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Debate on the Constitutional Reform Process

July 27th, 2019

Opposition LeaderHon. Mahinda Rajapaksa MEDIA RELEASE

(Translation of the text of the speech made by Opposition LeaderHon. Mahinda Rajapaksa in Parliament on Friday the 26^th July 2019)

Hon. Speaker,

There only a few more months left for the next presidential election. Is there any point in holding a debate on constitutional reform at the tail end of the tenure of a government? An initiative to amend the constitution should be taken when a government has been newly elected to office, not as the final task before leaving office. This government was elected on the pledge that they would amend the constitution within their first 100 days in office. At that time, the only reform proposals they spoke of was the abolition of the executive presidency and changing the system of elections.

My 2015 presidential election manifesto stated very clearly that if I was re-elected to office, we would amend the constitution and also hold a referendum to have those amendments directly endorsed by the people. But the yahapalana manifesto said that they would amend the constitution only to the extent that a referendum was not made necessary. What was the problem in holding a referendum? A referendum is a case of going before the people. It is always better to have important constitutional amendments endorsed by the people at a referendum.

The yahapalana manifesto said that the Constitution would be amended only to the extent that a referendum would not be made necessary because they never had any intention of abolishing the executive presidency after being elected to power. A fundamental Constitutional change of that nature cannot be carried out without a referendum under the present law. Though they said that they were going to abolish the executive presidency during the election campaign, once elected to power, they pointed to their election manifesto and said that since constitutional amendments can be made only to the extent that a referendum is not made necessary, the executive presidency cannot be abolished. So from the very beginning, the constitutional reform process of this government was riddled with deception and perfidy.

Then they presented to Parliament, the 19^th Amendment which has given rise to the present confusion as to whether power lies with the presidency or the cabinet. When the then opposition expressed misgivings about the provisions of the 19^th Amendment, the President came to Parliament and said that the 20^th Amendment which would change the parliamentary elections system would be presented to Parliament in a matter of weeks. It was on that undertaking that the opposition MPs voted for the 19^th Amendment. If the parliamentary elections system had been changed, Parliamentary governments would have had a working majority and the balance of power would have shifted to Parliament. Though our MPs had serious misgivings about the 19^th Amendment, we voted for it on the promise that the 20^th Amendment would be introduced in Parliament expeditiously. So this government has cheated the opposition as well.

After that, the government convened the whole Parliament as a Constitutional Assembly on 9 March 2016 in order to promulgate a new constitution. After holding many discussions and releasing numerous reports over a period of more than two and a half years, on 11 January 2019 the Prime Minister tabled in Parliament a document which was described as the report of the panel of experts of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly. Even in presenting that document to Parliament, the Prime Minister insisted that its contents are not the views of the government but only of the panel of experts that compiled the report. Ultimately the report that was tabled in Parliament had no owner. How can a constitutional reform process succeed when nobody takes responsibility for the drafts that are tabled in Parliament?

We are resolutely opposed to the draft constitution that was presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister. It would have had the effect of dividing Sri Lanka into nine semi -independent states. It contained proposals to set up nine separate police forces, and provisions that would have made it impossible for the center to take back any powers devolved to the provincial units. Some say that I too spoke of ’13 Plus’ – a system of government going beyond the provisions of the 13^th Amendment. I once told the then Indian Foreign Secretary that I was thinking of establishing a second chamber of Parliament made up of representatives of the provincial councils so as to get provincial leaders to participate in national affairs. It was the Indian Foreign Secretary who described my idea as 13 Plus. So it should be understood that what I meant by 13 Plus was not dividing the country into nine semi-independent units as proposed in the draft constitution that was tabled by the Prime Minister.

That draft constitution did have provisions to abolish the executive presidency and to change the parliamentary elections system. However the elections system proposed in that draft constitution was very similar to the systems that were put in place for the local government institutions and the provincial councils in 2017. After the 2018 February local government elections, even those who participated in introducing that new elections system are now opposed to it. We are completely opposed to the introduction of that unworkable system at the Parliamentary level as well.

The draft constitution that was presented to Parliament was prepared by Parliamentarian Sumanthiran and some NGO activists. After presenting it to Parliament, the Prime Minister repeatedly denied ownership of the document. Ultimately it appears that this government had taken the Tamil National Alliance too for a ride.

There is nothing that the TNA has achieved over the past four and a half years. Parliamentarian Sumanthiran always drafts constitutional amendments that will lead to a separate state without the name. They have stated their views very clearly on paper. But at the ground level, the TNA has been directly responsible for depriving the people of the North and East of the two Provincial Councils that my government gave the people. The Eastern Provincial Council stood dissolved nearly two years ago. The Northern Provincial Council also ceased to function nearly one year ago. Elections cannot be held to the provincial councils that have ceased to exist because the government changed the system of elections to the provincial councils.

Due to the fact that the delimitation of electorates for the provincial councils has run into problems, the entire provincial councils system is now defunct. Without the votes of the TNA, the government would not have been able to obtain the two thirds majority in Parliament to change the PC elections system. Ironically, it is the TNA that has rendered inoperative the provincial councils system which was introduced as a solution to the North-East problem.

Even before the war ended, my government held elections to the Eastern Provincial Council in 2008 and give the people of that province their democratic rights. In 2013, we held elections in the North and for the first time established the Northern Provincial Council as well. The TNA in collaboration with the UNP has ensured that both Councils are now no longer operational.

After the end of the war, my government developed the infrastructure of the Northern and Eastern provinces and took steps to improve the livelihoods of the people. Then the government changed. During the past four and a half years, the TNA has worked very closely with the government. However there has been no improvement in the lives of the Tamil people of the North and East. People of all communities have been placed at a disadvantage after this government came into power. The Tamil people of the North and East may have been affected to a greater extent than other communities.

Today, the people of those areas have no livelihood. Tamil politicians have now begun openly saying that the poverty of the Tamil people in those areas is being exploited in dastardly ways by certain unscrupulous elements. That would never have happened if our government had been in power. In such an event, the livelihoods of the Tamil people of the North and East would have improved and they would have been living with dignity. Some time ago I saw a media report which said that when Tamil youth had confronted some TNA Parliamentarians and told them about their problems, the MPs had said that they will achieve liberation first and then attend to the problems of the people.

What they mean by liberation is changing the Constitution and obtaining a separate Tamil state in the North and East. In 2014, I invited the TNA for a discussion about what they deem to the problems of the Tamil people. After a few rounds of discussions, the TNA Parliamentarians stropped coming for those discussions. By that time they had decided to defeat my government and to achieve their aims by helping to get the ‘common candidate’ elected. Today the TNA is neither here nor there.

Participating in constitutional reform under this government is not a feasible option. They introduced the 19^th Amendment and rendered the country ungovernable. They changed the system of local government elections and threw the entire local government system into confusion. They changed the system of elections to the provincial councils and today the PCs have ceased to exist. The unscrupulous manner in which this government manipulated the legislative process has also given rise to suspicion and damaged their credibility. The way they made changes to the local government and provincial council elections systems was by bringing committee stage amendments to Bills that had been introduced in Parliament for completely different purposes.

The people had no way of knowing what the government was passing into law and the Supreme Court also could not be moved to verify the constitutionality of the reforms. Even when the 19^th Amendment was passed certain words and sentences had been surreptitiously excised from the Bill during the committee stage. Due to the atmosphere of mistrust that the conduct of the government has brought about, the opposition cannot collaborate in any constitutional reform process with this government. Furthermore there is no point in talking about constitutional reform at the tail end of the tenure of a government. This matter has to be taken up by a new government elected by the people.

We will put forward a set of proposals to reform the constitution at the forthcoming presidential elections. This country cannot move forward without clearing up the confusion created by the 19^th Amendment. Once a new government is in power, we hope to obtain the support of all political parties represented in Parliament for the new constitution. Those who genuinely wish to see constitutional reform taking place in this country can join hands with us at that stage. We will not deceive the people by saying that we will amend the Constitution only to the extent that a referendum is not necessary. We will definitely hold a referendum to get the new constitution endorsed by the people.

Thank you.

Import of garbage

July 27th, 2019

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

People should know the actual background of the importation of the garbage. We hear that a UK company shipped it to Sri Lanka as per the order or a proforma invoice submitted beforehand.

What is the HS code of the garbage?

Chain of activities should be investigated by journalists and place articles in the newspapers to explain to laymen how this has happened.MPs keep making statements about the company that stored the material in a free trade zone who claim that they are just safe-keepers.

The company which had imported are not coming forward. As inland revenue and customs have information about their NIC numbers they can track them.

Customs holding press conferences first time in the history of an imported and forfeited commodity can divulge all the details.

The government blames the opposition for passing a gazette in 2013 under which garbage was legally imported.

The opposition claim that the current government should have canceled the gazette

As usual people in the country are confused ., just like the Easter Bombing matter and Meethotamulle carnage, where no one wants to take responsibility.

3 Comments »

Who decides Sri Lanka’s National Problem & Solution?

July 25th, 2019

In Sri Lanka there are 3 ethnic groups – Sinhalese, Tamils & Muslims and 4 main religions – Sinhala Buddhists, Hindus, Islam, Christian/Catholics. All Sinhalese were Buddhists until 1505 and all Tamils were Hindus till 1505 when arrival of European colonial invaders resulted in conversions of Sinhalese & Tamils to Christianity/Catholicism and the Burgher community. Sri Lanka has a recorded history of over 2600 years during no period of time has there been any records of ethnic animosities or disharmony. So what is this National problem? The problem is not knowing what the problem is or not wanting to admit what the problem is because it will invariably lead to the disclosure of all those culpable for the problems and ironically these are the players demanding to draft the solutions which spells doom & warrants caution.

The first question to be answered obviously is – how did communities that had not fought for thousands of years suddenly develop animosities after the arrival of Europeans?

The answer to that is the divide & rule policy that resulted in rebranding our people into numerous nomenclatures that the Europeans could control by setting one group against the other. So if we are looking for the root cause of Sri Lanka’s conflict vis a vis disharmony among communities the fingers must point to the 3 European invaders who ruled Sri Lanka directly from 1505 to 1948, indirectly from 1948 to 1972 and covertly/overtly from there onwards to date via their local sepoys.

Essentially, anyone claiming Sri Lanka’s communities cannot live in peace must first explain how they lived in peace for thousands of years before the arrival of Westerners after which all the troubles started.

We are told that our national problem is ethnic. All these nomenclatures mind you were christened by colonials after they created the problem and claim they have the solutions too.

But is the National problem the same as articulated by the 74% Sinhalese, 15% Tamils & 9% Muslims?

If Sinhalese claim the National problem is different to what the Tamils claim is the National problem while Muslims claim something else is the National problem – how do we arrive at what the National Problem is?

According to Sinhalese – what is the National problem?

According to Tamils – what is the National problem?

According to Muslims – what is the National problem?

According to Burghers – what is the National problem?

Then our next question is who should determine what the problem is?

Is it only the Sinhalese majority?

Is it only the Tamil minority?

Is it only the Muslim minority?

Is it only the Burgher minority?

Is it the UN?

Is it the Foreign Envoys?

Is it the INGOs/NGOs?

Is it the human rights activists?

Is it the politicians (Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim)?

Is it only the elite of Sri Lanka (Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim)?

Or is it the ordinary PEOPLE who account for the majority among the Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim & Burgher community?

The more important question is in whose interests & for whose benefit primarily must these solutions be drawn?

Is it the Sinhalese villages who were attacked by terrorists & killed?

Is it the Sinhala families who lost family members killed by LTTE?

Is it the families of the Sinhala armed forces/police who sacrificed their lives on duty?

Is it the Tamils who were victims of LTTE (includes all forcibly conscripted, killed for refusing to obey LTTE orders)

Is it the Tamil LTTE families whose LTTE child died during hostilities with armed forces?

Is it the Muslim villagers who were attacked & killed by LTTE

Is it the Sinhala & Muslim families chased out of their homes in the North?

Is it every victim of LTTE terror?

Is it every victim who died as a result of collateral damage by bombings of armed forces?

Is it for the politicians & elite to enjoy power & privileges?

While the above are direct victims – there are plenty of indirect victims too: the country’s economy, development, infrastructure etc all were destroyed or damaged and require reconstruction. But Rome was not built in a day and these take time and planning and of course funding. But, was Sri Lanka given even a breather after the conflict ended in May 2009? Every day the country was hounded demanding ‘accountability’ when all those doing the demanding chose to sit pretty not making the same demands of LTTE who carried out over 300 suicide killings over 30 years!

Among the plethora of solutions forwarded over the years repeated demands have been for

Demilitarization (Western countries/India/TNA/LTTE Diaspora)
Removal of military camps from North (Western countries/India/TNA/LTTE Diaspora)
Land & Police powers (Western countries/India/TNA/LTTE Diaspora)
Devolution (Western countries/India/TNA/LTTE Diaspora)
Self-determination within an united Sri Lanka (what the hell does that mean!) (Western countries/India/TNA/LTTE Diaspora)
Full implementation of 13 amendment (India/TNA/LTTE Diaspora)

But, if you look at the list of victims can you fathom how far these solutions brandished over the years will actually solve their problems and are these solutions really to solve their problems?

Have you noticed that these solutions are also only for one community? How fair is that of 85% of the other populace who also suffered? By offering solutions to only one community how inclusive is the outcome going to be? Is this ‘reconciliation’?

What do victims generally desire?

If they’ve lost a home – they would want a home to live in,

if they’ve lost the only person who was providing them food – they would want some means of livelihood to keep the family fed?

If they have children – they would want schooling, means of employment

In what manner will devolving powers to politicians, giving land/police powers etc solve their predicament – have they even asked for any of these?

They probably do not even know what self-determination is or heard the word devolution, they were crying when a Colonel tasked to rehabilitate them had been transferred.

The simple things that they want, who is there to give them and why are these not entertained first without wasting years on solutions that satisfy the politicians & international community?

So for whom & whose benefit are these big ‘solutions’ being thrown at every international negotiation table?

Politicians be they Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim want a ‘solution’ that will sustain their power and role as politician, keep them in power & ensure that they are in control. They have no qualms about transferring power to opposition so long as periodically they can sit in power. This game we have seen since 1948.

International players want ‘solutions’ that are within their periphery of control too. So when they speak about mechanisms that are ‘internationally acceptable’ what they imply is they want solutions where they can poke their nose in from time to time which generates & sustains their livelihoods too (to this international list of players we can plug – UN, INGOs, NGOs, local NGOs, civil society, rights activists etc) foreign governments of course will insist on having a say either way.

So what we need to understand is that all these delays in formulating ‘solutions’ really is to find something ‘acceptable’ to all of them and not the ordinary people – something that satisfies their lust for comfy positions, globe-trotting opportunities, enjoying perks of office, VVIP status etc.

Lest, we have forgotten the media – in whatever role the media always has a place and if it doesn’t it has all the powers to create a place through sensationalism.

So invariably, if we look at our list of innocent victims, we ask ourselves, have they had a say in any of these ‘supposed to be fantastic solutions’, were they the one’s that proposed these solutions, will these ‘solutions’ benefit them?

We come back to the question which unfortunately remains unanswered

– What is the National problem?

– Who determines the national problem

– Who decides the solution?

– for Whose benefit is the solution(s)?

We also seem to be forgetting some other major factors? What is this national problem or conflict? Was it between Sinhala people and Tamil people, if so then it can be termed ‘ethnic’ but wasn’t, the conflict was between a non-state armed group & the Sri Lankan Armed Forces & victims were Sinhalese, Muslims, Foreigners including Tamils. So, there is no way that the conflict can be termed ‘ethnic’.

Who was this armed group? Well there were several Tamil armed groups but LTTE emerged victor after killing the leaders of the other groups & scaring them off.

So what basically did LTTE demand?

They demanded virtually what Tamil extremist leaders had been demanding since 1949 (Tamil state party – ITAK) and 1976 (Vaddukoddai Resolution) seeking a separate Tamil state.

With LTTE no officially no more, LTTE’s political arm formed in 2001 – the TNA is carrying the beacon. So how inclusive is TNA of Tamils. Well, the election results show TNA is not representative of all Tamils and now growing resentment by Tamils has increased its unpopularity. So, what TNA demands which echoes what LTTE demands cannot be taken as what majority of Tamils want.

So where do Tamil diaspora fit in. They make up the all-powerful propaganda lobby operating from western shores where they thrived during LTTE rule via nefarious illegal and legal operations that gave LTTE $300m annual profits. With no maintenance cost for LTTE combatants, procurement of arms & ammunition etc that annual profit must now be far more and utilized for other influential purposes – retaining international lawyers, buying international personages to speak on their behalf are just some of the wonders the LTTE international kitty has been able to afford. When all things budge for money, LTTE diaspora know when to throw what & strike bingo. LTTE Diaspora is certainly a formidable force because of its propaganda & its kitty.

Propaganda – power hungry politicians – Geopolitics are impediments to bringing about political will based on what the People want as solutions.

Those presently drawing the solutions are parties and individuals who were part of the problem or creators of the problem or lived off the problem and these entities should be given no role in any solution making as the likelihood is that they would create bigger problems than the problem that ended because they were not allowed to be involved (otherwise Sri Lanka would never have seen the end of LTTE in May 2009) which is probably why they are determined not to be omitted from drawing solutions!

Shenali D Waduge

HAS SINHALA POPULATION DECLINED IN SRI LANKA?

July 25th, 2019

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

The determination of increase or decrease in population of different communities or races living in Sri Lanka would be based on the actual census results and pre-emptive decisions just listing to gossips talks going on in village tea boutiques is unreasonable and misleading. Sinhala community is frequently disturbed by fabricated information that Sinhala people in the country is becoming invisible without submitting scientific facts or reasons for it. This type of stupid information was spread during the LTTE war as strategic maneuvring by some Boeotia LTTE theorists, who followed the gobbles methods intending to achieving objectives. A similar type of methods was used by Yahapalana strategists during the presidential election in 2015 and now they are hiding without information to prove the maneuvring of them. The Census and Statistics Department of Sri Lanka conducts a detailed census and published actual statistics. These statics are 99.5% accurate and from 1881 data has already published. From 1881 to 1921 population statistics may have errors as the investigators (data collectors) had to face various difficulties when they were collecting data due to several reasons. In the early period, data collectors had not understood and the responsibility of the role and this situation would have contributed to generate errors in the data collection process.

The following were could be considered as major reasons to incur errors in the process.

In the data collection process, an actual number of people in a family was not recorded in the data forms or twice countered when family members did not give accurate information to data collectors, but such errors are corrected by the authority using statistical techniques at an acceptable level. There was evidence that instead of actual family members others were provided information to census officers.
There may be wilful errors incurred if investigators do not perform the job not visiting families or ignoring to visit families due to difficulties to visit families due to remoteness they are living.
Counting certain communities which have a life of migrating from one place to another for a shorter period might ignore the accurate counting of them and correct information of them may not come to data forms. The statistics in these communities are negligible.

As I have participated as a data collector in 1971 census, I noticed the possibilities to ignore or estimate the number of members in a family by rural officers (Grama Niladari) rather than counting an actual population of families. However, the department uses appropriate statistical techniques to correct such errors and this type mistakes be possible in any country and these are not considered evidence that the survey results were not accurate.

According to published statistics recorded Sinhala population from 1891 to 2012 is given below.

Year No %

1891 2041200 67.86%

1901 2330800 65.36%

1911 2715500 66.13%

1921 3016200 67.05%

1931 3473000 65.45%

1946 4620500 69.41%

1953 5616700 69.36%

1963 7512900 71.00%

1971 9131241 71.96

1981 10979561 73.95%

2001 Not available

2011 15250081 74.90%

When examining the statistics, it seems that Sinhala population has been increased, but the percentage of Sinhala population contributing to the total population has been the varied result of changes of the volume of other communities and in 2011, Sinhala population recorded as 74.90%, which might be increased to 77.00% in 2020. The truth is that no one can stop the increase in Sinhala population and it would be an impossible task. Therefore, people should not trust gossip talks going on in village tea boutiques. Sinhala people must act as an intelligent community.

Some people spread information that Muslim population increases faster than other communities, it may contain true information when looking at population statistics, however, we cannot determine it without the growth rate of each community. The growth rate of each community means the difference between birth rate and the death rate of each community and the difference between birth rate and death rare is considered as the rate of growth. I have no idea whether Sri Lanka calculates the growth rate of each community.

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ නියෝජිතයෙකු හමු වීම පිළිබද තොරතුරු ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් කරන ලෙස නීතිඥවරයෙක් අගවිනිසුරුවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී…..

July 25th, 2019

Sri Lanka News

අද දින පුවත්පත්වල එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ නියෝජිතයෙකු අගවිනිසුරුවරයා පසුගිය ආසන්න දිනයක හමු වී සාකච්ඡා කර ඇති බව සදහන් වන අතර ඒ පිළිබදව සම්පූර්ණ තොරතුරු ලබා ගැනීමට පුරවැසියෙකු ලෙසත්, නීතිඥවරයෙකු ලෙසත් අවශ්‍ය බව බව නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන අගවිනිසුරුවරයා වෙත දන්වා ඇත.

එකී සාකච්ඡාව සම්බන්ධව අදාල සියලු තොරතුරු ජනතාවට දැන ගැනීමට ලැබීම නීතියේ පාලනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වැදගත් හෙයින් ඒ සම්බන්ධ තොරතුරු රාජ්‍ය භාෂාවෙන් ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්කරන ලෙස ඔහු අගවිනිසුරුවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා ඇත.

මෙම ලිපියේ පිටපත් කතානායකවරයාටත්, රාජ්‍ය භාෂා කොමිෂන් සභාව සභාපතිවරයාටත්, නීතිපතිවරයාටත් යොමු කර ඇත. එකී ලිපිය පහත දැක්වේ.

Supreme Court stays Special HC’s trial against Gotabaya

July 25th, 2019

Courtesy Adaderana

The Supreme Court today (25) issued an order preventing trial at Special High Court against Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum case till the 1st of October, says Ada Derana reporter.

The order was delivered by the Supreme Court three-judge bench consisting of Justices Buwaneka Aluwihare, Gamini Amarasekara and S. Thurairajah considering an appeal filed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The case against the former Defence Secretary and six others was filed by the Attorney General, for allegedly misappropriating state funds amounting to Rs 33.9 million during the construction of the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in Medamulana.

The Permanent High Court at Bar had rejected the preliminary objections filed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa stating that it does not have the jurisdiction to hear the case.

The former defence secretary then lodged a revision petition with the Court of Appeal seeking an order suspending the rejection of his appeal. However the Appeals Court ruled that it does not have the jurisdiction to hear the revision petition, hence, rejected it without taking it up.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa then filed a special appeal petition with the Supreme Court challenging the Appeals Court verdict.

This special appeal petition was taken up before the Supreme Court three-judge bench today (25).

Considering the submissions by defence attorney President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva, the Supreme Court judge bench granted permission to hear the relevant petition.

Fixing the petition for support on October 1st, the Supreme Court judge bench issued an order preventing the hearing of the filed before the Special High Court until the Supreme Court’s ruling is delivered.

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Latheef surprised why information was shared with STF only after Easter attacks

July 25th, 2019

Courtesy Adaderana

Commandant of the Special Task Force (STF), Senior DIG M. R. Latheef, says he is still not invited to the country’s intelligence coordinating meetings and that he was invited to the National Security Council meetings only after the Easter Sunday attacks.

Testifying before the parliamentary select committee probing the terror attacks, the Senior DIG said that he had received the state intelligence chief’s letter on April 09 warning of impending attacks, along with a single annexure which had identified the Indian High Commission and main churches in Colombo as possible targets.

However, he said that he subsequently learned that there had been other annexures that had been shared with other agencies with more details.

He said those annexures had contained more specific details about the organization, what they are up to, specifics about their group and addresses and that he only received it during an interaction in the aftermath of the suicide bombings.

Mr Latheef said he then realized that there was a wealth of information on the terrorist organisation and the individuals which was available with the security organisations where preventative action could have been taken.

The STF chief said after he received the intelligence chief’s letter, he took the initiative to check with the Indian High Commission, but they did nothing about the churches because there were no specifics and no request was made for the STF’s assistance.

He said that when there is a requirement the IGP or Senior DIGs makes a request concerning assistance of the STF after which they attend to it.

I was under the inference that the territorial policing will attend to churches and that if they required STF assistance for additional security or searches or any other requirement, they would have made a request,” he said.

Responding to a question, he stated that neither the IGP nor the Senior DIG of Western Province made any request to him for STF assistance.

He said that he knows for a fact that every Tuesday the country’s intelligence and various organizations meet to review on many things and that if the STF was an important component the STF Commandant or a representative from the STF would definitely be invited for the review meetings.

Replying to another query, he said the intelligence coordinating meeting is a very important meeting, but the STF has never been a part of that meeting in spite of the fact that at previous other meetings at Police Headquarters assertions had been made to the IGP that the STF would like to be in that meeting specially because they are providing security to the President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries.

He also said that it would have been prudent if the information had been shared with the Senior DIG in charge of the Easter Province as well because most of the suspects are originating from that province.

He said that if they had more information on this they would have definitely shared because there should be actionable intelligence or information to go on.

When asked whether he was part of the intelligence coordinating meeting held on April 09, Mr Latheef said that he was not part of the meeting and reiterated that even now he is not invited to the said meetings.

The STF Commandant said that he has made a request to attend the meetings, but has never been invited for it. I have made a request,” he said.

However, he said that he was invited to attend the National Security Council meeting only after the attacks as he was invited for the meeting on April 23.

Intelligence coordinating meeting I have never been invited to date, but national security meeting on the 23rd of July after the attack I was invited and then I shared what I knew.”

He said he was never invited to security council meetings before the attacks.

Senior DIG Latheef further said that he heard through the media that now everyone says that the STF should have prevented the attacks, but pointed out that for the STF to act they should have actionable intelligence and a request should be made by those who have the information.

The STF is always there to augment or to support the police. We are part of the police and a separate arm of the police,” he added.

He also said that prior to the terror attacks, the Senior SIGs in charge of various provinces including the Easter Province had not saught the STF’s assistance with regard to any NTJ activities while requests for other matters had been made.

But the fact remains that when the 21/4 tragedy happened a lot of information came in and we have acted, he said, adding that because it was a crisis they did not wait for requests and acted on the information. It was a national security issue.”

I am surprised that why only after the incident they shared it with the STF,” he said.

He reiterated that the STF’s role is to augment and the STF will act only if there is a written or verbal request unless it concerns designated areas such as narcotics which they have been given freedom to act on.

Secret revelation of intelligence chief

July 25th, 2019

Courtesy Adaderana

Dr. Shafi granted bail

July 25th, 2019

Courtesy Adaderana

Dr. Mohamed Shafi, who is accused of allegedly amassing assets through suspicious means, performing illegal sterilization surgeries and having links to terrorist activities, has been granted bail this evening (25) following a lengthy trial.

The case against Dr. Shafi was taken up before the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court for the third time at around 1.30 pm today.

Accordingly, the suspected doctor was released on four personal bails each adding up to Rs 2.5 million and a cash bail of Rs 250,000.

Appearing on behalf of the defendant, President’s Counsel Nawaratne Bandara pointed out, as the Dr. Shafi’s trial has raised furor in the society, certain groups of people including Buddhist monks are in an attempt to dismantle reconciliation by making statements to the media.

Since such deliberate statements are prejudicial to his client, the defense attorney requested the Kurunegala magistrate to remove the parties that are not related to the case from the court premises.

The magistrate then sought the opinion of Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige, who spoke on behalf of the Attorney General’s Department, on the matter. He responded that it is unnecessary to remove the other parties who had attended the hearing, if there is any aggrieved mother, she is entitled to know the details of the trial.

Speaking up again, PC Bandara pointed out that his client, Dr. Shafi, has the right to know the aggrieved parties and the attorneys who appeared for them.

Thereupon, a heated exchange of words between the accused and the aggrieved.

Defense attorney then defiantly said the aggrieved party that the attendance of the mothers, who lodged complaints against Dr. Shafi, is unrequired for the trial.

He also challenged the aggrieved party to prove if Dr. Shafi has incised fallopian tubes of any mother.

The attorney of the aggrieved party defended that the defense counsel’s comments are insulting to the motherhood.

The magistrate was then forced to request the defense and the aggrieved parties to respectfully assist the court proceeding.

Meanwhile, Deputy Solicitor General Mudalige, presenting submissions, told the court that among the total of 615 complaints received by the Criminal Investigation Department on the cesarean sections performed by Dr. Shafi, only some 147 complaints raised suspicions on sterilization. The rest of the complaints concerned complications in conceiving experienced by the mothers who had not passed an adequate time period to reconceive following their previous C-sections.

Accordingly, the 147 complaints raising suspicions fall under the Article 311 of the Penal Code Ordinance for causing grievous hurt”.

The deputy solicitor general further told the court that the charges laid against the defendant for allegedly amassing assets through illegal means have been directed to the Financial Crimes Investigation Division and separate investigations are being conducted to probe sterilization charges. However, there is no corroboration to prove money-laundering charges, he added.

Continuing to present submissions, the deputy solicitor general said investigations into sterilization charges have been temporarily halted owing to the court order which temporarily suspended the SHG tests that were to be conducted to confirm the allegations.

He requested the magistrate to issue an order to the directors of Castle Street Hospital and De Soysa Hospital for Women to submit a report on five-year data compiling the complications experienced by mothers who have underwent SHG tests.

The deputy solicitor general also made a request to order Derana and Hiru television channels to hand over the unedited video clips to the CID containing the statements made by certain individuals following the previous hearing of the case on June 27th.

The Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court granted permission to both of the requests made by the deputy solicitor general.

Speaking on detaining the defendant, the deputy solicitor general said the Attorney General’s Department has no objection to granting bail to Dr. Shafi, as he is detained under Article 311 of the Penal Code Ordinance for causing grievous hurt”, which is a bailable offence.

The defense attorney reiterated that it is unfair to imprison only Dr. Shafi as has not performed C-sections all by himself.

He further requested the court to grant bail to the defendant under any conditions as the CID and the Attorney General’s Department do not have objections against it.

However, the attorneys of the aggrieved party emphasized that the CID has not submitted any report to the court on the alleged illegal accumulation of assets by Dr. Shafi.

They raised objections for granting bail to the suspect citing that it could lead to pressurization of the mothers who have complained against him and have a negative effect on the ongoing investigations.

The magistrate has again asked for the opinion of the Attorney General on granting bail to the suspect and the deputy solicitor general responded that the Attorney General’s Department has no objections on the matter.

Accordingly, the Kurunegala magistrate decided to release Dr. Mohamed Shafi under bail conditions.

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Sri Lanka and UK in standoff over rotting waste

July 25th, 2019

Courtesy The Week

South Asian government implores Britain to take back its hazardous waste

The Sri Lankan government says the UK must take back containers full of hazardous waste landing in its ports.

The South Asian country has accused Britain of dumping medical debris – including human remains – in Colombo, under the guise of metal recycling, reports France24.

Many of the containers were dispatched from the UK as far back as 2017, reports the BBC. Sri Lankan Customs Department spokesman Sunil Jayaratne said that a Sri Lankan businessman had illegally imported the containers and would face prosecution if he failed to return them to their point of origin.

Authorities said on Tuesday that they had already taken immediate action to order the re-export of the 111 containers abandoned at the port”.

Area residents claim that with the prevailing rains, the deteriorating waste would soon flow into the nearby canals,” the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror reports. If the waste reaches the marshlands at Muthurajawela, north of Colombo, it could eventually disperse into the ocean, threatening marine life.

Another 130 containers already transported from the port to inland facilities will be dealt with under environmental laws, Jayaratne said.

They include various clinical waste, including materials disposed from mortuaries, syringes, and other material. Some of these materials have been liquidised and deteriorated to the point that we cannot even examine them, and this waste is emitting a very bad odour,” Jayaratne told the Mirror.

Sri Lanka is internationally protected from waste imports through the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal, the most comprehensive global treaty on hazardous waste treatment.

On Wednesday, a group of environmentalists and Buddhist monks held a protest outside the British High Commission in Colombo, handing over a letter asking Britain to take back the containers.

Sri Lanka is not your dump yard,” read one sign.

The UK’s Environment Agency told the BBC on Wednesday that it was investigating what had happened, and that it has yet to receive a formal request from Sri Lankan authorities to reclaim the waste.

Earlier this month, Cambodia announced it will send 83 containers holding 1,600 tonnes of plastic waste back to the US and Canada in an attempt to crack down on a surge in unlicensed recycling plants. In May, the Philippines returned 69 containers to Canada which it claimed had been falsely labelled as recyclable plastic.

Southeast Asia has seen a huge spike” in waste shipments from the West, says Time, since China – formerly the largest importer of scrap plastic – banned further imports at the beginning of 2018, “because of severe pollution due to a poorly managed waste process”.

The Caesar-Brutus play back in Sri Lanka Politics

July 24th, 2019

Mario Perera, Kadawata

BETRAYAL is the key word of the Sinhala history from time immemorial, from that of the Kings to the Diyawanna Oya assemblies. Such betrayals facilitated foreign interference and foreign invasions of this country. Even during the Duttu Gemunu-Elara war, Sinhala Generals led Dravidian troops to battle, although Duttu Gemunu had clearly stated that his fight was for the Sinhala-Buddhist nation.

Examples of inmates of the royal houses plotting and overthrowing kings abound. The classical example is that of Dhatusena and Kassyapa. The tragic result of such intrigue within the palace was the grip or hold the Tamils had over parts of the country since the remotest times. Another element of alliances going wrong for the country were the inevitable need our kings had for South-Indian brides. That story which begins with Vijaya lasted up to the Kandyan Kingdom, paving the way for a Dravidian to sit on the sacrosanct Sinhala-Buddhist throne.

In more modern times, intrigue and betrayals among the Sinhala opened the gates for European domination of the island. Much has been written in these columns recently about Don Juan Dharmapala. Realistically that name must not be used to identify an individual. Countless Sinhala Don Juan Dharmapalas have left their mark on our history. While some stab in the back, yet others do so face to face. This latter phenomenon is called crossing over. Differently from the former this is a show of open defiance. Both however are invariably done for personal gain. The attitude is always ME FIRST.

How many unpredicted cross-overs have brought down governments be it immediately or eventually? Think of SWRD and Rajapaske crossing over…of C.P.de Silva crossing over…Of Dahanayake crossing over….Think of more recent times when MPs of one party cross the aisle and even unashamedly cross back! Such somersaults was even done by Chandrika and Anura Bandaranayake, as well as the present speaker. Has the country benefitted from such stabbings, whether in the back or from front? The present situation of our country will provide the irrefutable answer.

The personality of Don Juan Dharmapala has endured over the millennia. Some are even now continuing to don that personality – the personality that epitomizes dishonour, treachery, and betrayal. As regards Sinhala rulers, the word betrayal goes hand in hand with back-stabbing. An unbelievable number of our kings died at the hands of their kith and kin. In his clash with the Cardinal, Sirisena evokes his own past which is tainted with DISHONOUR. Betrayal by back stabbing is inalienably linked to DISHONOUR.

Evoking this theme brings to my mind the death of JULIUS CAESAR and its aftermath. When his closest friend and confidant BRUTUS stabbed him, the words of reproach Caesar uttered were ones of powerlessness, desperation, and anguish: ET TU BRUTE. These three words summarize all that went through the mind and heart of Caesar at that unexpected moment. ET TU BRUTE…Can this be? Caesar was asking himself. HOW CAN YOU…Brutus!

In his speech, standing over the dead body of Caesar, Marc Antony playing to crowd sentiments calls Brutus ‘honourable’. Brutus is an honorable man” he says. But the use of that word is sheer irony, as Antony is attempting to portray Brutus as ungrateful and treacherous, while adding ‘so are they all…all honourable men’. The use of the word ‘honourable’ only highlights its utmost importance when attributed to rulers and lawmakers. A modern Marc Antony playing to the gallery could well say with reference to Sirisena: Sirisena is an ‘honourable man’. So are they all, ‘all honourable men’, all standing to attention as the maze arrives and bowing to the Speaker (How nice and heart-warming!). Honourable? What honour for these backstabbing treacherous betrayers of Diyawanna-Oya.

Sirisena, replying to the Cardinal supports his claim of having a strong backbone, by referring to his dramatic act in 2015. But on that occasion did he act differently from Brutus as regards Caesar? The next morning when learning of what the modern Brutus did, Caesar Raja could well have said: ET TU SIRA! If ever there was dishonor, betrayal and backstabbing, that was it – the crossover of Sira, after enjoying a wonderful dinner with Caesar Raja.

That night, whether restful or restless is anyone’s guess, Sira dreamt of the day at hand when he would occupy the seat of Raja, but not through his own power and popularity. He would do so with the help of others, accomplices of dishonor, betrayal and backstabbing. Yes Sira, as Marc Antony so ironically said: you are an honourable man…so are they all, all who were accomplices of your dishonor, on both sides of the aisle. Such is the nature of the strong back bone you lay claim to.

And later, as is the nature of backstabbers, he would turn against his saviours and redeemers, the ones who lifted him on their shoulders and placed him on that high seat of power. But those who promote backstabbing cannot claim immunity from being backstabbed. After the betrayal and backstabbing of Raja, Sirisena continued on his merry way betraying and backstabbing Ranil, and that after repeated violations of the Constitution which he swore to protect and uphold. How can any man, leave alone the President of a country with an age old culture and civilization, equate such shamelessness with a strong backbone? ‘O Judgment ! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason’.

Sirisena, if you really have the strong backbone you claim to have, you still have a chance to prove it: present yourself for re-election. With the strong backbone you profess to have you can dare do so. But for all your strong backbone talk you know you are doomed to fail, that your days are numbered. The writing is already on the wall.

But you still have a chance of showing your remorse for your dishonourable, shameful, cowardly, treacherous, backstabbing past. Stop overturning your shit bucket on your head by referring to your strong backbone, and just do as the Cardinal told you. Just GO. That applies to all the other ‘honourable men’ so dishonourably connected to your story. Just GO.

Mario Perera, Kadawata

7 Comments »

No evidence that IS was behind Easter attacks – Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne

July 24th, 2019

Courtesy Adaderana

There is no evidence to claim that the Islamic State (IS) was behind the Easter Sunday bombings, stated the Senior DIG in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Ravi Seneviratne.

The Senior DIG mentioned this testifying at the special Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to probe the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

He pointed out that the terror group that was behind the attacks had requested the Leader of the IS, through a third-party in Indonesia, to release a statement on the matter.

The relevant request, too, had been made through another person, he added.

However, the investigations of the CID have revealed that the terror group behind the attack had carried out IS ideologies, Senior DIG Seneviratne further said.

Sri Lankan government has urged UK to take back containers ‘that may contain human remains’

July 24th, 2019

Courtesy I-news

If the presence of British human remains in the containers is confirmed, it is feared the remains may have originated from NHS hospitals

Sri Lankan customs officials inspect the load of a container at a port in Colombo (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

The Sri Lankan government has urged Britain to take back more than 100 containers containing hazardous waste including human remains said to come from mortuaries.

Port of Colombo officials made the discovery while investigating a strong smell” emanating from 111 containers which have been arriving at the docks over the past two years.

Inside the crates, customs officials found the extremely hazardous” materials mixed in with mattresses, plastics and clinical waste.

The waste has triggered concerns about water contamination, because the port is close to an estuary.

Waste triggers concerns

Inside the crates, customs officials found the ‘extremely hazardous’ materials mixed in with mattresses, plastics and clinical waste (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Some of the materials have been liquidised and deteriorated to the point that we cannot even examine them and the waste is emitting a bad odour,” a customs department spokesman, Sunil Jayaratne, said.

The discovery sparked anger on the island. Environmentalists and Buddhist monks demonstrated outside the British High Commission in Colombo.

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Many of the containers are believed to have arrived from the UK as long ago as 2017.

According to reports, they were only inspected last week after port officials complained of smells and leaking liquids.

‘Smells and leaking fluids’

The waste has triggered concerns about water contamination, because the port is close to an estuary (Photo: ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)

A Sri Lankan businessman, Rohan Masakorala, was identified by local reporters as the importer of the containers. He has denied any wrongdoing and insists no human remains were inside.

British waste disposal experts said that disguising human remains as recyclable metals would be highly lucrative as it is illegal to export anatomical waste such as human organs or body parts.

The UK Government said it was committed to tackling illegal waste exports”, with guilty parties facing a two-year jail term or unlimited fine.

Britain could only repatriate the waste if it could be shown it was illegally exported directly from the UK, if those who exported it either could not be identified or refused to bring it back, and a formal request from the Sri Lankan government was made.

If the presence of British human remains in the containers is confirmed, it is feared the remains may have originated from NHS hospitals which are struggling to dispose of anatomical waste.

Germany charges LTTE suspect over killing of Kadirgamar

July 24th, 2019

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

An LTTE member, who was arrested in Germany over the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in 2005, had been charged by the German prosecutors over the murder, foreign news agencies reported today.

German prosecutors said on Wednesday that they filed the indictment against the 40-year-old G. Navanithan who was arrested in January. The suspect had also been charged with membership of a foreign terrorist organisation.

The indictment had been filed in a Stuttgart court earlier this month.

The prosecutors said that the suspect belonged to the intelligence unit of the LTTE from 2002 to 2009 and provided information that was used to carry out the killing of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Kadirgamar in 2005.

They also said that the suspect had helped LTTE stalwarts flee Sri Lanka in the final phase of the war.

Foreign interference

July 24th, 2019

Editorial Courtesy The Island

A Foreign Ministry panjandrum has come under fire for allegedly seeking to facilitate a UN bid to influence the Sri Lankan judiciary. The Opposition is out for his scalp as he has written to the Chief Justice and the High Court judges, asking them to make available information pertaining to some cases to a group of UN officials.

Allegations that foreign powers are influencing the Sri Lankan judiciary are not of recent origin. They have been there for the last several years. Two months ago, UPFA MP and Joint Opposition member Udaya Gammanpila told Parliament that a US diplomat had sought information about some ongoing court cases here from a group of Sri Lankan judges attending a seminar in Washington.

The government ought to act on the aforesaid very serious allegation against the Foreign Ministry and order an investigation to find out whether the official concerned has done anything high-handed and his action amounts to a violation of the Constitution, as alleged by some MPs. It is hoped that the Opposition won’t allow the issue to fizzle out with the passage of time.

The incumbent government brags that it has restored the independence of the judiciary. If so, there cannot be allegations of foreign interference with the judicial system. A prerequisite for ensuring judicial independence is to prevent foreign governments from getting involved in various programmes purportedly aimed at modernising and strengthening the judicial system. Nothing comes without strings attached thereto. Such matters must not be left to foreign governments or the outfits funded by them.

The practice of foreign governments sponsoring state officials should also be discontinued. There is no such thing as a free lunch, as the saying goes. It is not out of pure altruism that other countries sponsor top bureaucrats’ and judicial officers’ foreign training programmes and overseas visits. They spend their taxpayers’ money to further their interests at the expense of the countries dependent on their largesse. The same goes for MPs and other elected representatives.

There is hardly any MP who hasn’t been on an all-expenses-paid trip to China, which also sponsors provincial councillors’ and local government members’ junkets. The National Election Commission has also received assistance from the USAID, we are told.

The Sri Lankan government should bear the cost of foreign training and visits of public and judicial officers if their independence is to be guaranteed. They must not be beholden to external organisations. There is no way the government can convince the public that it is without enough funds. Its pecuniary difficulties mainly stem from its wasteful expenditure, which has to be curtailed drastically. The presidential commission of inquiry probing alleged malpractices under the present administration has recently been informed that the Ministry of Agriculture paid about Rs. 300 million to a private company as the rent (and taxes) for a building over a period of one year before shifting there. The person responsible for that questionable deal must be dealt with under the Offences against the Public Property Act.

Minister Ravi Karunanayake has sought Cabinet approval for shifting his ministry at a cost of Rs. 364 million. In 2016, the JVP revealed in Parliament that two vehicles ordered for the Prime Minister’s use cost as much as Rs. 600 million. The Cabinet was recently requested to allocate funds for another expensive vehicle for Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. Thankfully, President Maithripala Sirisena turned down that request. That vehicle, too, would have cost Citizen Perera an arm and a leg. The government drew heavy fire in Parliament, the other day, for having raised Rs. 300 from poor Samurdhi recipients for propaganda activities related to the expansion of the poverty alleviation programme.

If the government cares to curtail the criminal waste of public funds and corruption, it won’t have to depend on external assistance, which opens the door to foreign interference with vital state sectors.

US Ambassador’s response to MCC and Compact Agreements

July 24th, 2019

JANAKI CHANDRARATNA Courtesy The Island

It was indeed a breadth of fresh air to read the American Ambassador’s clarifications on US-Sri Lanka Agreements in The Island newspaper – 18 July 2019.

The Ambassador, Alaina Teplitz, needs to be commended for understanding the Sri Lankan concerns and articulating her Govt’s assertions in a professional manner. This is in contrast to our Govt. responses, which were basically either denials of the existence of such agreements or a dismissal of the concerns, as bogie constructs of people/political parties trying to defame the govt.

The Ambassador’s assurance that ‘Sri Lanka would retain all sovereign rights to approve or deny entry or exit of U.S. personnel, vessels, and aircraft into Sri Lanka’s territory and territorial waters/airspace’, as reported in the said article is indeed comforting and assuring to Sri Lankans. The Ambassador mentioned a new treaty in the making, Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), to address the status of US military and civilian employees of the Defense Department, who may have to enter Sri Lanka for various Sri Lankan Govt. requested services.

Whilst Sri Lanka has a dire need for infra structure development and perhaps for a better land management information system, the need for a military cooperation that can impact our sovereignty status, needs further clarification. It stands to reason that we needed all the military/logistic assistance we could get during the terrorist war in 2007. Such an overwhelming necessity is however not apparent in current times. Perhaps some may argue that the ISIS attack on Sri Lankan churches on 21 April 2019 presents a need for some kind of external military support. There are also the claims that the April attacks were a local manifestation rather than an external imposition. Whatever the source of the attacks, our armed forces were able to restore normalcy, with the intelligence received and the assistance of the domestic Muslim community. Perhaps our military aid requirement is still in the region of intelligence, as in 2007, rather than having foreign troops within our shores.

The Govt. has asserted that Americans have signed ACSA (Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreements) with many countries, and it should not be a concern for Sri Lanka to be a part of a global response. If indeed ACSA is a common agreement there bounds to be an issue for the Americans as to whom they would support in case of a conflict between two or more of ACSA partners. There is also the more serious risk that American adversaries could target American interests in Sri Lanka in times of a war, annihilating our fair land.

The Ambassador has also confirmed that US Govt. ‘will not buy, sell, or own any actual land – or take control of any actual land’, under MCC Agreements’. The question however arises whether the US Govt. is able to ensure multi-nationals will not grab our crown land or the land for development projects, from rural folk to whom ownership is currently being granted. I do not think any rational minded Sri Lankan would want Sri Lanka to be like Thailand, where rural folk were forced out to the cities after the loss of their land to development projects; and village women in particular, had to resort to prostitution to sustain their existence. The experiences of these countries need to taken into consideration when developing Agreements for so called developments.

It should be noted that currently Sri Lanka is moving towards a Presidential election and thereafter a Parliamentary election within the next 12 months, if there are no mysterious divergences, due to so called ‘unforeseen circumstances’. In this setting, many Sri Lankans would prefer to have US Agreements revisited with the next regime, without having to rush them through the current system. I am confident that a win-win arrangement can be negotiated with adequate transparency, if these Agreements are revisited after the national elections, as some of the economic development activities suggested are of value to the country.

JANAKI CHANDRARATNA

Parliament blocks UN Special Rapporteur’s meeting with judges

July 24th, 2019

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s parliament has blocked a visiting United Nations human rights expert from meeting with judges hearing war crimes cases, citing fears of foreign interference in the judicial system.

Clement Voule, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, travelled to the island nation to discuss civil rights protections in Sri Lanka.

But opposition leader Mahinda Rajapakse told parliament on Tuesday (Jul 23) that Voule’s plans to meet with senior judges overseeing cases concerning military excesses during the former strongman’s tenure amounted to foreign interference.

On Wednesday parliament speaker Karu Jayasuriya said he had intervened and stopped the meeting”.

I thank the opposition for bringing this to my notice, I have taken timely action,” Jayasuriya was quoted as saying by AFP.

UN expert Voule has so far met Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya in the presence of foreign ministry officials. He is due to leave Sri Lanka on Friday

Sri Lanka to issue free visas for Chinese, Indian tourists from Aug. 1

July 24th, 2019

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Tourists flee Sri Lanka but seasoned travelers say island nation will bounce back

Colombo, July 24 – Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers has approved a proposal from the Sri Lanka Tourism Ministry to include China and India in its free visa policy which will be launched from Aug. 1, Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga said Tuesday.

Addressing a media briefing held at the conclusion of a tour by visiting Chinese journalists to Sri Lanka, Amaratunga said China was the second largest market for Sri Lanka tourism and the free visa policy for the Chinese market would boost Chinese tourist arrivals, the Xinhua news agency reported.

We are aware that China is one of our main markets. Despite the set back from the Easter Sunday attacks, I am sure this year we will be able to achieve our targets. From August 1, Chinese tourists can come to Sri Lanka without a visa fee and we see this as a landmark decision for the tourism industry,” Amaratunga said.

Some of the other countries entitled for the free visa policy are USA, Netherlands and certain European countries.

We are very keen to improve our tourist arrivals from China. The government has taken timely action to improve the industry after the Easter attacks and we have conveyed this to the Chinese leaders,” Charmarie Maelge, Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) said.

According to official statistics from SLTPB, currently 4,000 tourists from across the world arrive in Sri Lanka daily following the suicide attacks.

Last year over 280,000 tourists from China visited Sri Lanka.

ඇමරිකානු බලපෑම මත ගෙනෙන ඒකීය කම්කරු පනත් කෙටුම්පතට විරුද්ධ විය යුත්තේ ඇයි?

July 24th, 2019

සිය`ඵම වෘත්තීය සංගම් වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කරණු ලබන සංදේශය-නිදහස් වෙළඳ කලාප සහපොදු සේවා සේවක සංගමය

මේ රටේ කම්කරු නීති සම්පාදනය වසර 100 ට ආසන්න කාලයක් පුරා සිදුව ඇත්තේ කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අනුදැනුම හා අවශ්‍යතා අනුවය. කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සුද්දන්ගේ යටත් විජිත පාලන කාලයේ පිහිටුවනු ලැබූයේත් තවමත් එහි මූලික අරමුණ වන්නේත් සේවක හා රැුකියා සුරත්ෂිතතාවය සහතික කිරීමය. එය ජාත්‍යන්තර කම්කරු සංවිධානය විසින් සේව්‍ය – සේවක ගනුදෙනුවෙහි සේවකයා දුර්වල පාර්ශවකරුවෙකු යැයි පිළිගන්නා සිද්ධාන්තය අනුව කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට පැවරෙන වගකීමකි.

කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ඒ වගකීම වත්මන් නිදහස් විවෘත වෙළඳපල ආර්ථිකයේ ආයෝජක වුවමනාවන් වෙනුවෙන් අතහැරිය නොහැකි වගකීමකි. දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් පසු මේ නවීන ලෝකයේ කම්කරු, මානව, කාන්තා හා ළමා අයිතීන් ජාත්‍යන්තරව පිළිගත් හා ජාතික වශයෙන් රටවල් විසින් සහතික කර කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කරන්නාවූ අයිතිවාසිකම් ය. රටක දියුණුව අද ගණන් හැදෙන්නේ ආර්ථික හා සමාජීය වර්ධන මත පමණක් නොව, මූලික අයිතීන් ලෙස එම අයිතීන් කෙතරම් සකී‍්‍රයව සහතික කෙරෙන්නේද යන්න මතය. ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී සමාජයක එය හුදෙක් ආයෝජකයින් හා හාම්පුතුන්ගේ වුවමනාවන්ට යටත් නොවන්නකි.

එවැනි පසුබිමක, බලවත් රාජ්‍යන්හි දේශපාලන හා ආර්ථික වුවමනාවන්ද ඇතිව පිළිගත් ජාත්‍යන්තර හා කලාපීය සංවිධාන බිහිව ඇත. ලෝක බැංකුව, ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල, ලෝක වෙළඳ සංවිධානය, ආසියානු සංවර්ධන බැංකුව, යුරෝපා සංගමය, එවැනි ස්ථාවර ආයතන වන අතර, ඊට අමතරව වරින් වර ඉස්මතුවන කාලීන අවශ්‍යතා මත කියෝටෝ සමුළුව, මොන්ටි‍්‍රයල් සමුළුව, රියෝ දි ජනෙයිරෝ පරිසර සමුළුව වැනි කලාපීය හා ලෝක සමුළුද පැවැත්වේ. එවැනි ජාත්‍යන්තර හා කලාපීය සංවිධාන හා සමුළු විසින් ගනු ලබන තීන්දු සමග අප හවුල් වන්නේත් ඒවා යාවත්කාලීන කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් අප රටක් ලෙස අත්සන් තබා පියවර ගන්නේත් ඉතා විවෘත ගනුදෙනු හරහාය. නිදහස් වෙළඳ ගිවිසුම් සැකසෙන්නේත් එවැනි නිල රාජ්‍යතාන්ත‍්‍රික ගනුදෙනු ලෙසය.

නවීන ලෝකයේ ඒ පිළිගත් සාම්ප‍්‍රදායන් හා රාජ්‍යතාන්ති‍්‍රක පිළිවෙත් සියල්ලට පිටින් සහ ඒ සියල්ලට පටහැනිව ඇමෙරිකානු රාජ්‍ය ආධාර ආයතතනයක් වන ‘‘යුඑස්ඒඞ්’’ ආයතනය සමග සංවර්ධන උපාමාර්ග හා බාහිර වෙළඳාම් පිළිබඳ අමාත්‍යාංශය කිසිදු ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ ප‍්‍රකායකින් තොරව ඇතිකරගත් ගිවිසුමකට අනුව, ‘‘යුඑස්ඒඞ්’’ ආයතනයේ උපදේශන සමග ඔවුන්ගේ මුදල් ආධාරද ඇතිව මේ රටේ කම්කරු හා කාර්මික නීති සියල්ල තනි, එක නීති කෙටුම්පතකට අලූතින් සකසා ඇත. එය කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ වගකීම්ද නොතකා කෙරුණකි. සංවර්ධන උපාමාර්ග හා බාහිර වෙළඳාම් පිළිබඳ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ එම හිතුවක්කාර කි‍්‍රයාව බරපතල ප‍්‍රතිපත්තිමය කාරණාවකට තුඩු දෙන්නකි. ඇමෙරිකානු රාජ්‍ය හා සම්බන්ධ ආධාර සංවිධානයක උපදේශන සමගින් රටේ නීති සම්පාදනයට ඉඩ තැබීම අනාගතය සම්බන්ධව ඉතාම භයානක පූර්වාදර්ශයකට හේතු සපයන්නකි. බලයට පත්වන ආණ්ඩුවක දේශපාලන නායකත්වයේ අප‍්‍රකාශිත වුවමනාවන්ට විදේශ බලවතුන්ගේ න්‍යාය පත‍්‍ර වෙනුවෙන් රටේ නීති සම්පාදනය කිරීමට ඉඩ ලබාදෙන පූර්වාදර්ශයක් වන්නකි.

වඩා පැහැදිලිව හා විවෘතව කිවහොත් ඉන්දියානු සාගරයේ ඇමෙරිකානු භූ-දේශපාලන අවශ්‍යතා ගණන් හැදීමේදී අප රටේ ඉතා සංවේදී භූගෝලීය පිහිටීම හේතුවෙන් මේ ආණ්ඩුව ඉන්නේ බලපෑම් සමූහයකට හසුවය. වසර 25 ක පමණ කාලයක් පුරා වර්ධනය වූ ගෝලීය නව ලිබරල් ආර්ථිකයේ මූල්‍ය ඒකාධිකාරී වෙළඳපල 2008 දී මහ බලවතුන් නොසිතූ අයුරු බිඳ වැටුණු පසු එහි වාසිය සමගින් වර්තමාන ලෝකයේ නව බලවතා ලෙස තහවුරුව ඇත්තේ චීන යයි. ඔවුන්ගේ මුදල් මේ වනවිට ආසියානු කලාපයේ පමණක් නොව, ඕස්ත්‍රේලියාවේත් ලතින් ඇමෙරිකානු කලාපයේත් විශාල වශයෙන් ආයෝජනය කෙරෙන්නේය. ඔවුන් එළෙසින් ගෝලීය බලවතෙකු ලෙස තහවුරු වීමේදී ඔවුන්ගේ හමුදා බලයද වැදගත් සාධකයකි. ඇමෙරිකානු විරෝධය නොතකා චීනය ආසියානු මහද්වීපය හරහා තුර්කිය දක්වාත් ඉන්දියානු සාගරයෙහි ඕමානය දක්වාත් සේද මාර්ග ව්‍යාපෘතියක් කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කිරීමේදී ඔවුන් හම්බන්තොට වරායත් කොළඹ
පෝට් සිටියත් පාලනය කිරීමේ අයිතිය ලබා ගැනීමත් සමග, ඇමෙරිකාවට අප වැදගත් වන්නේ ආර්ථික වශයෙන් පමණක් නොව හමුදාමය බලයද සමගය.

චීන ආර්ථික ආයෝජන සමග ගැට ගසා ඇති ඔවුන්ගේ හමුදාමය වුවමනාවන් පිළිබඳව ඇමෙරිකානු මැදිහත්වීම් ඒ අනුව ආරම්භ වූයේ රාජපක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව සමගින්ය. වසර 10 ට බලපාන ලෙස පළමු ‘‘පවරා ගැනීම් හා සේවා හුවමාරු ගිවිසුම’’ (්ක්‍ී්* අත්සන් කරනු ලැබූයේ 2007 මාර්තු මාසයේ ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාපක්ෂ සමග ය. කිසිදු පරීක්ෂා කිරීමකින් තොරව ඇමෙරිකානු නාවික හමුදා සහ යාත‍්‍ර වලට මෙරට වරායවලට

පැමිණීමට එමගින් අවසර ලැබිණ. එය නැවත දීර්ග කෙරුණේ 2017 දී මේ ආණ්ඩුව විසින්ය. මෙවර තවත් වසර 10 ට දීර්ග කෙරුණු ගිවිසුම පසුගිය වරට වඩා වැඩි බලයක් ඇමෙරිකාවට ලබාදී ඇතැයි පැවසේ. එම ගිවිසුම පාදක කර ගනිමින් ඇමෙරිකාව සමග තවත් අතුරු ගිවිසුමක් අත්සන් කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව සූදානම් විය. ඇමෙරිකාව විසින් ඉදිරිපත්කර ඇති ‘‘බලකායන්ගේ තත්ත්වයන් සම්බන්ධ ගිවිසුම’’ (ීධත්‍්* අත්සන් කළහොත් ඇමෙරිකානු හමුදාවනට ඔවුන්ගේ නිල ඇඳුම් හා ආයුධ සමග ලංකාවේ ඕනෑම ප‍්‍රදේශයක සංචාරය කළ හැකි බවත් ඔවුන් කිසිවිටක ලංකාවේ නීතියට යටත් නොවන බවත් වාර්තා වන්නේය. එම ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කර නැතැයි අගමැති පැවසුවද මේ කිසිදු ගිවිසුමක් අවම තරමින් ඇමති මණ්ඩලයේ හෝ පූර්ණ ලෙස සාකච්ඡුාකර නැත.

මෙම ගිවිසුම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් මුදල් ඇමතිවරයා පැවසූයේ එවැනි ගිවිසුම් නොමැතිව අපට ඇමෙරිකානු වෙළඳපල හා රැුකියා සඳහා ඉඩකඩ නොලැබෙන බවය. එහි අනෙක් තේරුම නම්, ඇමෙරිකානු භූ-දේශපාලන අවශ්‍යතා අපගේ ආර්ථික හා සමාජීය අවශ්‍යතා සමග ගැට ගැසීමේ වුවමනාවක් ඔවුන්ට ඇති බවය. මේ රටේ කම්කරු හා කාර්මික නීති සියල්ල තනි, එක නීති කෙටුම්පතකට අලූතින් සැකසීමේ උත්සාහය කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව හරහා නොමැතිව සංවර්ධන උපාමාර්ග හා බාහිර වෙළඳාම් පිළිබඳ අමාත්‍යාංශය හරහා එන්නේ එබැවින්ය. එය කම්කරු අයිතීන් ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ අරමුණින් නොව ඇමෙරිකානු භූ-දේශපාලන වුවමනාවන් ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේදී ඔවුන්ගේ ජාවාරම්කාර ආයෝජකයින් සඳහා අයිතිවාසිකම් හා සේවා කොන්දේසි කේවල් කළ නොහැකි අසංවිධානාත්මක ශ‍්‍රම බලකායක් හැදීමේ වුවමනාවකි. අලූතින් නිදහස් වෙළඳ කලාප 50 ක් පිහිටුවීමේ අගමැතිවරයාගේ කතාවත් ඒ සමග සැළකිය යුත්තකි.

මෙය ඉදිරිපත් කෙරෙන කෙටුම්පතේ කොන්දේසි කතා කිරීමට කලින් ප‍්‍රතිපත්තිමය කාරණාවක් වන්නේද එබැවින්ය. කෙටුම්පතෙහි ඇති වගන්ති වල හොඳ නරක කතා කිරීමේ අරුතක් නැත්තේ සේවක අයිතීන් වෙනුවෙන් ඇතළත් කෙරෙන නාමික ප‍්‍රතිපාදන සැකසෙන්නේ ඔවුන්ගේ මූලික අරමුණට පටහැනි නොවන තාක් පමණි. එබැවින් ඒ අරමුණින් ඔවුන් එක`ග වන්නාවූ ප‍්‍රතිපාදන කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කිරීමේදී මේ දේශපාලන හා ආර්ථික කි‍්‍රයාවලිය තුල සේවක අයිතීන් ලඝුවීම වැළැක්විය නොහැකි වනු ඇත. ප‍්‍රතිපත්තිමය කාරණාව මත මෙයට විරුද්ධවීමේ අවශ්‍යතාව ඇත්තේ එබැවින්ය. එය අනාගතය පිළිබඳ කාරණාවක්ද වන්නේය.

යුඑස්ඒඞ් (ඹී්ෂෘ* ආයතනය විසින් යෝජනාකර ඇති මෙම යෝජනා 2017 අගෝස්තු මස 16 වන දින ජාතික කම්කරු උපදේශක සභා රැුස්වීමේ න්‍යාය පත‍්‍රයට අතුලත් කළ අවස්ථාවේ දී එම සභාව නියෝජනය කරන වෘත්තීය සමිති 10 ක් එම රැුස්විමට සහභාගිවීමෙන් වැළකි සිටියේ ද මෙම ප‍්‍රතිපත්තිමය මත පදනමේ පිහිටා ය. තව ද එම වෘත්තීය සමිති විසින් හිටපු කම්කරු සහ වෘත්තීය සමිති සබඳතා ඇමති ජෝන් සෙනවිරත්න මහතාට යවන ලද 2017 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 07 වන දිනැති එ්කාබද්ධ ලිපියෙන් ද යුඑස්ඒඞ් (ඹී්ෂෘ* ආයතනය සම්බන්‍ධව්මට විරෝධය පළකර ඇත.
මෙම ඊණියා එ්කීය කම්කරු නීතිය සම්පාදනය කිරීමේ දී කම්කරු සහ වෘත්තීය සමිති සබඳතා අමාත්‍යංශය සහ කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව අන්තර් ජාතික කම්කරු සංවිධානයේ සම්මුතියක් වන අංක 144 හි සඳහන් ත්‍රෛපාක්‍ෂික ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියට පටහැනිව කි‍්‍රයාකර ඇත.
මෙම ඊනියා කම්කරු නීති කෙටුම්පත 2019 ජුලි මස 09 වන දින රැුස්වූ ජාතික කම්කරු උපදේශක සභාවට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට පෙර ලංකා සේව්‍ය සම්මේලනය බණ්ඩාරනායක සම්මන්ත‍්‍රණ ශාලාවේ දී 2019 ජුනි මස 27 වන දින සංවිධානය කරන ලද සම්මන්ත‍්‍රණයට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත. එම සම්මන්ත‍්‍රණයට කම්කරු කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් සහභාගිවී ඇත.
ස්තූතියි,
මෙයට සහෝදරත්වයෙන්,

ඇන්ටන් මාකස්
සම ලේකම්
නිදහස් වෙළඳ කලාප සහ
පොදු සේවා සේවක සංගමය

American Army and Civil official are here on the invitation of the Sri Lankan Government Which Sri Lankan Government has invited them?

July 23rd, 2019

Dr Sudath Gunasekara

This morning as I was listening to Mulpiituwa news I heard the US Ambassador as saying that the American Army and Civil official are here on the invitation of the Sri Lankan Government. The sources also said these forces and civilians are to be used in an emergency?.

Could the President tell the country as to whose Government has invited these American to be here?

whether it is

1 His Government

2 Ranil’s

3 Speaker’s

4NGO’s

5 Or else somebody else’s unknown Government

And what is the emergency expected?

Having found that information, and if it is not his Government, will he take necessary steps to find out as to who invited them without his knowledge. Thereafter will he take action to deport these Americans and take action against the Government/person who invited the Americans expecting an emergency in this country?

What is the need to invite the American Army by the the party who has made such invitation, unless there is some subversive activity going on in the country, to curb the emerging national forces, when this country has one of the best Armed forces in the world and a police force who could defeat the LTTE, the most dangerous terrorist army in the world, only 10 years ago?

Sri Lanka orders return of smuggled British garbage

July 23rd, 2019

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo watches a city being born in the ocean

Colombo, July 23 (AFP) – Sri Lanka customs Tuesday ordered the return of container loads of hazardous mortuary and clinical waste illegally imported into the island from Britain under the cover of metal recycling.

Customs officials said the racket dating back to 2017 was uncovered after the Colombo port complained last week that an importer had abandoned 111 containers which were emanating a huge stink.

A total of 241 containers had been imported since 2017 and 130 of them had been taken to a free-trade zone ostensibly for recycling and re-export, customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratne told AFP.

We are taking immediate action to order the re-export of the 111 containers abandoned at the port,” Jayaratne said.

The other 130 which had already been cleared from the port will be dealt under environmental and other laws.”

He said the 130 containers were stuffed with used mattresses and plastic and clinical waste imported in violation of international laws governing the shipping of hazardous material.

A Sri Lankan businessman who imported the containers would be liable for criminal prosecution if he failed to re-export them to Britain, from where they originated, Jayaratne said.

An official at the finance ministry, which is responsible for the customs department, said it would take up the issue with British authorities for exporting hazardous cargo without first checking if Sri Lanka was willing to accept it.

This is a well-organised racket that has been going on since 2017,” said the official, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

The 111 containers are believed to contain mortuary waste including human organs and had been unloaded and exposed to the elements for the past two years.

The 130 containers taken to a free-trade zone near Colombo International Airport were contaminating water and polluting the air in the area, he said.

Sri Lanka’s pushback on imported trash came as Indonesia and the Philippines returned shipments of foreign rubbish to their originating ports.

Indonesia announced two weeks ago it was sending more than 210 tonnes of garbage back to Australia and Canada has agreed to accept 69 containers of rubbish it had shipped to the Philippines between 2013 and 2014.

Growth and decline of Tamil Muslims’ fortunes in maritime trade

July 23rd, 2019

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror

Growth and decline of Tamil Muslimsâ fortunes in maritime trade

While the Cholas of the Coromandel coast in Tamil Nadu were known for their maritime conquests and successful trade, with conquest and trade going hand in hand, the Muslims of the Coromandel coast were successful in maritime trade without the aid of conquest.

However, ultimately, with the advent of European traders, who operated under entirely different principles, the Muslims had to yield to the hard reality of political power and military might.

The Muslims of the Coromandel coast, who were related to the Muslims of Sri Lanka, came from the Arab world as peaceful traders and stayed as peaceful traders right through.

Perhaps because of the non-violent orientation of their vocation, the Muslims of Tamil Nadu were in international maritime business for a much longer time than others, going well into the British Raj.

But the absence of political and military backing was not an unmixed blessing. It did have adverse effects on the Muslims’ maritime trading interests when their competitors had begun to use political dominance and military might.

It was when the intolerant Portuguese ruled the roost in the South Asian region (coastal peninsular India and Sri Lanka) that the Muslims in the two countries suffered the most.

According to the Tamil Nadu historian Dr.J.Raja Mohamed, the curtains came down on the Muslims’ maritime trade finally in early 20th Century due to two factors: (1) stiff competition from the British (2) reluctance of the Tamil Muslims to adopt new shipping technology and modern education.

But Srinivasa Rao Vadlamudi of Austin University in the US, says in his Ph.D. dissertation, that Tamil Muslims actually found a way to prosper under British rule too. They carved out a niche for themselves under the Imperial trading system.

Muslim Monopoly

In his book entitled:Maritime History of the Coromandel Muslims Raja Mohamed says that before the arrival of the European powers on the Coromandel coast, maritime trade was entirely in the hands of Tamil-speaking Muslims of Arab-Tamil ancestry.

Muslims dominated trade with South East Asia so much that British records described the ports on the Coromandel coast as Moor ports”. Few would now know that modern-day Cuddalore was known as Islamabad” and Porto Novo or Parangipettai was known as Mohammad Bandar” or Mohammad harbor.

The Tamil-speaking Muslims of Arab-Tamil ancestry had inherited their dominant position in India-South East Asian trade from the Arabs, who had acquired a virtual monopoly of Indian maritime commerce by 3rd Century BC. According to Raja Mohamed, Arab contact with Tamil Nadu is mentioned in the Tamil Sangam literature of 2nd Century AD.

He contends that the term Yavana” in Sangam literature did not refer to the Greeks, as generally presumed, but to people hailing from modern-day Yemen. He also says that the term Sonaka” used to identify Coromandel and Ceylon Muslims of Indo-Arab descent is but a corruption of Yavana. The Mapilla or Moplah Muslims of Kerala were known as Sonaka Mapillas.

The Zamorin of Calicut in Kerala, who needed Arabs to man his ships, even decreed that the Arab traders should marry Malayali women and bring up at least one of their children as a Muslim. The Rowthers made a name for themselves as traders in Arab horses. The Marakkayars (boat people) and Lebbais were expert mariners and traders.

Portuguese Era.

But once the pushy, ruthless, cunning and better organized European merchants entered the arena, the Coromandel Muslims began to lose ground rapidly.

And sadly, in their fight for survival, they got no help from the Indian rulers. After the Cholas, South Indian rulers were indifferent to indigenous maritime trade, preferring to leave it to the Portuguese and other European traders. The Indian rulers had even declared trade in spices, gold and silver a Portuguese monopoly.

Prior to the advent of the Portuguese in the early part of the 16th. Century, trade in South and South East Asia was free. But the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and the English, introduced the system of monopolies. Their trade regimes were unfair as they were based on military might and political clout, Raja Mohamad says.

By 1530, the Arabs lost their monopoly over trading in horses. This passed entirely into the hands of the Portuguese. By 1537 the Portuguese had converted to Catholicism, an oppressed fishing community on the Tamil Nadu coast called Paravas. The rejuvenated Paravas were set up to compete with the Muslims in trade and pearl fishing. Pearl fishing, which was entirely in the hands of the Muslims for a long time, went into the hands of the Paravas, Raja Mohamed says.

To control trade in the entire region, the Portuguese established their power over key points like Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, and Malacca in South East Asia. Ceylon too had passed into their hands. The Portuguese used the cartaz” system (a permit system) by which those who did not have a cartaz” or permit could not enter a port.

However, Sundara Sreenivasa Rao Vadlamudi of the University of Austin has a different view. In his dissertation Merchants in Transition: Maritime Trade and Society of Tamil Muslims in the Indian Ocean World, c. 1780-1840,” he contends that the Coromandel Muslims prospered under British rule, though eventually, British laid impediments and their own limited vision stunted their growth.

In 1778, the British East India Company (EIC) took control of Nagore, an important historical port-town, among the cluster of coastal towns inhabited by Tamil Muslims. In 1786, the EIC acquired the island of Penang in Malaya from the Sultan of Kedah.

These two developments, taking place only a few years apart, occurred at the two ends of a maritime trade route from South India to Southeast Asia and had a significant impact on the Tamil Muslim merchants,” Vadlamudi says.

In Nagore and Penang, the East India Company sought to develop these ports into important trading hubs. As part of such efforts, the EIC invested in improving the port’s infrastructure, issued concessions to indigenous merchant communities from paying the full rate of port duties, and encouraged the settlement of Indian merchant communities in these two ports.”

These efforts were aimed at increasing revenue from port duties that could be levied on goods and for procuring goods from Southeast that were necessary for obtaining tea in China,” Vadlanudi says.

Tamil Muslim merchants took advantage of such policies in Nagore and Penang.

In Nagore, and other South Indian ports that were subsequently won by the EIC in its battles with rival European trading companies, Tamil Muslim merchants settled and traded under the EIC’s authority. Some wealthy merchants such as Muhammad Qassim negotiated favorable contracts to collect revenue on behalf of the EIC administration, a system of managing taxes previously practiced by Indian rulers. This allowed Muhammad Qassim to increase his wealth and also his prominence in Nagore. Smaller traders were attracted to Nagore by the system of courts and the granting of trade concessions.”

Penang lay along existing trade routes between South India and Southeast Asia and Tamil Muslims took advantage of the free trade policies at Penang to trade and settle there.”

The developments in Nagore and Penang show that the expansion of the EIC along the Coromandel coast and in Southeast Asia provided opportunities for Tamil Muslim merchants to trade in EIC-controlled ports, both in South India and Southeast Asia,” Vadlamudi says.

Changes in 19 th.Century

However, in the 19 th.Century, concessions from paying the full port duties that were granted to Tamil Muslims were gradually withdrawn, Vadlamudi notes.

The EIC began to implement a system of transit duties that aimed to collect duties at multiple stages from the production of a good till its export. By 1801, the EIC had emerged as the dominant military power in South India and controlled a vast territory. The development of the system of transit duties emerged alongside the expansion of administrative mechanisms by the EIC,” Vadlamudi points out. These developments adversely affected Tamil Muslim maritime interests.

(The featured image at the top shows Tamil Muslim traders in Penang, Malaya in early 20 th.Century)

How Smaller States are Choosing Sides in the Indian Ocean

July 23rd, 2019

BY VIRAJ SOLANKI & ANTOINE LEVESQUES Courtesy defenseone

A patrol boat of the Sri Lankan navy patrols in the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2011.

From Sri Lanka to Kenya, governments try to balance major-power influence — except in arms purchases.

As India and China have intensified their geopolitical interestin the Indian Ocean, the region’s smaller states have aimed to balance their political relations with these major powers. But in at least one realm of engagement, countries have resisted balancing their relations. Since 2015, the island countries of Mauritius, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka have procured military equipment only from India, while the coastal countries of Bangladesh, Djibouti, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Tanzania have bought solely from China.

This timeframe is significant because it was in January 2015 that the U.S and India issued and unprecedented Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region. This was shortly after followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own announcement of India’s Security and Growth for All in the Region,” or SAGAR, program a multifaceted effort to engage politically, diplomatically, economically and on security matters with Indian Ocean island states.

The strategic significance of the area’s island states — notably Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Maldives and the Seychelles — arises primarily from their proximity to key international sea lanes. China, India, Japan, and the United States each have some cooperative but otherwise mostly competing interests and projects in these states, largely for capacity building. Yet these states do have agency and their own agendas, influenced by domestic factors, in their relations with the major powers.

Related: Who Will Prevent the Next India-Pakistan War?

Related: Naval Task Groups Are Proliferating in the Indo-Pacific

Related: China’s Growing Power Is Bringing Military Drills Center Stage in Asia

Under Prime Minister Modi, India has engaged more substantively with each of these states on defense and security. At the same time, China, under the banner of the Maritime Silk Road and the wider Belt and Road Initiative, has substantially increased its involvement in Sri Lanka, Maldives, and the Seychelles; Mauritius is also set to join the initiative. And as China increases its naval activities in the region, Japan, Britain, and the United States are also increasing their relationships with the smaller states. All this adds potential points of contention between those major powers, with commensurate prospects of spilling into the regional states.

Sri Lanka’s dealings illustrate how the smaller states are working to balance influence and investment by regional powers. China is the major investor in the $1.4 billion Colombo Port City project. Beijing also designed the December 2017 debt-for-equity swap — China calls it a public-private partnership investment — in which Sri Lanka handed over a controlling stake in the southern port of Hambantota and 15,000 acres of surrounding land to China on a 99-year-long lease in return for $1.1 billion in debt relief. But Sri Lanka has also accepted infrastructural investment from other sources. In January 2018, India provided more than $45 million to build a commercial port in the northern harbour at Kankesanthurai, and now is offering some $2 billion to develop the port, oil terminals, and refinery at Trincomalee in northeastern Sri Lanka. As well, on 28 May, India, Japan and Sri Lanka agreed to develop the second foreign-operated container terminal at Colombo port as a joint venture.

And yet neither Sri Lanka nor its small neighbors have so finely balanced their arms imports, according to the Military Balance+ database produced by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, or IISS. This sole-sourcing represents a change for Sri Lanka, which bought Chinese arms during its civil war that ended in 2009, and for Seychelles, which bought from China two light transport aircraft in 2011 and a patrol boat in 2014.

The range and quantity of these purchases also varies. India’s regional customers have procured solely maritime-security-focused equipment, including donated boats. Mauritius bought 12 coastal patrol craft and patrol boats; Seychelles, one maritime patrol aircraft; and Sri Lanka, three offshore patrol ships and ocean-going patrol craft. But Chinese arms sales to the region include a wider selection of air and land as well as maritime security equipment. Pakistan is the biggest customer, having bought 610 main battle tanks and 100 Viraj Solanki Viraj Solanki is Research Analyst for South Asia at the IISS, where his research interests include India’s policy towards its neighbours, including the littoral and island states of South Asia and the Indian Ocean. JF-17 fighter ground-attack aircraft. Other sales include Bangladesh’s purchase of 47 main battle tanks and armoured recovery vehicles; Kenya’s 30 light forces vehicles; and Tanzania’s 24 light tanks.

Each of these defense contracts depends on India and China’s capacity to deliver equipment to the smaller states, as well as the willingness and financial capacity of each of the smaller states to procure from the two powers. China has a more extensive defense industrial base, suggesting a greater capacity to efficiently meet its delivery obligations. Meanwhile, the Indian government is working to strengthen its own industrial base via the Make in India” policy, yet many equipment projects have experienced delays and cost overruns.

This state of either-or defense procurement may be about to come to an end. By year’s end, Sri Lanka is expected to accept a donated Chinese frigate, and that may encourage its neighbors to become more ecumenical in their own purchases. That may augur a new phase of bolder strategic initiative from Indian Ocean countries in their own abilities to balance major-power influences — and a new arena of competition for those powers themselves.

Antoine Levesques is Research Fellow for South Asia at the IISS, where he specialises in the facts and assessments of South Asian policies towards China, regional nuclear issues, as well as Pakistan’s political and security perspectives.

Viraj Solanki is Research Analyst for South Asia at the IISS, where his research interests include India’s policy towards its neighbours, including the littoral and island states of South Asia and the Indian Ocean.

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Sri Lanka is sending hundreds of tons of trash — apparently including rotten human remains — back to the UK, as Southeast Asia continues its fight against Western garbage

July 23rd, 2019

Courtesy Business Insider

sri lanka trash — A man collects plastic for recycling in a garbage dump in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in June 2017.

Western countries have been sending their recycling to developing nations in Southeast Asia for decades.
Officials in the recipient countries complain that the trash they receive is improperly labeled, and contains other types of garbage that they can’t recycle.
On Tuesday, Sri Lanka ordered the return of 111 shipping containers to the UK, which it says contains waste like rotten human organs, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Authorities claim that a total of 241 containers of trash have been illegally sent to Sri Lanka since 2017.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Sri Lanka has ordered the return of hundreds of tons of trash to Britain, the latest move in Southeast Asia’s campaign to end its role as a dumping ground for garbage made in the West.

According to Sri Lankan officials, the stinking containers include mounds of foul waste — including rotten human remains — and represent a breach of the terms on which the trash was shipped.

Sri Lankan customs officials accused the UK of illegally importing hazardous waste into the country since at least 2017 by wrongly labeling it as metal recycling, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Authorities discovered the waste after people complained of the stench from 111 abandoned containers in a port in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital city, the news agency reported.

They are believed to contain mortuary waste, which include human organs that had been left unrefrigerated for the past two years, AFP said.

colombo sri lanka trash — A tire and rubbish float in the sea at the land reclamation of “Colombo Port City” construction site in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in June 2017.

Those containers will be returned to Britain, Sunil Jayaratne, a spokesman for Sri Lanka’s customs office, told AFP.

Sri Lankan officials did not give an estimate for the weight of the trash. But given the size and carrying capacity of 111 containers, it is likely to easily come to several hundred tons, and more likely several thousand.

A typical shipping container can carry as much as 26 tons, and weighs four tons even when empty. If all 111 containers were full, that would equate to around 2,900 tons of trash.

A shipment of trash sent back to Canada by the Philippines weighed 1,500 tons spread across 69 containers.

sri lanka colombo port — Shipping containers at the main port in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in September 2018.

After being alerted to the stinking British trash, Sri Lankan officials looked further, and found 130 other containers of trash that had been imported into Sri Lanka since 2017, AFP reported. It’s not clear where those ones came from.

Authorities found mattresses and carpets stuffed among the waste, which violates international laws on shipping hazardous material, Sri Lankan news site News First reported, citing Ajith Weerasundara, director of hazardous waste management at the country’s Central Environmental Authority.

Fifty-seven of these containers have already been re-exported to their originating countries, and many others were taken to the Katunayake Free Trade Zone in western Sri Lanka, News First reported. Officials plan to send the rest of the containers back.

The containers have been contaminating the water and polluting the air at Katunayake, AFP reported.

“This is a well-organized racket that has been going on since 2017,” an unnamed official at Sri Lanka’s finance ministry told AFP.

malaysia plastic trash heap — Plastic waste is piled outside an illegal recycling factory in Jenjarom in Kuala Langat district, Malaysia, in October 2018.

The global trash war

Sri Lanka’s move is the latest in a series of actions by Southeast Asian countries to send illegally-imported trash back to its home countries, which are mostly in the West.

Broadly, rich Western countries — like the UK, US, Canada, and Australia — sign contracts with companies in developing Southeast Asian countries — like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and the Philippines — to dispose of their trash.

Behind the SOFA

July 23rd, 2019

By Padraig Colman Courtesy Ceylon Today

I often try in my columns to comfort Sri Lankans who despair at the condition of their polity. Sri Lankans might wonder in horror what antics their leaders will get up to next, but UK citizens contemplate having Boris Johnson as their Prime Minister some time soon. Sri Lankans might be uncomfortable at the loss of sovereignty involved in handing over ports to the Chinese, and the submission to the US implied by SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) but Britons are horrified at the notion that President Trump decides who is suitable to be UK Ambassador to Washington.

SOFA

The Status of Forces Agreement, which the US is keen to force on Sri Lanka, seems to many Sri Lankans to be a step too far in bending over and being submissive to the US. The main points of SOFA are:

All American personnel based in Sri Lanka will have the equivalent of diplomatic immunity. US troops and contractors will be able to enter and leave Sri Lanka without passports or visas.

US personnel can wear uniforms and carry arms while on duty in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan laws will not apply to them. The US Government will exercise criminal jurisdiction over US personnel in Sri Lanka.

The GOSL will protect US assets in Sri Lanka, but the US Government will not pay anything.

US vessels and vehicles may enter and leave Sri Lanka freely without payment of tolls or taxes, navigation, overflight, terminal or similar charges. Aircraft and vessels of the US Government will not be boarded or inspected.

US contractors will not be liable to pay any tax or similar charges and will be exempt from any licence, or other restrictions, customs duties, taxes or any other charges.

The US will be allowed to operate its own telecommunication systems.
Claims relating to damage or loss shall be resolved by the US Government in accordance with US laws and regulations.

SOFA so good

President Sirisena has decided he does not like this, but he might change his mind. The US defended SOFA, saying they had no intention of setting up military bases in Sri Lanka. Wouldn’t dream of it! The US maintains nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries. Sri Lankans must be paranoid if they think the US wants to use Sri Lanka as a base for keeping an eye on China. Of course, the US does not covet Trincomalee Harbour! The SOFA with Sri Lanka would give reciprocal rights to Sri Lanka’s Army, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard to use US facilities. However, Sri Lanka’s main concern is internal security. It has no global enemies and has no resources to pay for using military facilities in the US.

There are 38 US military facilities on Okinawa. They account for up to 30 per cent of the land mass of the island. The US military bases on Okinawa also cover over 40 per cent of the arable soil, once some of the best agricultural land in Japan. Figures up to 1998, show that since 1972, 4,905 crimes were committed against Japanese people by US military personnel, their dependents and US civilian contractors and employees.

More than 10 per cent of these were serious crimes – murder, robbery or rape. In most cases, the Japanese authorities were not allowed to arrest or question the alleged perpetrators.

Special relationship

Britain has long deluded itself that it has a special relationship with the US. When Charles de Gaulle wrote to LBJ in 1966, ordering that all US troops be removed from French soil within 12 months, Britain offered a warm welcome, and during the Cold War, the UK became one of the USA’s unsinkable aircraft carriers.” In the 1990s, the number of US-manned military facilities in Britain reached 100. By 2014, this had fallen to 13, ranging from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk – one of the largest air bases outside the US – to a joint GCHQ and National Security Agency satellite station at Morwenstow in Cornwall. There were still 24,000 US personnel, civilian staff and family members on British soil.

Lindis Percy, a veteran peace activist who has protested outside US bases since 1979, said: The thread … through everything to do with these facilities is an almost total lack of accountability. Even now, new by-laws are being introduced to deter people from going near bases already protected by draconian legislation.

Assurances made by the US to the UK that ‘extraordinary rendition’ flights had never landed on British territory were later shown to be false, when official US records proved that such flights had landed at Diego Garcia repeatedly.”

US right of veto

The UK Ambassador to Washington, Kim Darroch, was reviled by Donald Trump, when Darroch’s unflattering confidential memos about the President were leaked to the press. When the Foreign Office Permanent Secretary, Simon McDonald, appeared before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on 10 July, the Chair, Tom Tugendhat asked what precedent there was for the Head of State of a friendly government to do what Donald Trump did, and made it impossible for Britain’s Ambassador do his job? McDonald said there was no precedent.

Nothing like this has ever happened before,” McDonald told another MP. There must be consequences. What they are in detail I can’t tell you this afternoon.”
Boris Johnson, probably the UK’s next Prime Minister, knowingly refused to express confidence in Darroch during the leadership hustings with Jeremy Hunt.

It was Johnson’s action that led directly to Darroch’s inevitable resignation.

Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan said that by six times refusing to back the Ambassador, Johnson had thrown him under a bus. Tugendhat, a former Army Officer said: Leaders stand up for their men. They encourage them to try and defend them when they fail.”

Trump’s actions were a crude assertion of power over a country that wants desperately to be the friend of the US. This is not a special relationship, it is sado-masochist one. The rest of the world, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, will be watching. For Britain, as Martin Kettle put it in The Guardian: it is a stake through the heart of its entire post-war self-image.”

Sri Lanka’s friend Liam Fox has failed miserably to gain trade deals to replace what will be lost when the UK is out of the EU. The only hope left was the US, who threatened to bombard the sceptered isle with chlorinated chickens. It looks as though the special relationship will entail the US bullying the UK.

” නැති බලයක් පාවිච්චි කරලා සුද්දන්ට තොරතුරු දෙන්න විනිසුරුවරුන්ට නියෝග දෙන වැ.බ විදේශ කටයුතු ලේකම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට වහාම කැදවන්න”

July 23rd, 2019

Wimal weerawansa

https://www.facebook.com/WimalWeerawansa.sl/videos/355566541802116/

”කුණු කන්ටේනර් ගෙන්වීම ගැන අනුර සගවන කතාව මෙන්න” – විමල්ගේ සුවිශේෂ අනාවරණය”

July 23rd, 2019

Wimal weerawansa

https://www.facebook.com/WimalWeerawansa.sl/videos/2394049297340702/