිර්මාණයක් ලෙස සඳහන් කලයුතුමය.

බණ්ඩාරනායක නම්වූ මේ චරිතය, එදා මේ රට තුලවූ බලවත්ම, ධනවත්ම, වංශක්කාරම, පවුලක් තුල උපත ලබාගෙන, එවන් පවුල් තුල ඇති, සැප සම්පත්තීන් බුක්තිවිදිමින් කමින්, බොමින්, නටමින්, සෙල්ලක්කාර, සල්ලාල ජීවිතයක් ගෙවනු වෙනුවට, ඒ පවුල් සංස්කෘතීන්ට අදාල නොවෙන, මේ රටේ ජීවත් වෙන දුගී දුප්පත් ජනතාව මුහුණ දෙන ගැටළු ගැන සිතමින්,  ඔවුනගේ ගැටළු විසදීම අරමුණු කරගෙන, ඒ සඳහා සැලසුම් කරමින්, කුසට හරිහැටි ආහාරයක් නොගනිමින් ඉගෙනීම ආභරණයක් කර නොගනිමින් කල සමාජ සත්කාරය අපට කියාපාන්නේ, ඔහු තුල ඇති, අතිවිශේෂ සවභාවයයි.

බණ්ඩාරනායක නම්වූ චරිතයට ඉටුකිරීමට විශේෂිතවූ කාර්‍යභාරයක් නිශ්චිත බලවේගයක් විසින් පවරා තිබිණ. ඒ බැරෑරුම් කාර්‍යය ඉටුකිරීම සඳහා  ඒ බලවේගය සෑම සියලු පහසුකමක්ම එතුමාට උරුමකරදී ඉදිරියට මෙහෙයවන විට, බණ්ඩාරනායක නම්වූ රූපකායද තම වගකීම් මනාව ඉටුකරන ලදී. මේ අනුව බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාට, අන් සියල්ලක් මෙන්ම, විවාහයද පෙර සැලසුම්ගතව නිර්මිතව තිබුණ අතර, ඒ අනුව එතුමා විවාහ දිවියට ඇතුලත්ව සිය කාර්‍යයන් ක්‍රමවත්ව සිදුකරමින් වර්‍ෂ 1951 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 2 වෙනිදා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂය බිහි කරන ලදී.

මේ සඳහන් කරන කරුණු සත්‍ය නම්, ඔබතුමාව ඊට පසුදින හොරගොල්ල වලව්වට කිට්ටු වටපිටාවකදීම ගම්පහ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ යාගොඩ නම්වූ ග්‍රාමයේ ජීවත්වූ සාමාන්‍ය ගැමියෙකුට දාව මේ උප්පත්තිය  සිදුකොට මේ රටේ පාලන බලයත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂයේ නායකත්වයත් ඔබතුමාගේ අතට ලබා ගැනීමට කටයුතු සම්පාදනය කලේ ඒ බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාව නිර්මාණය කල බලවේගයමද? නැත්නම් වෙනත් බලවේගයක්ද? යන ගැටළුව සමාජය ඉදිරියේ ඇත. ඔබ කවුද? ඔබතුමාට ඉතිහාසය විසින් පවරා ඇති කාර්‍යය කුමක්දැයි අපද බලා සිටින්නෙමු.

Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai, Sri Lankan Association of Muslim Women & Girls Dehiwela

It is heartening to see many institutes have taken interest in controlling Dengue. It will be very profitable if all get onto a single plan and mode of action and work hand in hand.

Actually if only the housewives can be persuaded to take the responsibility of making sure there are no breeding place for mosquitoes by and by  the mosquitos will die. This can be done by the housewives  in 4 steps.

1.0  Declare Sunday 10 am as National Anti-Dengue Hour. Since the eggs of the mosquitoes take at least 10 days to hatch checking  once a week regularly will prevent them from breeding.

The whole nation must take interest in making sure to inspect the house premises and the gardens to check for possible dengue breeding places. A check list chart similar to the following to be used in every household every Sunday.

2. Garbage disposal into a covered container, either a compost bin, old bucket or even a pit but keep covered. The government can issue free compost bin to every household or give at a concessionary price. The housewives to be educated to put in ALL THE PERISHABLE  GARBAGE  into containers so that they are not lying around to collect water.  It is good that they are already segregating NON PERISHABLES  separately and handing over to the garbage collectors.
3. To encourage planting and growing  mosquito repellant plants such as maduru thala, sera, mint, vinka ( mini mal) in every household, in pots, milk packet bags or on the ground. Plant these even on the roadsides.
4. To set up mosquito  traps as follows:

Boil one cup of water with half a cup of sugar until all the sugar is dissolved;  let it cool; add half a teaspoon of yeast and pour into the prepared plastic  bottles as follows. Wrap them in newspapers or dark papers and leave them around the house and in the garden in shady areas; these attract the

The state must take 4 steps:

1. Daily reminders in the  Mass media –in TV, Radio, newspapers for the housewives to keep their surrounding mosquito free.
2. Dengue detection team- train them to educate and assist  the house holders in a friendly manner  to  keep a  mosquito  free environment
3. Printing simple, easy to read  leaflets in all three  languages and distributing to each and every household  through municipality workers  and paste Posters all over the island reminding of the responsibility of every citizens to help curb dengue.
4. Lane to lane meetings of housewives to encourage the activities

HERMES Courtesy The Island

According to several analysts and columnists, the Yahapalana government has mended relations with the West, which had been badly damaged by the previous government. This point of view is simply not correct. The truth of the matter is that when the previous government wanted to conduct the war against the LTTE to a conclusion and rid the country of terrorism to save the people, the Western powers did their utmost to stop the war. The Rajapaksa government did not obey the orders of the West because it had the interest of the country at heart. Whereas, the present government has bent backwards to obey the dictates of the West, and co-sponsor a treacherous UNHRC Resolution that is inimical to the sovereignty and independence of the country.

The previous government saved the country at the cost of good relations with the West, while the present government mended those relations at the cost of independence of the country. This is the truth that everybody knows, whatever may be said to the contrary. If the previous government had listened to the West, bombs would still have been going off all over the country. It is now very easy for people to talk about foreign relations because they have a land to live in and talk without few. Now it is very easy for people to say that if Mahinda Rajapaksa had won the election, there would not have been any reconciliation between communities. If Prabhakaran had been alive, there would not have been a country for them to live in and make these utterances. How quickly have we forgotten everything!

We must understand why the West which was leading the campaign against terrorism in the world wanted the war against the worst terrorist group to be stopped. And when they failed to stop the war, they were frantically trying to rescue Prabhakaran! The previous government thwarted all those manoeuvers and succeeded in taking the war to its conclusion. Obviously, the West did not want the annihilation of the LTTE. They wanted it to remain a viable fighting unit in Sri Lanka and keep the country in a destabilized state, so that the West could retain a foothold here and pursue their geopolitical agenda in the region. LTTE was their tool.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, who did not obey their orders, had shown clearly that he was anti-imperialist and would not hesitate to get assistance from friendly countries like China and Russia, who unlike the West had no intention of intruding into our affairs. The West did not like what was happening, particularly the involvement of their rival powers in Sri Lanka. China’s assistance went a long way in developing this country; only those who refuse to see would deny that. These are the reasons for the West to fall out with Rajapaksa and help his enemies to defeat him. Rajapaksa did not make any special effort or blunders to spoil the relations with the West. He knew who our friends were and who the enemy. LTTE was our prime enemy and friends of our enemy were our enemies too.

As mentioned earlier, has the present government made any brilliant diplomatic manoeuvering to mend the relations with the West? All it has done was to unashamedly co-sponsor a UNHRC Resolution, which helped the West to get a grip on the affairs of the country. One could see how this move has helped the West to interfere in all crucial matters like national security, economy, constitution making, enactment of new laws like the Office for Missing Persons, and also promote divisive tendencies by frequently meeting and holding discussions with separatists. This is what the West has wanted all along and this is what Rajapaksa did not allow to happen. The present government has, for political expedience and personal vendetta, capitulated disregarding the country’s independence, whereas the previous government vehemently resisted all the imperialist forces in the interest of the country. All this shows the weakness of this government and the strength of the previous government with regard to foreign relations, not the opposite.

N. A. de S. AmaratungaA way out of ethnic imbroglio

I thought of writing this short note to commend Izeth Hussain, on the excellent article he wrote under the above title, published in The Island of the 27th ultimo. As readers of The Island may know, Izeth H, who is a regular contributor to The Island, is a retired Senior Foreign Service officer, who writes perceptively on a wide range of subjects of topical interest.

I find his contributions to be of immense value as IH, with his knowledge and wide experience distances himself from the prejudices and the biases that tend to creep in, even unwittingly, particularly when one analyses emotive issues of high sensitivity. In addressing the topic at hand, IH has shown remarkable perspicacity, in the candid manner he has handled contentious issues relating to a topic which affects minority ethnic groups, including the one to which he himself belongs. He has identified correctly the Western interlopers and spoilers (America and its Western allies) who, with their destructive, unwarranted meddling, have exacerbated problems here in SL. He has, further, unequivocally stated that these so called good Samaritans were pathologically prejudiced against SL whilst being very much supportive of the LTTE terrorists pursuing their separatist cause. They take it for granted that they have the prerogative right to intimidate small nations into submitting to their diktats, by constantly breathing down their necks. Strangely enough, IH has been somewhat charitable towards the Norwegian mediators and the ‘well intentioned efforts’ made by them to broker a negotiated peace settlement, all of which had according to him, gone awry due to the intransigence of the LTTE. I am sure the majority of the readers will not subscribe to this view, as it became abundantly clear by the partiality shown by the Norwegians towards the LTTE, particularly by their importunate insistence that the terrorists could never be defeated! The West, as well as the Norwegians, had their clandestine networks working in concert all the time, to bolster the LTTE in every conceivable way, while concurrently, enervating the Security Services, both materially and morally.

Now that the LTTE is no more, IH proffers sagely counsel to the Tamil minority to desist from pursuing their wild ‘ignis fatuus’ dream, of a separate homeland for themselves, and to resolve even at this late stage, to live in amity and harmony with the other communities within a democratically administered unified country, with due emphasis being laid on the fundamental principles of Equity and Justice. IH however, eschews a devolutionary arrangement based on ethnicity as this would only lead to the perpetuation of racial tensions and the resultant conflicts.

IH’s proposal would certainly be the ideal basis for a durable democratic settlement of the problem, if the Tamil leaders could convince themselves and the Tamil people, of its eminent desirability and feasibility. If however, the option is to have a devolution package as a viable alternative arrangement, the one likely to appeal to all concerned may be to have the District as the basic unit of devolution (whilst retaining police and land powers with the Centre), along with suitable power sharing arrangements at Cabinet level, to be made at the Centre.

HERMES

Editorial Courtesy The Island

President Maithripala Sirisena waxed eloquent at the SLFP’s 65th session in Kurunegala on Sunday. Calling upon all SLFPers to unite, he made a solemn vow to form an SLFP government. The SLFP, he said, would contest the next local government polls under its own hand symbol. Is it that the UPFA is now kaput? Or, does the President want UPFA constituents to contest under the SLFP symbol?

Intriguingly, President has said he was still an SLFP member when he contested the last presidential election, where he, with the help of the UNP, the TNA etc defeated the candidate of the SLFP-led UPFA, Mahinda Rajapaksa. The first thing he did after being sworn in as President was to sack the then SLFP-led government, consisting of 126 MPs representing the SLFP, about 24 MPs from other UPFA constituents and some UNP crossovers. He did so in keeping with a pre-election pledge that he would make the then Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Prime Minister (who had only 46 MPs) upon being elected. Thereafter, he prevented the SLFP-led UPFA from winning the last parliamentary polls by making public statements and addresses to the nation aimed at scuttling Rajapaksa’s attempt to become Prime Minister; those utterances demoralised the SLFP voters beyond measure and stood the UNP in good stead. The President successfully thwarted his bete noire’s determined effort to make a comeback as the PM and challenge his authority, but his gain proved to be the SLFP’s loss. After the polls, he prevented a group of 51 SLFP and other UPFA MPs from becoming the official Opposition and, thereby, ensured Rajapaksa would become an ordinary MP. Now, he is vowing to form an SLFP government!

President Sirisena’s act of sacking the SLFP-led administration last year and helping form UNP-led government to achieve his political objectives reminds us of a pithy local saying, which, roughly rendered into English, means breaking an atuwa (traditional paddy storage bin made of strong hardwood) to make a putuwa (chair). When he says he now wants to form an SLFP government one wonders whether he is planning to break the putuwa to rebuild the atuwa!

When President Sirisena sacked the SLFP-led government he declared that he was brininging the two main parties together for the good of the country. He reiterated that claim when he and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe formed what is being flaunted as the national unity government after the last general election. (This power sharing arrangement they craftily adopted to circumvent a constitutional restriction on the number of ministerial posts does not stand up to legal scrutiny. For, the parties that have to come together to form a national government, according to the 19th Amendment, are the UNP and the UPFA, which contested the last parliamentary polls, and not the SLFP which was only a constituent of the UPFA.)

We were also told that the longstanding, acrimonious power struggle between the SLFP and the UNP had been the bane of the country; the two parties had been vying for power at the expense of the national interests, both the President and the Prime Minister said. The way forward was for the SLFP and the UNP to sink their difference and unite, they insisted. That move earned the President and the Prime Minister international acclaim as well. Even some panjandrums of western governments who may not know where on earth Sri Lanka is, sent congratulatory messages. The civil society organisations painted the town red, welcoming as they did the ‘national unity government’, which they claimed was a long felt need to bring about national progress and reconciliation. They also vowed to defend it to the hilt.

Alas, now, President Sirisena wants to bring the national unity government to an end, to all intents and purposes, and form an SLFP government! Have the SLFP and the UNP accomplished their mission––bringing about national reconcilation and progress––for them to consider parting company?

President Sirisena’s assertion that he did not leave the SLFP to contest the last presidential election though he entered the fray as the New Democratic Front candidate and, therefore, he could take over the party after his victory is counterproductive. For, the SLFP dissidents can now follow suit; they can contest the next LG polls from another party without leaving the SLFP and claim they have not violated the party discipline and, therefore, they cannot be sacked.

උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින කතුවැකිය

ඩයස්‌පෝරාව මේ රටේදී “කානිවල්” දමන්නට සූදානම් වූයේ දැනට වසර එකහමාරකට පමණ උඩදීය. දැන් එම ඩයස්‌පෝරාව මේ රටේදී නටන්නට සූදානම් කරගෙන සිsටි කානිවල් සහ කොටි නාඩගම් මැලේසියාවේදී නටන්නට පටන්ගෙන ඇති බව පෙනේ. ඉතා නුදුරේදීම මේ පෙරහුරුව මේ රටේදී නටන වෙස්‌ නැටුමක්‌ බවට පරිවර්තනය වීමේ ඉඩකඩ බොහොමත්ම වැඩිය. මැලේසියානු මහ කොමසාරිස්‌ අයි. අන්සාර්ට සහ දෙවැනි මහලේකම් එල්. ආර්. සෙන්දනායක මහත්මියට ක්‌වාලාලම්පූර් ගුවන්තොටුපළේදී එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ. සංවිධානයට සම්බන්ධ දෙමළ ඩයස්‌පෝරාවේ පිරිස්‌ විසින් පෙරේදා දහවල් පහරදෙනු ලැබූ බව ඊයේ වාර්තා වී තිබිණි. ඒ මේ දිනවල මැලේසියාවේ සංචාරයක නිරත වන හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා සමග එම ගමනට සහභාගිවූ දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මන්ත්‍රීවරයා ගුවන්තොටුපළට ඇරලවීමට පැමිණි මොහොතේය. කොහොමත් මේ “ඩයස්‌ප්‍රොaඩාව” මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා එරටට ගිය මොහොතේ සිටම අඩව් ඇල්ලූ බව වාර්තා විණි. හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා මැලේසියාවේදී ආගමික වතාවත් සඳහා සහභාගි වීමට සිටි විහාරස්‌ථානයකට කඩා පැන ඇති මෙම ගහල ඩයස්‌ප්‍රොaඩාකාරයන් විහාරස්‌ථානයට දැඩි ලෙස අලාභහානි කරමින් යකා නැටූ බව විදෙස්‌ මාධ්‍ය පවා වාර්තා කර තිබිණි. මේ තිරිසනුන් මේ ආකාරයෙන් යකා නටන්නේ සංහිඳියාව පිළිබඳව කතා කරන අතරවාරයේය. බෙදුම්වාදයට කත් අදින පජාතිකයන් වැදි බණ දෙසන අතරවාරයේය. මේ සිදුවීම් පැහැදිලිවම පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ ත්‍රස්‌තවාදය පරාජය කළ මුත් බෙදුම්වාදීන් තවමත් සටන අතහැර නැති බවය. ඒ කොටි හිතවාදීන්ට නැවත කොතැනකින් හෝ “ත්‍රස්‌තවාදය” සමග එළිබසින්නට මෙවැනි “නැටුම්” අවශ්‍යයය. ඒ ගැන බොහෝ දෙනෙක්‌ තේරුණත් නොතේරුණ ගාණට සිටිය ද රට ගැන හිතන රටේ ජනතාවට එසේ සිටීමට බැරි බව කිව යුතුය.

“සංහිඳියාව” ගැන කතා කරන කාටත් කිව යුත්තේ ඔය කියන අපූරු සංහිඳියාවට හොඳම ඉඩකඩ විවර වූයේ 2009 වර්ෂයේ යුද්ධය අවසන් වූ මොහොතේම බවය. ජාත්‍යන්තරය ගාවා නොගෙන රට තුළ සංහිඳියාව ගොඩනැඟීම අසීරුවී තිබෙන්නේ ද ඩයස්‌ප්‍රොaඩාවේ කුමන්ත්‍රණ නිසාය. එවැනි ඩයස්‌ප්‍රොaඩාවක්‌ ගැන අප තවමත් අවතක්‌සේරු කිරීම එතරම් හොඳ නැත.

කීර්ති වර්ණකුලසූරිය උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

මැලේසියන් ඉන්ඩියන් ප්‍රොaගේසිව් ප්‍රන්ට්‌, මැලේසියන් ටැමිලන් හෙවත් නාම්තමිලර් සහ මැලේසියන් ඉන්ඩියන් එඩියුකේෂන් ට්‍රාන්ස්‌පෝටේෂන් ඇසෝසියේෂන් නැමැති ඊලම්වාදී සංවිධාන මෙම ප්‍රහාරයට සම්බන්ධ බව තවදුරටත් අනාවරණය වී තිබේ.

එච්. අයි. ඊ. ටී. ඒ. නමින් හඳුන්වන සංවිධානය මෙහෙයවන්නේ ඒ ඊලන්ගෝවන් නැමැති ඊලම්වාදී ද්‍රවිඩයෙකි.

* සෙන්තුල් විහාරාධිපතිට ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කිරීම මෙහෙයවූයේ ඉලන්ගෝවන්

* ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ කොමසාරිස්‌ට පහරදීම පිටුපස නාම්තමිලර්

මැලේසියාවේ සුප්‍රසිද්ධ සෙන්තුල් බෞද්ධ විහාරාධිපති පූජ්‍ය සරණංකර නාහිමියන්ට සහ මැලේසියාවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ කොමසාරිස්‌ අන්සාර්ට ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කිරීමට මූලිකවූ කොටි හිතවාදීන් දැන් හෙලිවී ඇත.

මැලේසියන් ඉන්ඩියන් ප්‍රොaගේසිව ප්‍රන්ට්‌, මැලේසියන් ටැමිලන් හෙවත් නාම්තමිලර් සහ මැලේසියන් ඉන්ඩියන් එඩියුකේෂන් ට්‍රාන්ස්‌පෝටේෂන් ඇසෝසියේෂන් නැමැති ඊලම්වාදී සංවිධාන මෙම ප්‍රහාරයට සම්බන්ධ බව තවදුරටත් අනාවරණය වී තිබේ.

එච්. අයි. ඊ. ටී. ඒ. නමින් හඳුන්වන සංවිධානය මෙහෙයවන්නේ ඒ ඊලන්ගෝවන් නැමැති ඊලම්වාදී ද්‍රවිඩයෙකි.

ඉලන්ගෝවන් සෙන්තුල් විහාරය අසලට ගොස්‌ යුද අපරාධකරුට පන්සලට ඇතුළුවීමට අවසර නොදෙන ලෙසත් මැලේසියාවේ සියලුම බෞද්ධ විහාරවලට තමා අනතුරු අඟවන බවත් කියමින් තර්ජනය කරනු ලැබීය.

මේ අවස්‌ථාවේ විහාරයේ පිටතට පැමිණ සරණංකර හිමියන්ට රැස්‌ව සිටි ඊලම් විරෝධතාකරුවන් පහරදී ඇත.

ඉලන්ගෝවන්ට අමතරව කුවාලම්පුරයේ තවත් ඊලම්වාදී කණ්‌ඩායමක නායකයකුවූ ෂම්බුගාද විරෝධතාකරුවන් පිරිසක්‌ රැගෙන සෙන්තුල් විහාරය සමීපයේ සිටි බව අනාවරණය විය. අපි ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිට පන්සල තුළට ඇතුළු වීමට ඉඩ නොදෙන්නෙමු යයි ඔහු ප්‍රකාශ කළ බව මැලේසියානු මාධ්‍ය කියා සිටියේය.

සෙන්තුල් විහාරයට ඊලම්වාදීන් පිරිසක්‌ ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කිරීමට සැරසෙන බව වාර්තාවූ විගස මැලේසියා පොලිසිය කැරලි මර්දන භට පිරිසක්‌ යෑවීමෙන් ඊලම්වාදින්ගේ උත්සාහය ව්‍යාර්ථ විය.

මෙම සිද්ධියෙන් පසු මැලේසියාවේ කුවාලම්පූර් ගුවන්තොටුපලේදී ඊලම් ද්‍රවිඩයන් පිරිසක්‌ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහකොමසාරිස්‌ අන්සාර්ට පහරදීම නිසා හිතේ ඇතිවූ තුවාල සමඟ ඔහුව රෝහලට ඇතුලත් කර ඇත. එහෙත් මේ ප්‍රහාර සම්බන්ධයෙන් මෙතෙක්‌ කිසිවෙක්‌ අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන නැත. මෙයට පෙර මැලේසියාවේ මෙවන් තත්ත්වයක්‌ ඇතිවූයේ නැත. ඊලම්වාදීන් ප්‍රසිද්ධියේම ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ කොමසාරිස්‌ සහ සෙන්තුල් විහාරාධිපතිට පහරදීමට ක්‍රියාකිරීම බරපතළ ප්‍රශ්නයකි. ඊට බලපාන ප්‍රධාන හේතුව කුවාලම්පුරයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහකොමසාරිස්‌ කාර්යාලයේ බුද්ධි අංගයක්‌ නොතිබීමයි. 2015 මැයි මස වනතුරු පැවැති බුද්ධි සේවාව කඩාවැටුණි. මෙසේ බුද්ධි සේවාව ක්‍රියාත්මක කළේ පසුගියදා හදිසියේම මියගිය මේජර් ජනරාල් මානවඩුයි.

ඔහු මැලේසියානු පොලිස්‌පති කාල්ද් අබුබකර් සමඟ එක්‌ව මැලේසියාවේ ඊලම්වාදීන් නිරීක්‍ෂණය කරනු ලැබීය. එම බුද්ධි සේවා ජාලයට මැලේසියානුවන් කීපදෙනකුද සම්බන්ධ විය. මේ නිසා ඊලම්වාදීන්ගේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් මේජර් ජෙනරාල් මානවඩුට වාර්තා විය.

2015 මැයි මස මේජර් ජෙනරාල් මානවඩුගේ සේවය නතර කළ රජය ඔහුට මෙරටට කැඳවනු ලැබීය. ඒ පසුපස මැලේසියානු ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහකොමසාරිස්‌ කාර්යාලයේ නිලධාරියකුද විය. අද එම ක්‍රියාදාමය පාරාවලල්ලක්‌ බවට පත්වී තිබේ.

මැලේසියාව තුළ වසර ගණනාවක්‌ තිස්‌සේ කොටි ක්‍රියාකාරකම් පැවැතුණි.

මැලේසියාවේ එම්. අයි. සී. සංවිධානය මෙහෙයවන සිවරාජා නාම්තමිලර් සංවිධානය මෙහෙයවන කලමුලිගන් කව්ලර් කර්නගාල් මෙහෙයවන මුරලි – පී. කේ. ආර්. සංවිධානය මෙහෙයවන තීබස්‌ වැන්නවුන් එරට සිටින ප්‍රධානතම ඊලම්වාදීන් වේ.

මැලේසියානු ආරංචි මාර්ග පැවසුවේ හාට්‌නට්‌ලර් මෙහෙයවන තලෙයිමුලිගන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහකොමසාරිස්‌ හමුවී හිටපු ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපතිවරයාට මැලේසියා සංචාරය නතර කරන ලෙස දක්‌වමින් සංදේශයක්‌ද භාරදීමට නියමිතව තිබූ බවයි.

මේ අතර මැලේසියාවේදී එල්ලවූ මෙකී දින ප්‍රහාර සම්බන්ධව සංහිඳියාව ගැන හඬ නගන පාර්ශව මුනිවත රකින බව පැහැදිලිය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ කොමසාරිස්‌ට හා සෙන්තුල් විහාරාධිපතිට එල්ලවූ ප්‍රහාර සුළු ලෙස තැකිය නොහැක.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේෂ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය මැලේසියා බලධාරීන් වෙත විරෝධතා එල්ලකර තිබේ. එහෙත් ආරක්‍ෂක දුර්වලතාවයන් සිදුවී ඇති බව පැහැදිලිය.

* කීර්ති වර්ණකුලසූරිය

Courtesy RT

Published time: 5 Sep, 2016 11:12

His role on the committee had given him enormous influence over vice and drugs policy.

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Legalize sex work now, say British MPs

Vaz, 59, said he would not be making a formal announcement regarding his resignation until he meets the committee on Tuesday, but appeared to confirm he will stand aside when he issued a statement saying he did not want to be a distraction.”

The married father of two was caught meeting two Eastern European male prostitutes and boasting about having unprotected sex, according to a Sunday Mirror sting.

He allegedly met the men at his North London flat on August 27, referred to himself as Jim” and claimed to be a washing machine salesman.

One text, reportedly sent by Vaz, asked the men to arrive at 11pm, nice and late,” also saying I want a good time please” and telling the men they needed to get the party started.”

In other text messages, the Labour MP allegedly requested the sex-enhancing drug known as poppers, and also offered to buy the prostitutes cocaine, although saying he would not take any himself.

He also allegedly joked about being a pimp.”

Read more

Prostitution ban won’t hit England, ‘too many politicians’ visit sex workers

Shortly before sexual activity, which is said to have lasted for 15 minutes, Vaz mentioned another recent encounter with another escort they knew, telling the men he had also sex with the prostitute.

The allegations are particularly awkward for Vaz, as the Home Affairs Committee is currently considering a review of prostitution laws. It is focusing on whether the balance in the burden of criminality should shift to those who pay for sex rather than those who sell it.”

In July, an interim report by the select committee said it was not convinced” that buying sex should be outlawed and that soliciting by sex workers should be decriminalized.

We are not yet convinced that the sex buyer law would be effective in reducing demand or improving the lives of sex workers, either in terms of the living conditions for those who continue to work in prostitution or the effectiveness of services to help them find new ways to earn a living,” the report said.

Evaluations of the impact of sex buyer laws are largely based on data about street prostitution, and therefore offer little insight into the large parts of the sex industry which take place in various indoor environments, and there are indications that the law can be misused to harass and victimise sex workers, who are the very people whom the law is seeking to protect.”

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Alex Wickham

✔@WikiGuido

Keith Vaz’s Home Affairs prostitution report, published in June, opposed criminalising men who pay for sex

10:22 AM – 5 Sep 2016

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According to the Sunday Mirror, Vaz asked one of the male escorts to bring poppers, a drug used during sex by gay men that the government came close to banning earlier this year.

Vaz argued in Parliament that poppers should not be included in a list of substances banned by the Psychoactive Substances Act.

The Sunday Mirror says two payments of £150 (US$200) each were paid into a bank account before the encounter after one of the escorts supplied the account details to Vaz.

The newspaper claims the money deposited into the bank account was paid by a man linked to Silver Star, a diabetes charity set up by Vaz.

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission said it was aware of the allegations.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said he would be urging the Charity Commission to investigate, and is calling for a full police investigation and parliamentary standards inquiry.

Bridgen says what had been exposed was the tip of the iceberg.”

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Kevin Maguire

✔@Kevin_Maguire

Keith Vaz threatened via his lawyer to sue Tory MP Andrew Bridgen personally for allegedly spreading “scuttlebutt” about him

10:36 AM – 5 Sep 2016

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3h

Harry Cole

✔@MrHarryCole

No10 on Home Affairs Committee: “situation with Keith Vaz is one for him to deal with and it’s a decision for him to take”.

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godfrey davey @godfreydavey

@MrHarryCole All sticking together I see

11:41 AM – 5 Sep 2016

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As the story first broke on Saturday night, Vaz, the Member for Leicester East, said: I am genuinely sorry for the hurt and distress that has been caused by my actions, in particular to my wife and children.

Read more

Drug use is a ‘human right’ – MPs

I will be informing the Committee on Tuesday of my intention to stand aside from chairing the sessions with immediate effect.”

Vaz also appeared to go on the offensive by condemning the conduct of the Sunday Mirror.

It is deeply disturbing that a national newspaper should have paid individuals to have acted in this way.”

He did not comment on the truth of the allegations, which were set out in the paper over five pages accompanied by pictures that appear to have been recorded covertly.

I do not want there to be any distraction from the important work the Home Affairs Select Committee undertakes so well,” he said.

Select committees do vital work in holding the Government and others to account.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appears to have dismissed the allegations, calling them a private matter.”

Keith Vaz is going to meet the Home Affairs Select Committee and discuss what his role will be in the future. I’m not sure what his decision will be,” he told the BBC.

I will leave it to him to decide on that. He has not committed any crime that I know of.”

Courtesy Adaderana

September 5, 2016  04:00 pm

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Editorial Courtesy The Island

The ruling pigs—in the Orwellian sense—under any government are more equal than other animals in kapati suit in this country. They enjoy legal impunity.

The present administration consists of self-proclaimed messiahs who secured a popular mandate to savour power again by promising to eliminate bribery and corruption and restore the rule of law and democracy among other things. But, the special police units and the obnoxiously politicised CID are not called in to probe the corrupt deals of the government grandees close to the powers that be. Instead, committees of pro-government elements are appointed to investigate allegations against them. Committees for government crooks and Gestapo for their Opposition counterparts!

When the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), under the chairmanship of JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti, undertook to probe the bond scams involving the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran it was thought that the watch dog committee would get to the bottom of it. But, sadly, the government is making a despicable attempt to muddy the water and frighten the officials who have the courage to reveal the truth into submission. We are informed that it has decided to prevent the independent Central Bank officials from being summoned before the COPE again to clear the air vis-à-vis attempts at obfuscation; only the newly appointed incumbent CB Governor, who is not quite au fait with how the bond heist, as it were, was carried out, will be summoned hereafter, we are told. This is tantamount to the suppression of evidence!

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is reported to have said he would open COPE proceedings to the media. If that pledge is honoured the press should be able to hear not only the CB Governor’s version of the bond scam at issue but also the testimonies of other officials who have said and are willing to say again what the government does not want to hear. Besides, the onus is on the Speaker to ensure that the officials who testify before the COPE are not insulted by its members. When the then Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake had to suffer indignities at the hands of some arrogant UPFA members of the Parliamentary Select Committee which prepared the grounds for her ‘impeachment’ the UNP raised hell—and rightly so. Regrettably, those who pretended to be great democrats at that time are resorting to the same despicable strong arm tactics today to cover up a mega racket.

As for the bond scams the COPE is only scratching the surface of the problem. There is evidence that many questionable bond deals have been carried out since this government came to power promising good governance last year. Strangely, the Joint Opposition (JO) does not flog this issue the way it should. It is running around like a headless chicken instead of educating the public on the corrupt practices of the present government. It has also failed to remain argus-eyed to prevent Bills inimical to the national interest being brought in and call for judicial review thereof. JO members are only adept at staging what may be described as kindergarten protests in the well of Parliament and dog and pony shows elsewhere.

It is popularly believed that one can cleanse oneself of all the sins committed throughout one’s life by worshiping at the Kelaniya temple once. Similarly, the Rathu Sahodarayas will be able to absolve themselves of all their political sins, which have been dogging them for decades, if they defy political pressure from the highest echelons of government in probing the bond scams.

A rare opportunity has presented itself for the JVP to shore up its crumbling image and regain lost ground. It must ensure that the racketeers who caused a loss of billions of rupees to the state coffers through bond rackets won’t go scot free. Will it take the tide at the flood or let its political voyage be bound in shallows and miseries?

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

PM laments poor performance of some Treasury Officials ……..News Item.

Quote

MP D Gunawardena said the Financial Crimes Investigations Unit (FCID) has become a threat to the private sector and to public servants.

Some public servants have tendered their resignation fearing questioning from the FCID”, MP Gunawardena said The government should take measures to reinstate them without delay. The people will not be able get anything done from the state sector if these public servants leave.”

Unquote

Recently I wrote an opinion about the same matter ,and I wonder whether the PM has read i.e. have been running a State Enterprise as well as a Private Company and ,I have come across many treasury officials who know only to block any progressive proposal  (citing AR and outdated FR)  put forward by the heads of the enterprise.

Their complain, that they may be called by FCID is just an excuse to get  out of the responsibility .If  a board member of the enterprise does not agree with any development proposal ,presented to the board, and if he feels that the proposal violates the FR or AR he has the right not to agree ,but record his concerns. Then the chairman can make a ruling and take the decision on the basis of votes from majority of the board.

If they claim that only a treasury official will be held responsible for the decision made by the board, they are mistaken, Whole board should be held responsible for the action.

If the government wants the development to go ahead, they can impose e rule that FCID should make a representation to the Public Service Commission and request authority to call the subject treasury officer to FCID for questioning .One ex secretary was questioned by FCID in the same manner ,how an uneducated policeman ( who will call Mr. rather than Sir ! like in UK)    questions  a suspect in the police station .In police station ,an arrested person suspected of a crime is treated as if he is already convicted suspect.

I am in London now and that day I was walking along the high road and noted a white young male wearing a police uniform having a name tag on the back which says Enforcement Officer” .He stopped another young female on the road who threw away a cigarette butt on the pavement ,and claimed that she violated a law .I  stopped and watched how he explained   ( this female who may have been a eastern European origin ,who was not very good in English ) why he is going to impose a penalty . This Officer was never rude or aggressive but firm and smiling imposed a penalty of 100 Pounds and she paid that with her credit card!

I am told by one of the ex-secretary of the previous government who was called by FCID ,that some officers makes such remarks during interrogation as if the subject is already guilty .

No wonder why many State Officers are scared or reluctant to visit FCID.

PM says that it is the Judiciary, but I do not agree .It comes under sub judic’e when you are charged and taken to courts, .cardinal rule is you are Innocent until you are found guilty by court of law.

I suggest that educated young professional law enforcement officers are appointed to FCID who have no political affiliation, and provide an office with a friendly atmosphere (with a coffee machine and an attractive receptionist  !)  So that people love to visit FCID!

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Source: Free Malaysia Today

September 4, 2016  03:48 am        

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