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31 January 2012 Government should need to take legal action against Trincomalee attack: TELO President Selvam Adaikalanathan Vanni district TNA parliamentarian and TELO President Selvam Adaikalanathan thoroughly condemns the attack carried out against the Tamil people in Trincomalee. Selvam Adaikalanathan stated people of the majority community carried out attack against minority youths who collected money from the people for annual festival of the kovil.He also pointed out such incident would create separation among people and also urge the government to take legal action against this issue or else such incident would lead for ethnic issue of this country. President denies promising India to go beyond 13-A President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday denied that he ever told India he would go beyond the 13th Amendment to the Constitution as a solution to the ethnic problem. Responding to a question at a breakfast meeting with heads of print and electronic media yesterday at Temple Trees whether he had promised India to go beyond the 13th Amendment, the President said: "Oh, No! How can I make promises like that? I have referred the issue to Parliament. I have nominated government representatives to the PSC. But unfortunately, neither the UNP nor the JVP has nominated theirs. It is the same with the Tamil National Alliance as well."When asked for his personal opinion on the matter, President Rajapaksa said that if he spelt out his views, then there would be criticism in the media that he had brought in his opinion and that he was trying to push it through Parliament. He said, "We can use our parliamentary majority to do that, but I won’t. The Parliamentary Select Committee is an open forum. I will be implementing what is agreed upon there."The President said the land powers were vested with the Provincial Councils and the contentious issue was the police powers. "The TNA is now talking the way the LTTE used to. What it is asking for is not of concern to the people of Kilinochchi. These are the matters that we should take cognisance of. The stand of the TNA is not clear."President Rajapaksa said that he would meet all political party leaders to discuss the national issue. "The Opposition, the media, social activists and all stakeholders should unite to find a lasting solutions to these long standing issues, but no one seems to be making use of the open form that is available."Asked whether he thought it advisable to call an all party conference to deliberate on these matters, President Rajapaksa said he would summon all political parties and devise a mechanism to ascertain their views on the issue. "We want the support of not only the political parties but also the media. This is a national issue and we need the support of all stakeholders. US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues to visit SriLanka next week US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen J. Rapp will be in Sri Lanka next week for high level discussions with the Sri Lankan Government including the Sri Lankan President,sources said.A US Embassy Spokesman in Colombo yesterday confirmed that Ambassador Rapp will be in the island during the week of 5 February for meetings, but said his schedule was still in the process of being prepared for the visit.An External Affairs Ministry Spokesman, however, denied knowledge of the high profile visit.However, diplomatic sources confirmed that Ambassador Rapp would receive an audience with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and several other high ranking government officials during his visit to the island.According to highly placed government officials, the government and External Ministry officials are presently deep in ‘strategy mode’ in a bid to decide how approach Rapp’s visit and the questions it poses for Sri Lanka.Stephen J. Rapp is the Obama Administration’s point man on war crimes issues and ‘coordinates the deployment of a range of diplomatic, legal, economic, military, and intelligence tools to help expose the truth, judge those responsible, protect and assist victims, enable reconciliation, and build the rule of law,’ according to the US State Department website.Ambassador Rapp’s visit comes ahead of the UN Human Rights Council Sessions due to commence on 27 February, on the sidelines of which several countries including the US, Britain and the EU want Sri Lanka to agree to substantive talks on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission findings and recommendations. WikiLeaks: “STF murdered Trinco students” Basil to US The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and recounts details of a meeting US Ambassador to Colombo has had with President’s advisor and his brother Basil Rajapaksa on October 04, 2006. The cable was written by the US Ambassador to Colombo, Robert O. Blake.Under the subheading ”President is Keen on Human Rights” Blake wrote “Basil told the Ambassador that the President genuinely seeks the help of the Co-chairs, and the US in particular, to improve Sri Lanka’s human rights capability by lending experts, assisting with inquiries, and building up the indigenous Human Rights Commission (HRC). The Ambassador agreed that President Rajapaksa and Development and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe have strong reputations as human rights advocates, but noted the UNHCR lacked credibility.”“Speaking with surprising candor, Rajapaksa explained the GSL’s efforts to prove that members of the Security Task Force (STF) murdered five students in Trincomalee in January: ‘We know the STF did it, but the bullet and gun evidence shows that they did not. They must have separate guns when they want to kill some one. We need forensic experts. We know who did it, but we can’t proceed in prosecuting them.’” the ambassador further wrote.Ambassador Blake wrote “ He said that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been sufficiently trained in human rights, but that the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has been credibly implicated in harassment and human rights violations. ‘We have few complaints in areas of SLA presence, but we have a problem with the SLN,’ Rajapaksa explained. ‘We didn’t expect them to work with civilians and they weren’t trained.” He said the President has prioritized human rights training for the Navy. Rajapaksa added that with a new law requiring that police notify the magistrate before they can detain a suspect for longer than 24 hours, ‘We have minimized harassment by the police.’”Placing a comment the ambassador wrote “The Ambassador’s first meeting with Basil Rajapaksa sparked a candid response from the Presidential Advisor and laid the foundation for a pragmatic relationship with the embassy. Rajapaksa’s frank discussion of the GSL’s human rights struggles with its security forces and request for international assistance in human rights capacity building is welcome.” Case filed to clear ban against LTTE organization in India postponed today Chennai High Court announced case file against to clear the ban on LTTE organization in India was postponed till 20th of February.Ban against LTTE organization has been extend for every two tears in India. Indian central government appointed a trial at bar lead by the retired judge Vickramjith Sen to remove ban against the organization. This trial at bar refused to listen for the statement provided by the MDMK leader Vaiko. In such situation Vaiko filed a case against the bar at the courts.This case was taken up before the trial at bar Dharmarav and Kirubakaran at courts today . Advocate Nawanethankrishnan presented on behalf of Tamil Nadu government stated that they need time to file case against this case.Vaoko also grant approval for this request. In such situation case was postponed till 20th of February. Tamil Nadu governor says determined to regain Kachchativu Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah today (Jan. 30) reiterated the state government's resolve to regain the Kachchativu island to restore the lost rights of the fishermen. Delivering his maiden address to the State Assembly in Chennai, Dr. Rosaiah said the government was deeply concerned about the continuing attacks and harassment of fishermen of the state by the Sri Lankan Navy. ‘Despite our protests, such incidents are being repeated'', he said, and urged the Centre to take up the issue with Sri Lanka in strong terms, Indian media reported. Observing that all efforts would be taken to protect the traditional fishing rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen in the Palk Bay area and ensure their safety and security, the Governor said the government would take all steps to regain Kachchativu and restore the lost right of the fishermen. The island was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 by India by way of an agreement. TNA is following two different state policies in this country: Vasudeva Nanayakkara The Minister of National language Vasudeva Nanayakkara stated TNA is following two different state policies in this country.He said present government is much more interested to create unity among the people of this country.He also pointed out by the 10 years languages initiative plan government would be able to make many changes in this country. At present government is following policy of united SriLanka but TNA is following a two different state policies in this country.He also pointed out Sinhala political parties are hoping to rule the political parties of minority groups and also they think that the minority groups should accept the grievances granted by the majority groups.Such situation should need to be change in this country and also said such activities would affect the unity of this country 29 January 2012 TNA welcomes international mediation for future negotiations In the backdrop of a deadlock in talks between the government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the TNA said yesterday that they would welcome an international mediation at this time to facilitate future negotiations. At a recent meeting with Dr. Alyssa Ayres, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, TNA MP Selvam Adaikkalanathan and P. Sritharan called for a facilitator role by the US in this respect.Asked for a comment, TNA Media Spokesman MP Suresh Premachandran said that his party welcomes such international facilitation if possible. Mr. Premachandran said that it could be the United National, the Commonwealth Association, the SAARC or the European Union. “There is no favoured choice in this case. However, we are for an external facilitator if the government is willing,” he said. Yet, he said that the TNA had not officially called for such intervention at the moment. There is a stalemate in talks at the moment after the government insisted that the TNA should nominate its members to the Parliamentary Select Committee for the evolution of a political party in consensus with all the parties in Parliament. The TNA has made reservations over its participation in this case. In late 1990s, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga invited Norway to play of the role of facilitator for talks between the government and the LTTE. The UNP that came to power in 2001 also accepted the Norwegian role and initiated peace talks with the LTTE after signing a peace accord. The accord was abrogated after President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power in 2005. The government was critical of the role played by Norway. Eastern PC wants police, land powers The Eastern Provincial Council led by Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan has unanimously passed a resolution demanding land and police powers for the council. A copy of the resolution has been sent to the Presidential Secretariat, a council spokesman said yesterday.The resolution says that failure to devolve land powers to the province will mean that the council will have powers only to maintain houses without powers over land. The resolution points out that most of the lands in the Eastern Province come under the Railway Department, the Security Forces, the Forest Conservation Department, the Tourist Board and the Mahaweli Authority.The resolution says that fertile land is being acquired by a gazette notification for various tourism projects, leaving the council without powers. The resolution also says Police powers should be given to the Provincial Council.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Chandrakanthan, soon after returning from his current visit to Switzerland, will seek a meeting with TNA Parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan to discuss the demand for police and land powers.“We are willing to work jointly with the TNA in winning these demands,” the council spokesman said. The 'whitewash' of the LLRC's recommendations By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene It is quite amusing to see the government and all its men using the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) as a barely inadequate fig leaf to cover its total lack of adherence to the substance of the Commission's recommendations. Unacceptable excuses for delay in implementation Here and overseas, we are being told that the LLRC report was not quite the 'whitewash' that it was expected to be. But why should the relative triumph of the LLRC in (at least) focusing on the grave Rule of Law crisis in Sri Lanka accrue to the credit of the government when, not only has one month passed since the public release of the LLRC report with no concrete action regarding the implementation of its recommendations but also even the LLRC's interim recommendations pending for over a year have not been implemented? In late 2010, the country was informed by the state media that President Mahinda Rajapaksa will implement the interim recommendations of the Commission but this promise remained in the air since then. It must be recalled that the LLRC itself drew attention to the non-implementation of its interim recommendation in its final Report and expressed severe dissatisfaction. This is the core of the matter. Mere statements by the government that it will implement the LLRC recommendations will not do. It is nonsense to maintain that time is needed for this and that the government must, in the words of its favourite spin masters, confer with its constituent partners to determine the trajectory of the implementation process. Immediately implementable recommendations As discussed previously in these column spaces, there are some recommendations that can, (most demonstrably), be implemented immediately. The disarming of those holding weapons illegally in the hunting grounds of government politicians in the South as well as the paramilitaries in the North and East is one obvious example. Among many other similar examples are systematically improved access of family members to detainees, stringent safeguards being observed in arrests and detentions, punishment of those who abuse their powers, the ceasing of enforced disappearances as well as showing political will to investigate acts of extra judicial executions and disappearances. But on all fronts, the situation has either remained static or has worsened. Meanwhile, the LLRC's 'strong' reminder that the recommendations of the 2005 Udalagama Commission in relation to the killings of Tamil and Muslim civilians in Mutur and Trincomalee in 2006 be implemented is of particular note. This would mean that President Rajapaksa needs to make the report of the Udalagama Commission public, by necessary inference. In any event, there is no precise reason as to why this Report is being kept (literally) shrouded in secrecy. This only invites speculation that its contents are damaging to the government.And has the Attorney General indicated any renewed prosecutorial zeal in respect of the Mutur and Trincomalee killings? These questions may be purely hypothetical and may, in fact, invoke justifiable hilarity on the part of some but they nevertheless, need to be asked. Necessity for right to information laws Moreover, what about the LLRC's recommendation that Sri Lanka enact right to information legislation? It is manifestly difficult to see how the government can justify delay on this recommendation by what can only be categorized as typically lame excuses.There is indeed already a right to information Bill drafted some years back with the consensus of policy makers, the Legal Draftsman's department, the media and civil society, which was revised during this administration by its then Justice Minister. This can be enacted into law by the Rajapaksa government at a moment's notice given the strength that it commands in Parliament. Its outright refusal to do so can only be traced to its contempt for restoring good governance and its insistence on carrying forward the present culture of unprecedented abuse of the law, corruption and majoritarian dominance.Some months back, when the debate as to the enactment of the Right to Information law was being reignited, some commentators in the private media quite shamelessly argued that this would lead to national security concerns, blithely ignoring the fact that the draft law itself contained adequate safety measures to prevent this occurring.Other countries in this region itself have not allowed such absurd objections to hinder the passing of right to information legislation but have balanced these concerns with the fundamental right to information. Sri Lanka should be the leader in this regional process, given its democratic history. Instead, it lags far behind. The absence of such information laws may be to the benefit of corrupt politicians in this country but do we not feel even the slightest concern when our rights are so clearly trampled upon and treated of no account? In any event, the LLRC's calling for a legislatively secured right to information as being essential to the reconciliation process should at least, give pause to objectors who would like to trot out the improbable line that this is somehow highly dangerous to national security. Childlike belief that games can continue The point remains that in the absence of concrete action on this and many other fronts close to thirty days into a new year, how can the government hide behind the LLRC Report, however much the state media or state controlled journalists in the private media may delight in referring that Report as evidence of the bona fides of those in power? Obvious prevarication in respect of the implementation of its recommendations by the government, which was compelled in the first instance to constitute the LLRC in the face of mounting criticism here and overseas, only reflects its almost childlike belief that these games can continue without inevitable repercussions.This attitude is encouraged by the cynical attitudes of many who should know better. It is due to this cynicism that this administration was able to chip away at Sri Lanka's democratic institutions to the extent that they are now rendered useless. For example, many were blasé if not openly cynical about the now defunct 17th Amendment to the Constitution and its intention of depoliticizing the governance process.The thrust of the propaganda war that preceded the demolition of the 17th Amendment and the passing of the 18th Amendment was that the country had survived despite a crippling conflict even before the 17th Amendment. Further, it was said that the creation of a Constitutional Council with nominees of political parties and politicians was not the best way to remedy existing deficiencies. The truth of course, was that the working of the 17th Amendment depended more on the democratic spirit and the public demand for better governance, all of which now we know to be sad illusions in this country. Naturally when the 18th Amendment and the abolition of Presidential term limits took place, what emerged was not a great roar of protest but a whimper of dissent. This is our civic identity or lack thereof, rendered bare in all its ugliness. Proving the skeptics right As guarded as it was in many respects, the LLRC Report yet remains the first step that this country has taken in recent times towards accountability for victims, reconciliation between ethnicities and the restoration of the integrity of Sri Lanka's constitutional institutions. But government spokesmen who try to use this Report to cover the government's own perfidy, albeit with admirable aplomb, must be clearly reminded that the LLRC can become a 'whitewash' in more ways than one. Indeed, the most dangerous way of becoming a whitewash is not through a wholly unsatisfactory report coming out but if the government chooses to ignore recommendations made to the benefit of the country.Certainly if we proceed in this manner of denial and prevarication, the skeptics will be proved right in every sense of the word. And as predicted, all the energy and resources put into the 'whitewash' of an LLRC would have been for nothing. LLRC Pussyfoots Around Iniya Bharathi- TNA The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says there is clear evidence of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) member Iniya Bharathi being involved in human rights violations.In its 70 page response to the report of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the TNA had said that many witnesses in fact identify Iniya Bharathi as responsible for human rights abuses.The Sunday Leader in December 2011, carried an exposé on Iniya Bharathi. The article highlighted the fact that he is a man who has been accused of war crimes by the United Nations for giving forced arms training to children.Furthermore that he is a man who is accused by the public for playing a key role in the abductions and disappearances of several people in Poththuvil, Akkaraippattu, Thirukkovil and Vinaayakapuram in the Ampara district of the Eastern Province.Iniya Bharathi is a lead operative of the paramilitary group led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan alias Karuna who currently holds a Deputy Minister’s post in the Rajapaksa government. Iniya Bharathi is at present the Ampara District Coordinator for President Rajapaksa.According to past news reports about ninety percent of affected families that gave evidence before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) at its sittings in Ampara on March 26, 2011 alleged that Iniya Bharathi was responsible for the abductions and disappearances of their husbands, wives and children.Iniya Bharathi is also accused of intimidating voters, issuing death threats and of election fraud during the last presidential election, parliamentary election and during the recently held local government elections. The Kalmunai court had sentenced Iniya Bharathi to a ten year suspended jail term, when he was found guilty in some criminal cases.However, the TNA says the alleged involvement of Iniya Bharathi in a number of human rights violations is not mentioned in the section on human rights in the LLRC’s report. Instead of mentioning the involvement of this individual in the disappearances that took place in the Eastern Province, the LLRC only makes vague references to him in the chapter on ‘reconciliation’. The Commission makes no attempt to examine in any detail the evidence against this individual, nor to highlight his alleged connections to the TMVP and the SLF, the TNA said. S.M.Krishna given Fonseka’s baton With S.M.Krishna’s statement alleging that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had pledged to implement a ‘13th Amendment Plus’ scheme, the UNP has smelt blood and is closing in for the kill. They know that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government cannot implement such a scheme without suffering a serious backlash from the very support base that brought it into power and gave it a two thirds majority. At the end of 2009, when both the UNP and the JVP came together to field former army commander Sarath Fonseka as the common opposition candidate, they had only one thing in mind – to field someone who could make inroads into the support base of the president. Before nominations for the presidential elections, Mangala Samaraweera responding to a query about the rumour that the UNP was going to field Fonseka, said if that was the case, he’d rather support President Mahinda Rajapaksa! Later however, Samaraweera too came to the conclusion that the only chance they had of toppling the Rajapaksa government was to field a candidate who represented the very constituency that brought them into power. After the Fonseka experiment failed, the entire opposition was out on their rear ends on the road. What has given them a glimmer of hope is S.M.Krishna’s statement. With this, hopes have been generated that Indian pressure may force the government to go beyond the 13th Amendment, and that this will alienate a good part of their support base thus opening up tantalizing vistas for the UNP.Friday before last, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe left for India on an official tour of Gujerat at the invitation of the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Reddy. He phoned Tissa Attanayake from India and told him to arrange a meeting with the Venerable Mahanayakes of the Asgiriya and Malwatte chapters on Saturday (yesterday). The reason why he may have asked for this hurried meeting with the Mahanayakes is obviously because of the confidence that the Indians may succeed in getting the Rajapaksa government to commit political suicide.It should be remembered that the Mahanayakes of the Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters just a matter of a few weeks ago, asked Wickremesinghe to step down from the UNP leadership and give it to Karu Jayasuriya. This was the first time that RW was meeting the Venerable Buddhist prelates after winning the UNP leadership election. Tissa Attanayake, Ravi Karunanayake, Lakshman Kiriella among others accompanied RW when he visited the Mahanayakes. The situation within the UNP and the situation within the country as well as the all important 13 Plus matter was discussed. RW had one to one meetings with both Mananayakes and nothing is known of what was discussed at these closed door sessions.The UNP, quite clearly, is preparing for a showdown like in the year 2000. In that year, the UNP spearheaded opposition to Chandrika Kumaratunga’s new constitutional proposals which envisaged extensive devolution. RW is now obviously girding his loins to oppose the 13th Amendment Plus scheme that India is trying to push down Sri Lanka’s throat.In 1987, the UNP government of J.R. Jayewardene could vote in the 13th Amendment and still survive electorally because patriotism was never their rallying cry. People supported the UNP at that time for other reasons. Even though the UNP could introduce the 13th Amendment with minimal political damage to itself, for the present government such a thing could well nigh be fatal. ‘External winds’ Last week, the UNP gave some indication as to what their response would be to the 13 A Plus scheme mooted by the Indian External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna. We spoke to parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake, about the implications of a scheme that goes beyond the 13th Amendment.Karunanayake responded by saying that "The UNP is the only party that has ever tried to solve the ethnic conflict. The systems set up with regard to the District Development Councils and the Provincial Councils was all done by the UNP. If the leaders of the present government had shown at that time the unity that they seem to expect now, there would be no issue today. The UNP’s position should not be questioned because after 25 years, the present government is falling back on the UNP’s position and they are talking of the 13th Amendment Plus or Minus. So where have things gone forward? The government says it’s 13 Plus but that they can’t give land or police powers."The president is supposed to have told S.M.Krishna that he will implement a 13 Plus scheme. Krishna has become the spokesman for the government. When we ask G.L.Peiris in parliament what the government’s stand is, he doesn’t respond. Douglas Devananda says that he has no idea of what is meant by 13th Amendment Plus. Wimal Weerawansa says nothing doing to such a proposal and Champika Ranawaka says that the government has no mandate to do anything of the sort. Various people say various things. In such circumstances, if the head of the state tells the Indian external affairs minister that its going to be 13 Plus, who is fooling whom? What we want the government to do is to tell us what their plan is. This government says one thing to India, another thing to the Mahanayakes, a different thing to the TNA, and they tell the general public yet another thing. Has Krishna become a spokesman for Sri Lanka?" Asked whether the UNP will oppose any move to go beyond the 13th Amendment, Ravi K says: "That is a hypothetical question as no proposal has yet been put forward. We have to tell the government not to get the opposition to do the job of the government. Some people say we are spineless and gutless and that we don’t have a way forward. We are only telling the government to tell us what this 13+ or minus is. Police powers and land powers are all included in the 13th Amendment. What we are telling the government is to tell us what is being taken out and what is being put in.""The UNP has the overall interest of the country in mind. We have been very cautiously saying that we have said what we have to say, we now want you to tell us what you intend doing. We will not obstruct the government in going forward. But come to us with the final proposal and we will show our solidarity if it is good for the entire country."Asked whether this is not something that should be discussed in the parliamentary select committee that the government has been talking about, Ravi K says: "There is no point in going for a PSC without knowing what the government’s stand is. If external winds sends the ship in the direction it wants, this is a sad tragedy. The government should tell us `this is our plan, at what point are you going to join it?" On Thursday, after returning from India, Wickremesinghe met the office bearers of the party. Tissa Attanayake, Jayawickreme Perera, Joseph Michael Perera and John Amaratunga were present. The main matter discussed was the allocation of responsibilities to party office bearers. The matter at hand could not be finalized and another meeting will be held next week to decide on the allocation of responsibilities and functions to the various office bearers of the party. Sajith Premadasa the deputy leader of the party was not present at this meeting even though his role too was to be decided on. The Taj Mahal in reverse Mano Wijeratne will be remembered as the politician who made the quickest exit ever. He died in Singapore and was cremated within 24 hours of his remains reaching Sri Lanka. Even his terminal illness was quick and painless. He had gone for a check up when he was diagnosed with a liver condition and within about a month after the diagnosis he was dead without ever coming back to Sri Lanka. His body was never taken to his electorate of Dedigama and was cremated in Colombo. For an incumbent organizer of an electorate, who was holding office as the chairman of a government appointed commission at the time of his death, that was unusual.All that was apparently done in accordance with Mano’s last wishes. One day, after Janaka Perera’s assassination, Mano was telling the present writer, "Janaka Perera is dead. People will now see his daughter or his son and say That’s Janaka Perera’s son! And they will nod their heads and that will be it. Janaka, and all his achievements is gone, forgotten." Mano was keenly aware of the fact that whoever you may have been in life, the world passes you by when you are dead. Since oblivion is what even the greatest face once they are dead, Mano obviously wanted to go into that inevitable oblivion from day one without postponing it. His last wishes regarding the funeral arrangements were carried out to the letter by his wife Bharati.But Mano never laid down the rules for what was to happen after that except to say that he wanted the pillow and a lock of hair of his daughter who died in her childhood to be interred with him. Since his death three months ago, Bharati has been building a domed, marble floored mausoleum for him in the private cemetery of the Wijeratne family in the heart of Wellawatte. His ashes will be interred in this imposing edifice today. The mausoleum will serve as the family crypt of Bharathi’s branch of the Wijeratne family and initially, Mano will share it with the ashes of Bharati’s father, the late tea baron Lofty Wijeratne.The present writer thought Mano was always lucky. Career-wise he spent nearly half his lifetime in parliament. He was a politician who could oppose somebody without antagonizing that person, a rare quality in that line of work. As a result he had no enemies on either side of the political divide.It was Lankesh, his youngest brother who introduced the present writer to Mano about fifteen years ago. It was also Lankesh who had played the role of go between in bringing Bharati and Mano together. Both of them were third time lucky as far as marriage was concerned. There was always genuine warmth in the home they made in Wellawatte in Lofty’s ancestral house. Today, Mano’s chair on the verandah of that house is kept permanently vacant by the servants who tell visitors not to sit there as it was "Mahattaya’s place". But what even Mano himself would not have bargained for is to repose for perpetuity in a domed marble floored mausoleum the likes of which has not been put up for any politician in this country, even past heads of state! 27 January 2012 Tamil MP doubts LLRC implementation War crimes "Such a commission will not make recommendations for the sake of it without a proper investigation," he added.Mr Ranga who crossed over to the government having being elected as a candidate of the main opposition UNP, is highly critical of the activities of Minister Douglas Devananda and Deputy Minister Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan (Karuna).The report also accused the government of failing to disarm illegal armed groups, most of which are pro-government. It said a Tamil party within the government was still recruiting children to a militia.It accused the EPDP led by Minister Devananda of abductions and disappearances in Jaffna and also recommended a special investigation into the incident in which hundreds of policemen were killed in Batticaloa by the Tamil Tiger while Karuna was the regional LTTE commander.Minister Devananda has threatened to take legal actions against the LLRC. Paramilitary groups "Neither the cabinet of ministers nor the government did object when Minister Devananda threatened LLRC with legal action," said Mr Ranga."We can't deny the fact those abductions in Jaffna or killing of 600 policemen while in LTTE custody. These events have even reported internationally and documented even within UN reports."Meanwhile, the government said it will not submit the panel report for consideration at the forthcoming Geneva session of the UN Human Rights Council.The report addresses issues including political disappearances and the collapse of the rule of law in much of the country, but it has been criticised internationally for largely backing the government's account of the end of the war."Considering the response by certain ministers and the plight of previously signed agreements including Bandaranayaka-Chalvanayagam Pact and Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, I doubt these recommendations will ever be implemented," added Sri Ranga, MP. Media activists challenge government WikiLeaks: Rajapaksas use a group called the “Lion Cubs” to abductions and dispose bodies at sea “Samaraweera confirmed for the first time that special cells have been established within military intelligence to abduct LTTE sympathizers.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.“Samaraweera confirmed that the Government uses a group called the “Lion Cubs” to engage in these extrajudicial activities. It is widely rumored in Sri Lanka that Army Commander Fonseka, with the knowledge and approval of Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa, has set up special cells within military intelligence to go after suspected LTTE cadres and sympathizers in Colombo, Jaffna and other places.” US Embassy further wrote.The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “SECRET” and recounts details of a meeting US Ambassador to Colombo has had with then Sri Lankan government MP , the SLFP Treasurer and Leader and District Organizer of Matara District Mangala Samaraweera on February 26, 2007. The cable was written on February 28, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo, Robert O. Blake.Under the subject ”SRI LANKA:EX-FOREIGN MINISTER COMPLAINS OF HARASSMENT BY GOVERNMENT” ambassador Blake wrote “Ambassador commented that the President and the Defense Secretary reportedly believe that their military strategy, including abductions and harassment of suspected LTTE sympathizers, is working to make Colombo more secure and to degrade LTTE networks. Samaraweera confirmed that the Government uses a group called the ‘Lion Cubs’ to engage in these extrajudicial activities. It is widely rumored in Sri Lanka that Army Commander Fonseka, with the knowledge and approval of Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa, has set up special cells within military intelligence to go after suspected LTTE cadres and sympathizers in Colombo, Jaffna and other places. We have also heard reports of a similar shadowy group called the ‘Hambantota Cats.’ The recently-appointed Cabinet Minister for Environment has publicly called for the use of extralegal means to root out LTTE sympathizers. Samaraweera lent credibility to these reports by relating grisly details about the methods these groups use to dispose of the bodies of their victims at sea.” Pillaiyan supports TNA Chief Minister of the Eastern Province Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan says he agrees with the Tamil National Alliance regarding its stance on formulating a political solution for the Tamil issue. He also expressed his agreement in the request for granting police and land powers.The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) leader, also known as Pillayan, has submitted a letter to R. Sambandan, the parliamentary group leader of the TNA, conveying these opinions.Responding to the letter R. Sambandan has expressed his willingness to discuss the said matters with the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal.Meanwhile a group of past pupils of the Eastern University in a statement released claim that it is ‘unfortunate’ if an agreement is reached between the Tamil National Alliance and Pillayan.They accuse Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, who is currently overseas, of obstructing the Tamil people representation in the Eastern Province and infringing their rights, by working with the government.Therefore past pupil group emphasize that such an agreement would be unnecessary. Tiger who blew up award winning author arrested The Central Province Anti Terrorist Operations Bureau on Monday arrested a man who has since allegedly confessed to being one of the Tiger cadres responsible for blasting the jeep carrying award winning author Nihal de Silva and six others at the Wilpattu National Park in the early hours of May 27, 2006 killing all seven.Nihal De Silva rose to fame with his novel ‘Road to Elephant Pass’ which was the script for popular and award winning film directed by veteran director Chandran Rutnam. He also won the Gratien prize for the novel.The police headquarters said that the suspect, a resident of Iluppakadavei, Mannar had been wanted for a number of crimes committed during the LTTE terror period. He is being detained by the unit for interrogation.It was a claymore mine laid by the suspect along with several other LTTErs that blew up the jeep. The Prado was blown up 40 kilometres deep inside the Wilpattu jungles and the explosions had created two huge craters, the Wild Life officials said. The group which arrived at the park on the previous day included six domestic tourists. They had occupied the Kokmotai bungalow which is in a corner of the park. A local guide who was with the group was also killed in the blast.Later, four mutilated bodies were found along with the wreckage of the jeep by the search parties a few yards away from the scene of the blast. 26 January 2012 Sri Lanka Tamil party to inform Indian officials of stalemate in talks with government The major Tamil political party in Sri Lanka, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members are to visit India next month to inform the Indian government of the current stalemate in the talks between the government and the TNA.The talks between the government and the TNA stalled last week when the discussions scheduled to take place on the 17th, 18th and 19th had to be cancelled due to the non-participation of the government delegation.TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran told ColomboPage that a TNA delegation was likely to visit India next month to meet with the government officials."The dates have not yet been fixed, but we would be going to India to meet with the government members," he said.He noted that the TNA has not yet been officially informed by the government as to the reason for the stalemate in the talks with the government."We have only seen various media reports," he said. The government insists on TNA to name their representatives to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to formulate reforms to devolve power to the ethnic minorities.However, the TNA maintains that the party would not make representations to the proposed parliamentary select committee (PSC) to find a political solution to the ethnic issue until a consensus is reached between the government and the TNA.According to Premachandran, the Indian government needs to be informed of the real situation with regard to the government's stance on a political solution to the ethnic."The government has gone back on its word given to Indian External Affairs Ministry S.M. Krishna," he claims.The government's chief negotiator in the talks with TNA, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva says a political solution must be acceptable to both North and South."All the political sources in the south should also be part of the deliberations," the Minister has told the state-run weekly newspaper The Observer in an interview.The government views the PSC as the best option to reach consensus on a political solution among all communities.Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna have also not appointed representatives to the PSC yet. However, the Minister de Silva believes the UNP will appoint their members once the TNA has done so. Main opposition of Sri Lanka calls for the government to be clear on a political solution Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) says the government needed to arrive at a clear stance with regard to the political solution to the ethnic issue and present it to parliament for discussion.UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a press conference today that the government did not seem interested in fully implementing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.Therefore, he said, land and police powers would never be devolved by the government although there is provision for it in the Constitution.Attanayake observed that in such a scenario, the government should come up with an alternative system of devolving power.According to the UNP Secretary, the government is not keen on finding a political solution to the ethnic issue.Attanayake pointed out that the proposed parliamentary select committee (PSC) to find a political solution to the ethnic issue would be a futile exercise since it would also suffer the same fate as the All Party Representative Committee (APRC).The opposition party has not yet named their representatives to the PSC.The government has said earlier that it is willing to discuss the police and land power issue with the Tamil National Alliance and reach a compromise on the extent of land and police powers that could be devolved to the provinces.Several constituent parties of ruling United People's Freedom Alliance, including the Muslim parties and an upcountry Tamil party have expressed opposition to devolving absolute police and land powers to the Tamil-dominated areas in the north and east according to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. WikiLeaks: 13 plus is like US Senate – Mahinda Rajapaksa to US “The President said the basis of his devolution plan would be the “13th amendment plus 1″ – meaning implementation of the existing constitutional provisions for provincial councils, but adding an upper house to Parliament, modeled on the U.S. Senate.” the US Embassy informed Washington.The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and recounts details of the farewell meeting US Ambassador to Colombo, Robert O. Blake has had with President Rajapaksa on May 20, 2009. The cable was written on May 26, 2009 by the Charge D’Affaires James R. Moore.Charge D’Affaires Moore wrote “In his farewell call on President Rajapaksa on May 20, Ambassador stressed that the reconciliation phase must include two vital components: the humanitarian side – providing the IDPs with what they need and resettling them expeditiously – and the political side – power-sharing arrangements to give Tamils assurance of a future with hope and dignity. This was the way to defeat terrorism for good. The Ambassador encouraged the GSL to think about how to engage with Tamil representatives. Ambassador said it was particularly important to reach out to the Tamil Diaspora so they would stop supporting the LTTE. The President said the basis of his devolution plan would be the “13th amendment plus 1″ – meaning implementation of the existing constitutional provisions for provincial councils, but adding an upper house to Parliament, modeled on the U.S. Senate.”“However, the President said that the Tamil National Alliance (the largest Tamil party in Parliament) was a problem. He did not know ‘if they were happy with it.’ The President thought that giving police powers to the provinces, as the TNA and others were demanding, would cause problems. He said that responsibility for prosecuting and punishing serious crimes against society – he specifically mentioned murder and rape – should be handled by the Sri Lankan state. He noted that the incumbent Supreme Court Justice had already decentralized the court system. Ambassador asked whether one step to ensure devolution of power to the provinces would be to abolish the concurrent list of powers to be shared by the center and the provinces, instead giving the provinces primary responsibility. Rajapaksa replied that ‘we’ve been thinking about this but haven’t decided yet.’ Ambassador urged the President to bring Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on board for the constitutional changes, for which a two-thirds majority is necessary. Rajapaksa made light of the possibility of cooperation with the main opposition party, hinting that ‘we’re thinking of holding an election soon.’ (Note: the earliest President Rajapaksa could hold Presidential elections in November 2009.)” Charge D’Affaires James R. Moore further wrote. Sri Lanka to set up third consulate in China The government of China has agreed to allow Sri Lanka to set up a new Consulate General in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province of Southern China, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday."The Consulate General in Guangzhou will facilitate the expansion of bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and China in areas of economy, trade and tourism while further strengthening people to people contacts between the two countries," the Ministry statement said.The Sri Lankan government has already appointed a Foreign Service Officer to the position of the Consul General in Guangzhou.This will be Sri Lanka's third Consulate Office in China. Sri Lanka has established a Consulate General in Shanghai in 2007 and a Consulate in Chengdu in 2009.Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province in southern China is one of China's key commercial and manufacturing regions.An increased number of Sri Lankan companies continue to participate in the China Import and Export Fair held biannually in Guangzhou.In recent years Sri Lanka-China relations have grown stronger and expanded with increasing high-level contact and political as well as financial support from the Chinese government. 24 January 2012 Senate cannot be substitute for police and land powers – TNA The Senate proposed by the government as a solution would be complementary and not a substitute for land and police powers, the Tamil National Alliance said yesterday."Our position has been patently and abundantly clear on the national question; the Senate proposed by the government which says it goes beyond the 13th Amendment could be complementary, but it is not a substitute," TNA Leader and Trincomalee District MP R. Sampanthan told The Island last night."What we are advocating is a useful method of devolution which will solve the problems of the Tamil community of the north and the east," he said.Meanwhile, TNA spokesman and Jaffna District MP Suresh Premachandran said that the proposal of the Senate had been intimated to the TNA around July at the time of the negotiations and the party had told the government very clearly at that time it could be part of a comprehensive political package. Senate meant power sharing at the centre but what the TNA was demanding was devolution of power to the periphery, he said.There was no point in talking of a Senate without the devolution of power to the two Provinces, the TNA spokesman said.TNA Jaffna District MP M. K. Shivajilingam said that the government’s proposed Senate was of no use to the TNA or the minorities of the north and the east.The senate which was in existence between 1948 and 1972 had not helped solve the national question. What was worse was that Sinhala Only Policy of the SWRD Bandaranaike government and the first Republican Constitution of Sirimavo Bandaranaike government of 1972 had aggravated the problems of the Tamils, Shivajilingam said Sivajilingam said that it would be a positive development if the senate had members who had been elected to the North and East Provincial Councils and not appointees by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. "If the appointees of the Senate are the President’s lackeys, then the whole purpose would be lost." There was no point in effecting the devolution proposal s without the land and police powers, Sivajilingam said. What the TNA wanted was self-rule and not self determination, he said.The TNA MPs were responding to government spokesman and Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella’s announcement last week that the government would propose to the Parliamentary Select Committee the setting up of a senate which was even going beyond the 13th Amendment.The Minister also said that there were some contentious issues in relation to land and police powers which had to be sorted out through negotiations and deliberations at the Parliamentary Select Committee, where all political parties with parliamentary representation were represented. Five political parties to register with TNA As the much anticipated talks with the government had failed the five main political parties that are grouped together under the TNA are contemplating to register with the TNA as a political party, with the commissioner of elections, MP Suresh Premachandran said in Vavuniya.He also said the Ilangai Thamil Arasu Kachchi, Tamil United Liberation Front, TELO, PLOTTE, and EPRLF came under the umbrella of the TNA and were engaged in political activities, however they had not registered themselves as the Tamil National Alliance.These opinions were expressed by the MP at a Press meeting held in Vavuniya to appraise the media about the political future of the TNA.He further said they strongly opposed the proposal made by the government in establishing a Senate for the administration of the north and east, and they would take steps to hold a general convention in a location in the north east area in March after strengthening the party.The TNA MP for the Wanni District and TELO President S. Adaikkalanathan who was present at this occasion said the government had not announced the position regarding the elections to the north east provincial councils and therefore they were not ready for elections. Even though opportunities were provided on and off for the TNA to meet international representatives, it was very unjustifiable that they were never invited as participants at the discussions the government had with these international representatives.After registering the TNA as a political party they would strive with much force to stand up to safeguard the rights of the people of the north and east, he added. Former Tigers 'threatened' in north Military rejects Military spokesman, Brig Nihal Hapuarachchi told BBC Sandeshaya that while the police keep an eye on the activities of the former rebels, the military has no role to play after they were released."These former LTTE cadres are now forced to live under the watchful eye of military intelligence," said Mr Sivajilingam.The situation is widespread in Jaffna islands and in the Vanni."Some of them are told to report to the military once a week and others are told to come once a month," added the former MP.He declined to reveal specific details fearing retribution by the military.Brig Hapuarachchi, however, says neither the local media nor local councillors have raised such an issue with the military."It is true that the police are keeping an eye on those former Tamil Tigers for about an year," he told BBC Sinhala service.Denying any threat by the military the spokesman however said that the aim of the police supervision is "to take necessary action if in case these people getting involved in any unnecessary activities," he added.Insisting that it is not wrong for the police to supervise them, Mr Sivajilingam says it is the threats to their day to day activity that needs to be stopped."They are told that they will face death if they get involved in anti government politics," he added. TNA should use its Tamil national mandate: Bishop of Mannaar The aim of the Tamil civil groups’ memorandum dated 13 December 2011 and addressed to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was in fact to strengthen the Tamil national polity and its democratically mandated representatives. It was not meant to weaken the TNA. There is a mandate given by the people to the TNA about continuing talks with the SL government and that the TNA in its course of action should stick to its mandate is the thrust of the memorandum, clarified the Bishop of Mannaar, Most Reverend Rayappu Joseph, in a press release issued on last Monday on behalf of the civil society signatories of the memorandum. Welcoming the discourse evoked by the memorandum and thanking the comments pro and against, the Bishop expressed his deep regrets at those who politicise and personally attack the signatories of the civil society memorandum.“On several occasions, and from time to time, most of us discussed the issues with the TNA parliamentarians and we have come out with the public memorandum after deep contemplation,” the press release said. Statement by Mannaar Bishop (Tamil) In what way reminding the TNA parliamentarians about the mandate of the people could harm unity, asked the press release, adding that empty rhetoric on unity is useless, unless the envisaged unity of Tamil political parties have a bearing at strengthening the Tamil national polity, the press release reminded.“Genuine and people’s polity could come only through a continued political discourse with the concerned people. The aim of the civil society memorandum is to create a space for it.” The signatories of the memorandum don’t have intentions of electoral politics, as it was not a manifesto for any election. The memorandum did not favour the TNA directly participating the Provincial Council elections, but it was clear on the point of not allowing anti-Tamil national elements capturing the Council, the press release further said.According to the press release there was communication between the TNA and the civil society representatives and there is positive expectation about a meeting between the parties soon.The Bishop of Mannaar was the leading signatory of the civil society memorandum. The Bishop made a historic contribution in internationally putting on record with evidence, the figure of 146, 679 people who went unaccounted in the Vanni war alone. 30 political parties to be suspended The Elections Department has decided to suspend the registration of 30 political parties, which had failed to submit relevant documents such as their statements of accounts and policy statements for several years, an official said today.He said there were 67 registered political parties in Sri Lanka, but for years 30 of them had not engaged in active politics and as such their registration would be suspended immediately.According to the law enacted in 2009, political parties are required to submit their annual statements of accounts to the Elections Department.“It is an annual requirement. They also have to submit copies of their party constitutions, political programmes and names of official. We have identified ten parties that have not submitted any of these documents. Ample time is given for the submission of annual statements of accounts. For example, the statement of accounts for 2011 can be submitted before January 30, 2013. Yet, these parties have failed to adhere to this requirement stipulated in the new parliamentary act,” he said.When asked for the names of the parties facing suspension, the official said he would not divulge the names because doing so would be unfair by these parties.However, he said that the People’s Front of Liberation Tigers, a political party registered by the LTTE at was among them.Meanwhile, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said this was a positive decision by the Department.PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said that some small parties acted as proxies of the major parties in the run-up to the elections.“The major parties usually nominate their members under the banner of small parties as counting agents and polling booth representatives. They also use small parties to get more and more air time allocated to them in the electronic media during election times,” he said. “At the 2010 presidential election, there were 13 candidates. But, most of them withdrew their candidacy nearing elections after pledging their support to the main candidates.” 23 January 2012 Krishna Extracts Promises And TNA Woos The South It was a week that had the Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna making headlines in Sri Lanka. He broke tradition, in many ways. His insistence on meeting with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Tamilian political party in parliamentary opposition, before he met with the Government, had Minister Prof. Peiris and the big wigs at the Colombo Foreign Ministry wondering what they could pull off, in proving they are not incompetent in handling their responsibilities.The media was hurriedly called upon to stress that Minister Peiris was at the BIA tarmac personally, to receive the visiting Indian Minister, when the plane carrying the Indian delegation landed.Why Minister Peiris was personally at the BIA, it is said, was to prevail and invite Minister Krishna to first visit the “Thaipongal” ceremony arranged at Temple Trees, before meeting with the TNA. That was to be a hurried photo event. Photos of Minister Krishna in Temple Trees, with President Rajapaksa was thus released to the media immediately and most news reports did not mention of any meeting with the TNA, the same evening. Krishna says 13th Plus promised The first official meeting with the TNA after landing here on a four day visit, before meeting the Government for official talks, was not the only deviation, by Minister Krishna. It was also that he made his own statements to the media on his official meeting with President Rajapaksa, though with Minister Peiris in attendance. Usually in the past, joint written statements were issued by the two Government parties. He was also to meet the President and the Sri Lankan delegation, not at Temple Trees, but very officially at the Presidential Secretariat.After the meeting with President Rajapaksa, Minister Krishna with Prof. Peiris by his side, told the media that President Rajapaksa has promised to go beyond the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in providing a stable solution to the long standing conflict with the Tamil society. This assurance by the President to the Indian Minister had mixed reactions here in Colombo, with both the UNP and the JVP wanting to know what the Rajapaksa Government has to say about it. Karu meets President at Wedding For Karu Jayasuriya, who officiated at the high profile wedding ceremony of Derana 360 talk show anchor, Dilka Samanmalee from the groom’s side, received an opportunity to meet President Rajapaksa who attested at the wedding, from the bride’s side.The first ever wedding to be celebrated in the tiny island resort in the Beira Lake, left the two one time ministerial colleagues engaged in a brief conversation, that perhaps picked on the issue of the 13th Amendment. The response it is said had been a 180 degree turn to what Minister Krishna announced at the media briefing. It was to be a Second Chamber of a sort (Senate), with no police powers explained away nonchalantly with an “I don’t care” attitude, that left most commenting that it is another Rajapaksa bluff, as it had been always, for Indian consumption.The wedding and its sneaky stories apart, Minister Krishna’s deviations were no mere “Sarkozian” aberrations in politics. For the Tamil people and for the world, they had very peculiar overtones on the Indian approach to Sri Lanka and its government. It showed that Minister Krishna would not be carried by the powerful “South Bloc” bureaucrats, who usually decide on Indian foreign policy and take a public stand on Sri Lankan issues. At least this time around, on Sri Lanka and the Tamil political issue, he seems to be on his own. Chennai Lobby and China Connections The Chennai Tamil lobby, seemed quite happy over these “Krishna deviations” in handling the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. They had previously been accusing most South bloc heavy weights, working as a “Malayali cabaal” of being mostly negative than even neutral on Tamil interests. The accusations extend up to saying, the Rajapaksa regime had always been saved or bailed out by these Malayali bureaucrats. Top names in the Indian Foreign Service, some important even now, including M. K. Narayanan, Shiv Shankar Menon, Nirupama Rao (nee Menon), Vijeya and Satish Nambiar, were bandied about in TN Thamilean politics. Vijeya Nambiar, the Chief of Staff of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon any way stands implicated in the “white flag” surrender issue. What seems interesting is that some of these names are linked to Chinese connections in Sri Lanka. Menons have been having “China stop overs” in their family line, with Shiv Shankar credited for his role in improving bi-lateral relations as Ambassador in Beijing, while Rao is considered an Asia Pacific Security expert with a stint in Beijing as Ambassador as well as a very close personal link with the Rajapaksas. Moragoda and Delhi Yet another interesting episode for Sri Lanka is Milinda Moragoda’s comings and goings with the Indian connections. He was often the trusted link with Delhi for Prime Minister Wickremesinghe who was considered pro US . Political allegiances thereafter changed and Moragoda is rumoured to have burnt the midnight oil backstage, to include the Rajapaksas in the trusted fold of the Indian South bloc. The Rajapaksas have since been flying to Delhi with just a phone call to Moragoda to make arrangements, minutes prior to take off from Katunayake. With Rao in particular, they had become very trusted friends and the TN lobby hesitates little to say that they all have pro China business links.Dropped out of the Indian canoe, Moragoda has been left to fight his own survival in the Colombo Municipal Council with a small time local council member, Azad Sally. They have two things in common. Firstly, they are both pole vaulters from the UNP, Sally was a one-time UNP Deputy Mayor, while Moragoda was a cabinet minister in Wickremesinghe’s government from December 2001. Secondly, they are both known for their very close association with Killi Maharaja and MTV. Sally Withdraws Azad Sally, whose credentials are also very much at stake, went on record saying Moragoda crossed over to the Rajapaksa regime to save his neck from corruption. Sally feels miffed with another UNP crossover to the UPFA, Colombo Central’s Mahroof being named the “Deputy Opposition Leader” of the Colombo MC, a position that has no real value nor seriousness in local government politics. Sally was sullied more at the CMC meeting on January 19, when he withdrew his resignation, saying President Rajapaksa had advised him to do so, a reason not taken seriously by the UPFA Councillors. Yet they say, Sally’s strength is Gotabhaya’s waning support for Moragoda, after he lost the much wanted Colombo MC to the UNP that was more a quarrel than a campaign. No Cabinet Reshuffle The Rajapaksas now have other issues larger than the CMC, said an insider when asked why the hurried cabinet reshuffle expected to happen last week, did not materialise. The heads cannot be rolled in the power sector that has turned militant with an uncompromising demand for a 45 percent pay hike. Regardless of the President’s not more than 2,500 rupee increase explanation in the 2012 budget speech, an 18 percent hike offered was increased to twenty five per cent of the salary within three days, only to be refused again by the agitating trade union leaders. With the private sector unions also gearing for a “national living wage” that would match the public sector cry, the President not wanting to invite any more trouble within his own house, seemed the logic behind the increase.While a ruffled President speaking to a Sinhala daily denied any such cabinet reshuffle, MP Ravi Karunanayake was on his feet in Parliament to ask how true the media exposure on a cabinet reshuffle was, from Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa. He was more keen to know whether Chamal Rajapaksa would be the next Prime Minister of the UPFA government. This prompted Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa also to deny such reports as rumours and went further to inform the House that the print media report would be investigated. This columnist who also picked up the story about a possible cabinet reshuffle in last week’s column, was thus left non plussed as to what exactly the Speaker meant by saying he would investigate the “media story”. The media does get such “leaks” but is not bound to tell the Speaker, where and whence the leaks spring, for these columns would not have their spice and size if the source is exposed. The best person who would know the truth of such “leaks” is the President himself, who at times takes pride in saying, he was also a reporter in the cabinet many years back. Gomin Speaks Out What was not leaked, but was quite clear to the public is the confusion the LLRC Report had created in the Sinhala circles that encircle the regime. Gomin Dayasri, a leading corporate sector lawyer who stood by the Rajapaksa regime, often getting up to clear doubts over Sinhala “rights”. Thus having more or less official sanction to use the airwaves of State run electronic media, went the whole hog in support of the LLRC recommendations last Monday morning speaking to ITN. He had no qualms in saying, development must reach the ordinary Tamil people in the Vanni, for the government to now prove its commitment on developing the whole country and that requires, the recommendations by the LLRC to be implemented without delay. JHU, NFF and JVP a thorn Dayasri was made to sound like a “traitor” when JHU Minister Champika Ranawaka with his MP, Rev. Rathana Thero and two others went all out to rubbish the report at a special seminar, held in the auditorium of the Mahaweli Centre on Tuesday. The speakers labelled it as anti-Sinhala and as against the mandate given to the LLRC. Ranawaka said, it is now time again to be on the ready to defeat a new wave of “separatist terrorists” in the making, with Tamil Diaspora support.This whole seminar was an interesting projection that contradicts a Colombo US Embassy cable found in the WikiLeaks cable dump. The unclassified cable has it that Defence Secretary Rajapaksa briefed Ambassador Blake that such offers as amnesty to fighting LTTE cadres had been kept quiet as Sinhalese nationalist parties (JHU, NFF and JVP) would react loudly if such offers were publicised too widely. Yet now it seems they are on the same platform, raising the issue of a possible LTTE threat in the making, and doing so quite loudly.The LLRC has certainly cracked the Sinhala base with the Rajapaksa regime. The JHU going the Gotabhaya way and the more moderate Sinhala bloc, the other way. Tourism and Land Meanwhile, the Rajapaksa triumvirate’s effort in turning the whole coastline into a holiday resort belt for high flying tourists, had run into troubled waters at Kalpitiya, not long after the Tangalle hotel murder of a British tourist that also left his partner allegedly raped and badly wounded, as reported in media. A lone Muslim woman in Kalpitiya, who fought for her ancestral rights to a land that was encroached upon by a businessman who had built an 80 villa resort on her land for a company named, Dutch Bay Resort, made the news. The Court decided the complainant owner, Ms. Saleema should be compensated for damages caused to her island property, to the value of 5 million rupees.Community organisations that stood by her during the seven month long legal battle, are now looking for other victims whose lands have similarly been taken over for hotel projects by numerous businessmen, with political backing. Some in the area claim these squatter hoteliers are backed by defence authorities. This case creates a precedent says Herman Kumara, a social activist, among especially the fisher community, in evicting squatter hoteliers in Kalpitiya. They not only encroach on poor villagers’ lands but ruin the eco system as well, he charged. TNA woos the South Another week ends not so well for the Rajapaksa regime, leaving the TNA to sit with a regime for devolution discussions which they are not very comfortable with. Perhaps their decision to open up to the Southern Sinhala society in explaining their cause as justifiable and politically necessary, is due to their discomfort with the regime. This week would thus have a TNA parliamentarian addressing a public forum at the Dr. N. M. Perera centre on January 24, on their critical response to the LLRC Report. The Rajapaksa regime may not be comfortable with the TNA coming South. The TNA for sure feels the absence of their popular MP Raviraj, who was an asset to them in Colombo. For the regime, the absence of Raviraj in hindsight should make sense, when battle lines are drawn on democratic platforms. Grievances of Tamils must be addressed: JVP The JVP which expressed somewhat favourable sentiments on President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent pledge to convert Sri Lanka into a trilingual nation, called for its quick implementation while opposing the full implementation of the Indo Lanka accord and 13 plus.JVP General Secretary Tivin Silva told a news conference today that the Tamils in this country should be given the right to get their administrative matters done in their native language while they should be treated equally. “This had been given a lip service,” he said. Mr. Silva said this and the other genuine grievances of the Tamil people should also be addressed as soon as possible. Accordingly he said compensation should be paid to the relatives of those who have disappeared while there should be a genuine resettlement of the displaced.“The resettlement today is nothing but dumping the people here and there but they should be allowed to go back to their original dwelling places instead,” he said.He stressed that the land grabbing by the Sri Lankan and the Indian government should also be stopped. Citing an example he said the original settlers of the lands in Sampur that had been handed over to India are still in displaced camps. JVP General Secretary charged that the government which had succumbed to Indian pressure had agreed for the 13 plus and to implement the Indo Lanka accord the fullest instead of addressing the genuine problems of the Tamils. He made this point referring to a statement made by the Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna that Sri Lanka had agreed for a devolution package which goes beyond the 13th Amendment of the constitution.He said the government should come out with a set of proposals so that the other political parties could study it and come out with their stance on it .Mr. Silva charged that the government is confused about the whole situation as the ministers’ express different ideas at different times. “Some Ministers are opposing the 13th Amendment while others are talking about bringing a senate,” he said stressing that the government should come up with a detailed set of proposals on how it intend to implement all these. JHU condemns implementation of 13+ to solve ethnic issue of SriLanka A coalition partner of Sri Lanka's governing United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) says India needs to change its approach towards Lanka and not try to exploit the country's vulnerable position with the international community.The JHU notes that India is trying to force Sri Lanka to implement a solution that goes beyond the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.Deputy General Secretary of the JHU and Western Provincial Council Minister Udaya Gammanpila says that no country regardless of its strength could force Sri Lanka to implement any law.Gammanpila has told the media that India should have learnt a bitter lesson with its experience in trying to force Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment through the Indo-Lanka Accord.He has explained that India should pay attention to what happened to the 13th Amendment, where it could not be fully implemented even after 1,118 Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives and thousands more suffered injuries.He has noted that India has been unable to get the 13th Amendment implemented even after 25 years.According to Gammanpila, India needed to change its approach towards Sri Lanka and stop forcing the government to implement the 13th Amendment or go beyond it.He has observed that the solution to the ethnic issue should be home grown and the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) would provide the best opportunity for it.Therefore, Gammanpila has said that India should ask the major Tamil party , Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to nominate its members to the PSC if it was genuinely interested in finding a political solution. Jaffna district Army Commander Maj.Gen.Hathurusinghe condems released made by Fonseka The Army yesterday slammed Sarath Fonseka after he had alleged that the military was behind a spate of abductions in the north.Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe said that Fonseka was making baseless allegations while serving a prison sentence on several charges.According to Fonseka that the current security forces commander in Jaffna, Major General Hathurusinghe, was responsible for the spate of abductions and disappearances in Jaffna and also said Commander had taken money from the LTTE during the war when Fonseka was the Army Commander.“The commander in Jaffna is the one who took Rs.30,000 a month as a bribe from the terrorist leader in Colombo during the war. He is the one who is behind these incidents,” Fonseka said.Major General Hathurusinghe said that police records clearly indicate there were no “mass scale” abductions taking place in Jaffna and that the incident involving two JVP dissidents is being investigated.“The army is assisting the police to investigate the incident regarding the two missing people. But that is an isolated incident. If you speak to the police you will find there are no abductions taking place on a daily basis as some claim,” Major General Hathurusinghe said.JVP dissident group supporters Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan went missing in Jaffna on December 9 last year and have not been heard of since. Muslim clerics ordered to leave 161 lay preachers from regional and Arab other countries were reportedly told to leave Reports from Sri Lanka say the government there has ordered more than 150 Muslim preachers to leave the country after they violated visa regulations by preaching in mosques.The foreign preachers are said to belong to a strain of Islam that advocates more piety in Islamic life.Muslim members of the Sri Lankan government have expressed concern at the mass expulsion.Well-informed media sources here say that 161 foreign Muslims have been ordered to leave Sri Lanka by January 31st because they have come here on tourist visas yet are preaching in Muslim communities around the island. 'Laughable' Most are from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives and Arab countries.They are mainly lay preachers, not clerics, and belong to Tablighi Jamat, an international Islamic movement popular in Sri Lanka and the region.A Muslim source told the BBC that the movement sends groups of preachers to places of worship urging Muslims to devote more time to their faith and act more devoutly.He said any idea that they are militant is “laughable”.But according to the AFP news agency, the chief official in the immigration and emigration department said some local Muslims complained that the visitors were not preaching a moderate form of the religion.Muslim ministers will meet other officials on Monday to try to delay the expulsions.The news has created consternation in the Muslim community here, which is considered to be an ethnic group third in size after Sinhalese and Tamils.During the long civil war the community was often caught between the two warring parties and it has a reputation for moderation. JVP accuses India of being 'cunning protector' of Lanka Tamils Sri Lanka's Marxist JVP party today charged India with playing the role of a "cunning protector" of minority Tamils here and exploiting opportunities in this country's war-ravaged areas for its own advantage by undertaking various developmental projects. "Tamils must understand the role of the cunning protector played by India," Tilwin Silva, JVP's General Secretary, told reporters here. Referring to many projects undertaken by India in Sri Lanka's current post-conflict phase, Silva accused New Delhi of exploiting the opportunities in Sri Lanka for its own advantage. India has been funding projects for rehabilitation, resettlement and well-being of the war displaced. It also provides livelihood generation assistance in addition to infrastructure development in both the northeast and the south of the island. The JVP was harsh on the Sampur coal power project undertaken by India jointly with Sri Lanka. "They have plundered Sampur land and sent people into displaced camps. The Indians come and plunder our fishing resources," Silva charged. Fishermen of both countries often face accusations of straying into international waters and poaching. Silva also accused Indians of employing their own labour in projects undertaken in the north and east. "They are denying the employment opportunities available to Tamils." Netherlan Woman sexually abused in SriLanka A Dutch couple was holidaying in Polhena, Matara early this month. The 25-year-old woman and her husband in the early 30s, were relaxing on the beach, when the husband decided to visit the nearby market.A little while after the husband had left, the lone woman on the beach was approached by a guest house owner who told her there was a spa nearby and, if she was interested, to follow him. Not suspecting anything, she had followed the man. Once inside the ‘spa’, the woman was sexually abused. The husband, on his return, encountered a distraught wife who related the sordid crime committed on her.The couple made a written complaint to the Matara police, but, as their visas were expiring on the following day, they had to return to their country and hence could not pursue the case further.The Matara police arrested the hotelier (identified as one Ruwan) and produced him in Courts, where he was initially remanded and later released on bail.Police said they were following the case, despite the absence of the complainant. There was concern from the Netherlands Embassy as well as from women’s rights groups about the incident.Netherlands Embassy First Secretary Jaco Beerends said, “The sexual abuse of a female Dutch national at a guest house in Matara can be considered a ‘terrible’ incident and the authorities must act upon any incident that concerns the safety of tourists arriving in the country.” Sri Lankasays it will continue to ignore the INTERPOL arrest warrant on former LTTE chief arms procurer Kumaran Padmanathan Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) says it will continue to ignore the INTERPOL arrest warrant on former LTTE chief arms procurer Kumaran Padmanathan (KP) sundayleader newspaper reports.India had issued the warrant over KP’s involvement in the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the warrant is still posted on the INTERPOL website. When The Sunday Leader contacted the CID a top official said that they have not been instructed to arrest KP using the INTERPOL warrant.Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the CID official said that the Attorney General’s office must advice the CID on arresting anyone against whom an INTERPOL warrant has been issued. Police spokesman Ajith Rohana, when contacted by The Sunday Leader, said that he was not aware of the investigations involving KP.Former advisor at the Colombo Law faculty Rev. Dr. Noel Dias said that by not handing over KP to India via INTERPOL the Sri Lankan government is violating its international agreement with INTERPOL.He explained that under the 1977 Executive law, Sri Lanka is bound to abide by its international agreements and arrest any suspect wanted by INTERPOL.UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardena meanwhile said that the government must file a case against KP since he had once proclaimed himself to be the LTTE leader following the death of Vellupillai Prabhakaran.Jayawardena told The Sunday Leader that the government must also ensure that KP is extradited to India for investigations over Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.KP was arrested in August 2009 in Malyasia and his name was later taken off the wanted list of INTERPOL. But KP had later claimed that the LTTE was responsible for the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his name reappeared as a wanted person. 20 January 2012 TNA - SLFP talks at deadlock The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says that talks on resolving the ethnic issue through power devolution with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling coalition has entered in to a deadlock.The leader of the TNA, R. Sampanthan said that talks which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday did not take place as agreed.“Talks were to resume on Tuesday but the government delegation did not turn up. We had planed to have talks for three days” he said.Mr.Sampanthan said that TNA had several rounds of talks and there were discussions with the president."We are expecting the government to act upon what has been agreed,” he said.Commenting on participation in the parliamentary select committee that has been set up to find a solution to the ethnic issue, Mr.Sampanthan said that TNA has never declined to participate in the parliamentary select committee process."We want the government to act upon what has been agreed so far before we resume further initiatives” he added. Sri Lanka must devolve powers in 'very visible manner': SM Krishna India today underlined the need for Sri Lanka to devolve powers to Tamil-dominated provinces envisaged under a key constitutional amendment in a "very visible manner" to fulfill the political aspirations of the minority ethnic community.Wrapping up his four-day visit to Sri Lanka during which he visited the war-ravaged North and Southern parts of the country, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said he was satisfied with the outcome of the talks he had with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other top leaders in the last few days."I think it goes without saying that Article 13 plus (should) be implemented in a very visible manner. So, till then, naturally we will keep looking forward to the implementation of the assurances given to the people of Sri Lanka and during the talks we have had," he told reporters accompanying him on his way back home.The Minister was responding to a question whether India was happy with the steps being taken by the Sri Lankan leadership with regard to the political settlement and whether the country feels Colombo should take more steps."We are looking forward to the implementation of the Article 13 (which envisages devolution of powers)," said Krishna, who became the first Indian politician to visit the IPKF memorial in Colombo and the former de-facto capital of the LTTE of Kilinochchi in northern Lanka.The Minister said he was reassured by Rajapaksa that he was committed to implementing the 13th Amendment plus approach to see the ethnic crisis resolved in his country in the wake of doubts expressed by some political parties about the process to find a political solution."....Some doubts were expressed by certain Tamil representatives of Sri Lanka and hence it was necessary for me to broach this subject again with the President and it was heartening to learn of his continued commitment to improve on the 13th Amendment in terms of devolution of powers," Krishna said.The Minister was apparently referring to leaders of Tamil National Alliance, the main party of the Tamils in Lanka, who have accused the government of not being serious with the talks for a political solution.He also expressed satisfaction at the progress of developmental projects being implemented by India in Sri Lanka like the housing project which aims at constructing 50,000 houses for resettled Tamils.Krishna had yesterday handed over 69 houses built under a pilot project and also reviewed the developments works with authorities."On the whole I have a sense of satisfaction that all the programmes that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced are being pursued vigorously in Sri Lanka," he said. Sri Lanka government to establish a Senate under 13th plus amendment to devolve power The government of Sri Lanka plans to establish an advisory body to the legislature to formulate reforms to devolve power to the ethnic minorities, mainly to the Tamils and urged the country's major Tamil political party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to support the process. Addressing a media briefing on Thursday the Government Spokesman and Minister of Media & Information Keheliya Rambukwella said the government expects to establish a Senate representing minority groups and academics as a "viable link between the Central government and the provinces." Above the law It’s December 2010, and two young law students are sitting for their exam. The one is in a hall full of students, who are being monitored closely by the examiner to make sure they’re following the rules: no phones, no electronic devices, no cheating.The other, meanwhile is taken to a private air conditioned room with a computer with internet access, and is allowed to keep his phone. As an added bonus, he has two teachers from the college sitting by his side perhaps simply for moral support, or perhaps for slightly more.It’s an unthinkable scenario in Europe where recently a couple of high profile cheating and plagarizing scandals have destroyed hitherto illustrious careers, but not so for Sri Lanka, a country pulled increasingly into the international spotlight for an ever widening smorgasbord of human rights abuses. A prince above the law The student of the second scenario is Namal Rajapakse, scion of the country’s ruling family, and a prince in the making. The other student is one D.M.Thushara Jayarathna who was one examination paper away from his law degree from the Sri Lankan Law College when he filed a complaint against Namal Rajapakse for examination violations. Within days he was receiving death threats and being ordered to keep silent. But Thushara didn’t choose to keep silent. He pressed the complaint to the college, sent petitions out to human rights commissions, NGO’s and the press. After he gave an interview to the BBC Singhala service, the mood turned really nasty.Since then he’s received threatening phone calls which he’s managed to trace back to various police owned landlines and mobiles. He’s tried to officially file his case with the police, but they’ve refused to write it up. Police have come to his house with sheafs of documents they won’t allow him to read but want him to sign and uniformed officers have told him to put up a white flag outside his house – a traditional sign that there’s been a death in the family.He’s been abducted twice. The first time he was detained for 11 hours and though there was no physical roughing up, the stress left him with enough mental trauma for him to go on medication. The second time he was picked up they weren’t so polite. He was beaten up, his sarong was pulled off him and he was so frightened that he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since. Meanwhile Thushara’s father has had two brain hemorrhages that have left him unable to speak. His mother was already a Parkinson’s patient, so Thushara decided it was best if he left home. He’s been living in hiding since last April. His neighbours and friends have been threatened and he says “everyone is so scared in Sri Lanka of this government, they don’t dare go against them.” A half life in hiding Thushara now lives a weird half life, neither graduate nor job candidate, with a family he can’t visit, a college that doesn’t want him back. He depends on NGO’s and human rights activists for a safe place to sleep, and meals to keep him going. “I’m a beggar” he says matter of factly.He tells his story again and again to media in the hope of stirring enough of an outcry for the persecution to stop, but it’s hard not to think of him as a skinny unarmed David, spitting in the wind against a Goliath that’s almost too big to grant him much notice besides a casual smack when he pipes up too loudly. The Rajapakses' Sri Lanka: a family concern Kadirgamar murder suspect 'tortured' Massive ammunition pit found in Vakkarai, Batticaloa The largest ammunition recovery made by the police since the end of the war was detected when they found 81,500 ammunition rounds used for a various number of fire arms in a pit in the Verugal forest area in Vakarai Batticaloa.The ammunition was found in 122 boxes and all were 7.6 millimetres long. The recovery was made by a special team attached to the Vakarai police.The weapons were hidden underground and were therefore unable to be tracked.A large number of arms and ammunition hidden underground by the LTTE in the Northern and Eastern Provinces were recovered by the armed forces and the Special Task Force (STF) since the conflict ended in May last year. January 25th named as "Black January" Alliance Media Organization which raises its voice against media suppression named January 25th as the “Black January”.Sunin Jayasekar announced that they were force to name such day as the government fail to action against the attacks, murders and abductions on SriLankan journalists.He also said murder of Lasantha Wickramathunga, Prageeth Eknaligoda abduction, attack against Sirasa media network and several other attacks carried out against media organizations reported on month of January.Due to this they have named January 25th as “Black January”.He further said they have organized special protest in front of the Fort Railway station on 25th of January at 2.30pm. 19 January 2012 Sri Lankan government urged to announce stance on political solution to the ethnic issue Sri Lanka Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) says the President and the government need to inform the people of the government's stance on a political solution to the ethnic issue. The JVP politburo today said the people in the country should have been informed first of the government's stance on the political solution. "We urge the government to inform the people of its stance on the political solution if there is one firm decision," the Marxist party noted. Sushma Swaraj to lead delegation to Sri Lanka Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna has said that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, will lead a parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka.The visit was planned for late last year, but had to be put off because of developments in India. The visit is likely to be held after the current spell of State Legislative Assembly elections.The Bharatiya Janata Party and Sushma Swaraj herself had taken up the issue of safety of Indian fishermen on a visit to Tamil Nadu recently. SM Krishna flies to Jaffna to meet Sri Lankan Tamils External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Wednesday flew from by chopper to Kilinochchi on way to Jaffna in the northern province of Sri Lanka to meet ethnic Tamils.He will gift medical equipment to the district general hospital at Kilinochchi on the third day of his four-day visit after fruitful official talks on Tuesday with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister DM Jayarathna and his counterpart GL Peiris in this scenic capital."Krishna will hand over a school repaired with Indian financial assistance at Sivapathakalaiyagam near Kilinochchi and proceed to Jaffna for a luncheon meeting with northern province governor Maj Gen (retd) GA Chandrasiri," an Indian High Commission official said in Colombo.In the post-armed conflict era, India has been engaged in the rehabilitation of about 300,000 Tamil-speaking minorities who have been living in camps set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the northern, central and eastern provinces."With a robust programme of assistance to help the IDPs return to normal life at the earliest, we have already provided about 250,000 family relief packages and have set up an emergency medical unit in the camps," the official said.In the Jaffna province, the minister will hand over about 50 houses built under a pilot project to the Tamil beneficiaries in Nalavadi near Ariyalai in the northern region and gift about 10,000 bicycles to IDPs. Krishna will also mark the completion of wreck removal works at KKS Harbour in the port city before flying back to the capital late evening.Of the four agreements India and Sri Lanka signed on Tuesday in the presence of Krishna and Peiris, two are related to the funding of the ambitious housing project with a $260 million line of credit to build about 49,000 units in the strife-torn region for the IDPs and the restoration of the northern railway services with $382 million credit from Exim (export and import) Bank of India.The restoration will involve laying of tracks on the Pallai-Kankesanthurai railway line, setting up of signalling and telecom systems for the Northern Railway line. China offers S.Lanka help to find Silk Route wrecks Chinese authorities are seeking permission to explore Sri Lanka's coastline for possible Chinese ship wrecks from the ancient Silk Route era, an official said Wednesday.Sri Lanka, an Indian Ocean island, was a key trading post along the ancient Silk Route which saw silk, spices and handicrafts travel by road and sea between Asia and Europe.The seas around the island's southern port of Galle are known to have at least 75 ancient ship wrecks, of which 25 have been well documented.The unsolicited offer by Science Foundation of China to deploy experts to look for vessels along Sri Lanka's coast was under consideration, Director General of Archaeology Senarath Disanayake told AFP.He said, however, that the Chinese had asked to keep half of all antiquities brought up from the ocean bed -- a condition Sri Lanka could not agree to. "They also want us to pay for a vessel to carry out the exploration and that is something we can't afford," Disanayake said.China is increasing its presence in Sri Lanka with the construction of a deep-sea port in the island's south as well as several other key infrastructure projects.Sri Lanka's immediate neighbour India has become sensitive about increasing Chinese influence on the island. “We did not have a hidden agenda in our engagement” -Norwegian Ambassador Hilde Haraldstad Q: What is your evaluation of the current bilateral relationship between Norway and Sri Lanka? A: Norway strongly values the longstanding and close relationship we have had with Sri Lanka and the people of this country for many decades. Sri Lanka has been a significant partner for Norwegian development cooperation since the 1970s. Many Sri Lankans I meet remind me of the successful Integrated Rural Development Programme in Hambantota and Moneragala and the Ceynor Fisheries programmes. Over the years we have supported peace building activities, improvement of living standards in the plantation areas, vocational training around the country, the chambers of commerce and so many other projects. I also often meet Sri Lankans who have studied in Norway with support from Norad (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation). Q: What role does Norway aspire to play in post-war Sri Lanka, and what plans are in the pipeline for broader cooperation between the two countries after the facilitation of peace negotiations? A: Our role in the peace process in many ways came into being based on the close cooperation we had in the development field. Since the war ended, we have given priority to supporting demining activities, resettlement of people who lost everything during the war and reconciliation and recovery efforts in the conflict affected areas. Norway is still very much committed to contributing to positive development in Sri Lanka.Our grant assistance to Sri Lanka in 2011 was more than Rs. 2200 million. However, with the growth of economy, tremendous development in many areas after the war and Sri Lanka moving into the middle income country category, our traditional development cooperation is decreasing. Gradually, it is being replaced by focus on areas of mutual interest like climate change, cultural expression and exchange and business cooperation.There is an increased interest in Norway in establishing trade and private sector relationships with Sri Lanka, especially in the small and medium industries sector. We work to promote increased economic, investments and institutional cooperation. The Norad-funded “match making programme”, which seeks to create matches and joint ventures has been very successful here in Sri Lanka, and has helped promote trade between our two countries.Last year we organised a business delegation from the fisheries sector in Norway visiting Sri Lanka, and another one from Sri Lanka to Norway with a special focus on IT. Alternative energy is another sector where we like to promote increased private sector cooperation. We also experience an increase in Norwegian tourists.Norway did not have a travel advisory warning against travelling to Sri Lanka as such during the war, but we had one regarding the north and the east, that was fully removed last year. Q: How does Norway view the final report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)? A: Norway was pleased to see the LLRC report being released and made public. Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre welcomed the release of the LLRC report soon after it was made public in December, and said that we are studying the report closely. He stated that the report has many important recommendations with regards to finding a political solution, power sharing, reconciliation, improving the human rights record, strengthening civil administration and reducing military involvement in civilian activities. Støre also said that there are still many unanswered questions that must be clarified as regards to responsibility for the many civilian deaths in the final phase of the war, and urged Sri Lanka to investigate this matter fully. Minister Solheim in his comments urged the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the wide range of recommendations in the report. Q: There is an impression that Norway’s peace facilitation role in Sri Lanka was not based on purely altruistic reasons. Many people think that Norway was interested in being recognised as an important player in international politics, and that Norwegian politicians wanted to secure the support and vote bank of the Tamil Diaspora and hence the PRO-LTTE bias. What is your reaction? A: Norway was invited in as a peace facilitator by the Sri Lankan Government, with the concurrence of the LTTE. We did not have a hidden agenda in our engagement. It was an honest effort on our part to be helpful. Looking back however, there are always things that could have been done differently. You ask if we engaged in Sri Lanka to secure support from the Tamil Diaspora. Let me simply say that the ethnic Sri Lankan population in Norway consists of approximately 14,000 people. Many of them have become Norwegian citizens and contribute constructively to our society today but Norway does not make its foreign policy based on views from one segment of the population. Q: There is also a perception that some Western countries including Norway supported the establishment of a separate state in Northern Sri Lanka in order to have access to (a) maritime resources via the LTTE and (b) oil and gas resources in the North-west. What are your comments? A: From the earliest days of the peace process, Norway was very clear with all parties involved, that we were here to facilitate a peaceful solution within a united Sri Lanka. We never supported separatism. The question of whether Norway entered into the peace process to get hold of Sri Lankan oil and gas is another example of an allegation that does not make sense if one has knowledge about the actual context. Norway is actually the second biggest gas exporter in the world, and the sixth biggest oil exporter. Over the years, we have developed solid experience in the management of these natural resources. This expertise is sought after in many countries that have recently discovered oil and gas. There would not have been a need for us to have wanted to access such cooperation through a nonstate party, when we had excellent relations with the Sri Lankan state. Q: The Sri Lankan government has urged Norway to consider proscribing the LTTE. What are the chances of this happening? A: Norway adheres to the UN regarding proscriptions of organisations, and we do not keep a separate list of terrorist organisations. But let me assure you that we do not allow illegal activities or breaches of our laws, and prosecute individuals who are responsible for such. Let me add that following the Sri Lankan Government and opposition parties, we have many times urged the Tamil Diaspora to support and contribute to the development efforts in Sri Lanka and work through democratic and transparent channels with non-violent means. Q: What are your sentiments with regard to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to three women in Oslo last December, and how do you see this prize in relation to women, security and the UNSC 1325 agenda? A: Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize was a very important one. The three laureates have made a huge difference in their countries as well as beyond the borders of Liberia and Yemen. Along with women from Sri Lanka as well as from some other countries, I watched the three prize winners Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman deliver their brilliant speeches during the awards ceremony, telecast on a big screen at the BMICH in Colombo. Their non-violent struggle to promote women’s rights, and to ensure women’s full participation in peace-building work is an inspiration to us all. We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence development at all levels of society.This year’s peace prize has been called the 1325prize, for good reasons. The UN Security Council Resolution 1325, approved 11 years ago, was a milestone in advancing the rights of women. This resolution recognises women as active change agents, not only victims of war. For the first time, it identified violence against women in armed conflict as an international security issue, and underlined the need for women to become participants on an equal footing with men in peace work. The awarding of the prize to these three women also shows that notions of equality and women’s rights are not limited to “Western” mindsets or ideas, but that they have global implications. This is symbolised by the fact that the laureates consist of a Head of an African State and two grass-root level activists, including a young woman from the Middle East. Q: On a more personal note, could you talk us through how you came to hold this position as Ambassador and also how your experience in Sri Lanka compares with the other stations in which you have served? A: Sri Lanka is my first posting as Ambassador. I was privileged to have served here earlier as the Deputy Head of Mission. In that way, I knew the country already, even though things have developed and changed in so many ways since I came here for the first time in 2006. I am from the Foreign Service and undertook my diplomatic training in the 1990s, after obtaining my Master’s Degree from the University of Oslo in modern history and political science. I also studied French literature. In mid and late 90s I served in the Middle East and spent some very interesting years there.My family and I are very fond of Sri Lanka; first and foremost of its people, but also of the natural beauty of the country, the food, the art, design and the cultural sites, the fauna and the flora and everyday life of the island. I am also fascinated by the religious tolerance and the way the different religions of the island coexist - that is a great asset for Sri Lanka. Together with my husband and two sons I have travelled extensively in Sri Lanka, and I also give priority to travel in my work in order to meet people outside of Colombo and visit projects we support. The experience we have in Sri Lanka as a family is unique, and have given so fond and unforgettable memories to all of us, and the time here is a very important part of the children’s and our life. We will for sure come back and visit when my term as Ambassador here is over.In Norway we have a tradition of evaluating engagements that we have been involved in, to learn lessons for the future. The decision to have an independent team to evaluate the role in the peace process was made by the Government of Norway and Mr Erik Solheim, who is now Minister of International Development, Cooperation and Environment.Norway is one of the first countries to evaluate its own efforts in a peace process in another country in such a way and I do believe transparency is a good thing. The report provides interesting reading. It is useful to study for us who are working on Sri Lanka, and for others who are involved in peace work and conflict resolution in other parts of the world. During the launch of the report in Oslo it was said that we may not agree with all the findings in the evaluation, but that is expected from an independent report.The report gave a pass mark to the Norwegian engagement in Sri Lanka, and also pointed out areas where Norway could have done things differently.For example, both the evaluation report and the LLRC report criticise the Norwegian dual role as facilitators and head of SLMM. It was the parties themselves who asked Norway to take on this double role but for the future I think we all agree that another solution would have been desirable.It is not an evaluation of the efforts by the Sri Lankan Government or any other party to the conflict. However, the final responsibility to find a peaceful solution to a conflict and to make the hard choices I believe lies with the parties to the conflict. I think that was the case at the time when the last peace process started and that is the case today. It is up to the people of this country to decide what kind of peace they want.I do however believe that the international community is genuinely interested in assisting Sri Lanka and that many countries, the UN and international governmental and nongovernmental organisations have useful experiences to share and advice to offer. There is now a golden opportunity to win and secure the peace and further develop an inclusive multicultural Sri Lanka through addressing the root causes of the conflict. My government strongly supports the ongoing efforts to bring forth a political solution through a continued structured dialogue. Implementation of the recommendations from Sri Lanka’s own LLRC will be crucial for the people of Sri Lanka, who need reconciliation and a political settlement after so many years of war. Q: How do you assess the impact of the twin terror attacks in Norway on 22 July last year, and how has it affected Norway’s policies on international terrorism? A: The terror attacks of 22 July changed Norway. It took a big toll on a small country to lose so many of our finest youth. It was an attempt to shake the very ground upon which our democracy is founded. But the foundation proved to be strong enough for our society to move on. There is an ongoing investigation to find out whether the attacks could have been prevented, how we can be alert to extremism in the future, and how a safe and secure environment for our multicultural society can be created.The concern and sympathy expressed by so many Sri Lankans after the attacks were highly appreciated, included the phone call from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to my mobile phone in Norway that same evening of the attacks.Norway does not accept any kind of terrorism, but we will also not allow terrorism to change our democratic and open society. Our Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has made this very clear. “Our answer to terrorism is more democracy”, he said. “Together we make an unbreakable chain of solidarity, democracy, safety and security. That is our protection against violence”. Dutch Tamil Tiger Five on appeal Five men convicted of supporting Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers (LTTE) last October began their appeal against conviction Monday in The Hague. The case marks the first time an EU member state has considered the question of whether the Tamil Tigers is a terrorist organization. It could result in a change of EU law.The Dutch court of first instance in its decision on October 21, 2011, said that the LTTE is not a terrorist organization. It then convicted the five defendants for giving money to an organization listed by the EU as a banned terrorist group. Supporters of the men and legal observers were quick to point out the apparent inconsistency.Representing the five Sri Lankan Tamils, who hold Dutch passports, defence lawyer Tamara Buruma told RNW, “Dutch law makes it illegal to provide support for a group on the EU terror list – it doesn’t hold any other demands showing that this is a terrorist organization.”Five men convicted of supporting Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers (LTTE) last October began their appeal against conviction Monday in The Hague. The case marks the first time an EU member state has considered the question of whether the Tamil Tigers is a terrorist organization. It could result in a change of EU law.The Dutch court of first instance in its decision on October 21, 2011, said that the LTTE is not a terrorist organization. It then convicted the five defendants for giving money to an organization listed by the EU as a banned terrorist group. Supporters of the men and legal observers were quick to point out the apparent inconsistency.Representing the five Sri Lankan Tamils, who hold Dutch passports, defence lawyer Tamara Buruma told RNW, “Dutch law makes it illegal to provide support for a group on the EU terror list – it doesn’t hold any other demands showing that this is a terrorist organization.” WikiLeaks: Gota scared of JVP, JHU and NFF “Ambassador asked whether this message had been widely communicated to LTTE fighters at the front. Rajapaksa said that such offers had been quiet and implied that Sinhalese nationalist parties (JHU, NFF and JVP) would react loudly if such offers were publicized too widely” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.According to an unclassified cable, which Colombo Telegraph found from the Wikileaks database, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa offered amnesty to all LTTE fighters. The cable, written on April 15, 2009 recounts details of a meeting between Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the US Ambassador in Colombo Robert O. Blake.Under the subheading “Gotabhaya Repeats Amnesty Offer” the ambassador wrote “The Defense Secretary also repeated that the GSL would be willing to offer amnesty to all LTTE fighters, save Prabakharan and Intelligence Chief Pottu Amman. Ambassador asked whether this message had been widely communicated to LTTE fighters at the front. Rajapaksa said that such offers had been quiet and implied that Sinhalese nationalist parties (JHU, NFF and JVP) would react loudly if such offers were publicized too widely. Ambassador noted that without a more public effort to communicate the offer of amnesty, the effectiveness of such a move would be muted.” Sri Lanka’s Game of Diplomacy By Gibson Bateman Rohan Edrisinha. Source: The International Association of Constitutional Law As promised, the Sri Lankan government made the final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) public last month. It has also recently released its “National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights: 2011-2016.”The Action Plan was developed in accordance with a commitment the government had made in 2008, the last time Sri Lanka participated in the UN’s Universal Periodic Review.Both documents are part of the Sri Lankan government’s strategy to placate international observers and convince people that there is no need for any kind of international assistance because the country’s domestic institutions are working just fine.Like the LLRC report, the National Action Plan contains some decent recommendations, but it is replete with missing and false information. For example, the section on the Prevention of Torture is laughable and worrisome.The Sri Lankan government claims that it “maintains a zero-tolerance policy on torture.” This sweeping assertion directly contradicts loads of evidence, including the recent findings of the UN’s Committee Against Torture (CAT).The fact that the Ministry of Defense has been denoted as the “Key Responsible Agency” for ensuring the prevention of torture is perhaps more disconcerting.The front-page story in this week’s Sunday Leader, which explains “that that some 500 people have been reported missing in the North and East alone over the past few years” should give people good reason to worry.The rule of law continues to deteriorate under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s watch.The government will present its National Action plan to the UN’s Human Rights Council’s (HRC) 19th session in March. What Will Happen in Geneva? In theory, Rajapaksa’s administration has plenty to worry about. Lobbying and debate surrounding the next session of the HRC has already begun.Many foreign governments recently made strong statements that the LLRC’s final report does not touch on the question of accountability. The Sri Lankan government refuses to look into credible claims that violations of international humanitarian law occurred at the end of the war; government officials are unwilling to go into any detail about what actually happened during the last phase of the conflict.Strident calls for an international mechanism will be made this spring in Geneva. If no resolution gets through either of the next two sessions of the HRC (another session will be held this summer), then Rajapaksa’s government can probably rest easy as long as they stay in power.Diplomacy is not always a zero-sum game, but Rajapaksa’s government knows that the final report of the LLRC and the National Action Plan are its two most potent lobbying weapons, as long as government officials continue to bend the truth or promulgate outright lies.This is ironic because both documents distort reality and should actually be used against the government. They reinforce the notion that Rajapaksa’s administration does not care about human rights.The processes surrounding the drafting and the finalization of the LLRC and the National Action Plan were deeply flawed and not at all independent. The LLRC’s lack of independence is well-known. (President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed the eight-member Commission himself). The true story about the National Action Plan appears to be less widely understood, especially outside of Sri Lanka.The government’s drafting of the National Action Plan was quite devious.A number of civil society leaders, academics and genuinely independent thinkers were included in the eight-committee body during the initial process and the composition of the first draft of the National Action Plan. Yet committee members were not involved in the process after that.Now, the Sri Lankan government is falsely claiming that the National Action Plan was the result of a thoughtful, inclusive process. This is absurd.As Rohan Edrisinha (a member of one of the drafting committees) has already indicated, that was not what happened.Drafting committee members never did approve the final document, only the first draft.In another clever ploy, this “watered down” version is being heralded as a step in the right direction.Few people are speaking out about this issue because they are afraid to do so.Rajapaksa’s government has benefited from a fragmented political opposition for years.Divisions within Sri Lankan civil society only make the government’s consolidation of power that much easier.In addition to some lively debate at the Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka’s human rights record will also be examined under the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) this year.The government’s propaganda machine is already in full swing. Sri Lankan diplomats will welcome many foreign dignitaries in January and February.President Rajapaksa and senior government officials will use these visits as a platform to prepare a more complete misinformation campaign for Geneva in late February and early March.The Sri Lankan government will be touting both the LLRC and the National Action Plan as wonderful examples of how just and satisfactory things are in Sri Lanka. The idea is farcical. In January of 2010, the IMF declared Sri Lanka a Middle Income country. The war has been over for more than two years. International observers and NGOs are moving on to the next crisis: Libya, Egypt, Tunisia or elsewhere. A new disaster or humanitarian catastrophe is always right around the corner.Nonetheless, what happened in Sri Lanka in 2009 cannot be brushed aside. One does not sweep ethnic tension under the rug and wait idly by, hoping that it disappears. Looking Ahead Again, in spite of the LLRC’s complete exoneration of the military, the report does contain some good recommendations about devolution, land rights, compensation for victims/survivors and demilitarization.There are some decent recommendations in the National Action Plan as well.However, the chances that the Sri Lankan government will swiftly move to implement any of the solid recommendations are infinitesimal. Rajapaksa’s government has shown its unwillingness to follow through on almost all the agreements it made during the last session of the Universal Periodic Review in 2008.It disregarded the LLRC’s interim recommendations as well.The word “recommendation” in Sri Lankan political parlance is meaningless. Why should anyone be optimistic this time around? Forget recommendations, the government continues to ignore its own constitution.To take one example, President Rajapaksa’s intractable position on the devolution of power to the country’s Northern and Eastern provinces, something that is clearly articulated in the 13th Amendment of the country’s constitution, is not helping. Nor is the government’s current dialogue with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is starting to look more like a scene from Waiting for Godot and less like any semblance of political negotiation with each passing day.Despite some claims to the contrary, Mahinda Rajapaksa is not (yet) Robert Mugabe and Sri Lanka is not Zimbabwe. But this government has undoubtedly become more authoritarian since the end of the war. Just because the country has a history of “democracy” does not mean that continued democratic governance is a foregone conclusion. The erosion of checks and balances since 2009 has been significant. The passage of the 18th Amendment in 2010 reinforced this, as that legislation pulled even more power to the executive.Giving Rajapaksa’s government a free pass on human rights empowers aspiring autocrats everywhere. It sends a clear signal to semi-authoritarian governments: Go ahead, do whatever you want; you will face no consequences for your actions. 18 January 2012 Full implementation of 13th Amendment plus, MR tells Krishna President Rajapaksa has promised Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna the full implementation of the 13th Amendment plus.President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised visiting Indian Minister of External Affairs S.M Krishna that the government will deliver on its promise to implement the 13th Amendment plus, Krishna told a press briefing today. “I discussed this matter with His Excellency the President. The President assured me that he stands by his commitment to pursuing the 13th Amendment plus approach,” he said. He further stated that the Sri Lankan government hoped to extend the 13th amendment to include comprehensive devolution of powers. “The Government of Sri Lanka has on many occasions conveyed to us its commitment to move towards a political settlement based on the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, and building on it, so as to achieve meaningful devolution of powers,” he said. However both the visiting Minister and the Lankan Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peries noted that no time frame had been fixed for the implementation of the 13th Amendment plus. “Due to the nature of the issue and its sheer complexity, it would not be desirable to suggest a time frame to President Rajapaksa. However it is heartening that the President himself brought up this issue,” Krishna said. “It is a process and we want to continue with substantive discussions. It would be an unrealistic and unhelpful approach to give a time frame to this process,” Peries added. Krishna expressed hope in the dialogue process between the Tamil National Alliance and the Government. “We believe that continuation of the dialogue between the Government and the TNA would pave the way for political settlement, including under the rubric of the Parliamentary Select Committee,” he said. The visiting Minister of External Affairs also stated that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission Report held productive information, which should be utilized in the process of reconciliation. “We have noted the many constructive recommendations contained in the recently-released report of the LLRC. These recommendations, when implemented, would mark a major step forward in the process of genuine national reconciliation,” he said. The issue of the fishermen had also been discussed and both parties had agreed to solve any issues without the use of force. “The issue of fishermen is an emotive issue and needs to be handled with care. As we explore possible solutions, we must ensure that there is no use of force against the fishermen and that they are treated in a humane manner,” he said. This is Krishna’s second visit to the island since assuming office; his last visit was in November 2010. India Asks Sri Lanka to Work on Reconciliation India asked Sri Lanka on Tuesday to work toward genuine ethnic reconciliation amid international criticism that the island nation is not addressing the root causes of its civil war, which ended more than two years ago.India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, left, shook hands with his Sri Lankan counterpart Gamini Lakshman Peiris during their meeting in Colombo, January 17, 2012.India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who is on a four-day visit, said ``it's our hope that the vision and leadership that resulted in an end to the armed conflict will now be employed in the quest for a genuine political reconciliation.''Sri Lanka's civil war ended in May 2009 after the government troops crushed the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, who were fighting for a separate state for the ethnic minority Tamils. The conflict killed 80,000 to 100,000 people.During the war, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to consider giving Tamil areas more autonomy--a long-standing demand of moderate minority politicians--but he has yet to present a proposal.Mr. Krishna said Sri Lanka has repeatedly given commitments to move forward with a plan to devolve some power to provinces, and that India hopes for an ``expeditious and constructive approach'' in the process.New Delhi has been reluctant to get directly involved in Sri Lanka politics since a disastrous military intervention in 1987, and it is not offering to broker talks. But it has a keen interest in the dispute because southern India is home to 60 million Tamils.Mr. Krishna says the Sri Lankan government's continued talks with the Tamil National Alliance, the main political party representing the ethnic minority, could help ``pave the way for a political settlement.'' WikiLeaks: President has more respect for Gota than for Basil “Although he trusts them both, our contacts say the President has more respect for Gothabaya than for Basil.” US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” details the Presidend Rajapaksa’s decision making process. The cable was written on May 15, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.Under the subheading ambassador Blake wrote “President Rajapaksa relies on his brothers, Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa and Senior Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa, for advice on security matters and political affairs respectively. Although he trusts them both, our contacts say the President has more respect for Gothabaya than for Basil. An embassy contact told Pol Off that the President is insecure in his job because he knows that Sri Lanka, as a “semi-feudal” society, still has great respect for aristocracy. He fears that because he is not from an elite family, but rather from a village in the deep south, support for him within the SLFP is a thin veneer that will last only as long as he is in power. This perception of disloyalty within the SLFP has caused him to rely even more heavily on his brothers for support and advice. Many Embassy contacts from both the ruling and opposition parties have expressed frustration with the level of influence Basil and Gothabaya have on policy.”“According to Embassy contacts, the President, who holds the portfolio of Defense Minister, makes all defense and security decisions in consultation with Gothabaya. One Embassy contact told Pol FSN that the President “would not change even a roadside checkpoint” without first consulting Gothabaya. Gothabaya has nearly full autonomy on military decisions. He and Army Commander Fonseka have a close relationship and work well together; Fonseka was one of Gothabaya’s commanding officers when he was in the Army. The other military commanders follow Gothabaya’s instructions faithfully for fear of being replaced. Key presidential decisions that reflect Gothabaya’s influence include appointing Sarath Fonseka as Army Commander, closing the A-9 highway to Jaffna, and appointing Victor Perera as the Inspector General of Police.” the ambassador further wrote. Activists stopped while on their way to North Police have stopped a group of activists on its way to the north to campaign against disappearances and abductions.At the Medavachchiya police checkpoint, buses transporting them were stopped, with a top police officer telling them that they could not proceed further as the Sangupiddi Bridge has collapsed.Activists of the organizations against disappearances and abductions had questioned as to why only they had been stopped and how vehicles were returning from the north from the same route.After about half an hour, they had been allowed to proceed to the north.Representatives of 17 organizations are participating in the campaign.They are from Movement For People’s Struggle, United Socialist Party, Nawa Samasamaja Party, Lanka Communist (Maoist) Party, alternative group of the Lanka Samasamaja Party, Socialist party, Socialist Alliance, People’s March, We Are Sri Lankans, People’s Lawyers Association, Lawyers for Democracy, Journalists for Democracy, Students for Human Rights, Inter Company Employees Union, Telecom Services Union and Samastha Lanka Suvaseva Sangamaya. Jaffna’s Thinakkural Rest Hotel hall damaged in attack An armed group this afternoon (Jan. 17) stormed Thinakkural Rest hotel in Jaffna and damaged its property.The main hall of the hotel, located at No: 45 in Nallur, was badly damaged in the attack, reports said.This was to be the venue for a media briefing to be held by organizations against abductions and enforced disappearances, which is holding a leaflet campaign in the North. TNA move upsets DPL community A section of the Colombo-based diplomatic community, supportive of the TNA’s push for a substantial devolution package, has strongly opposed the release of statement highly critical of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) ahead of Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna’s arrival.Minister Krishna arrived in Colombo late yesterday afternoon.Authoritative sources told The Island that the TNA had made available copies of the statement to diplomatic missions seeking their consent before releasing it to the media. The diplomatic community had advised the TNA that such a course of action would be detrimental to the ongoing national reconciliation efforts, sources said.However, the TNA had gone ahead with its original plan, sources said. The TNA has dismissed the LLRC observations pertaining to accountability issues and reiterated its call for an international inquiry into war crimes allegations during the last phase of the conflict.The government reacted angrily as it suspended further talks with the TNA until it named its representatives to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on the national issue.UPFA parliamentarian and a member of the government delegation for talks with the TNA, Sajin de Vass Gunawardena told The Island that talks wouldn’t resume until the TNA nominated its representatives for the PSC.In a brief interview with The Island, MP Gunawardena said the TNA had conveniently forgotten that it refused to come before the LLRC, though it now blamed the representatives of victims denied an opportunity to testify. The LLRC headed by former Attorney General C. R. de Silva invited the Amnesty International, the International Crisis Group and the Human Rights Watch, too, to testify, though they turned down that request.The MP alleged that the TNA was preparing the ground for an attack on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Commission sessions in Geneva late next month.Responding to TNA MP Suresh Premachandran’s criticism of the government over accountability issues during the Vanni battle in yesterday’s issue of The Island, Gunawardena said the TNA should explain its position with regard to its role in the war.The government challenged the TNA to justify its decision to recognise the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people in the run-up to April 2004 general elections, thereby setting the stage for eelam war IV.Responding to a query, MP Gunawardena said that the government could release complaints received by the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission from families of children and adults abducted by the LTTE. The TNA never intervened on behalf of them, thereby gave tacit support to the LTTE. And the military at that time revealed how the TNA participated at military parades by child recruits.MP Gunawardena said: "I believe the government should go further on this in ascertaining and identifying the fractions, groups, political parties, proxies etc that aided and abetted this cause. The innocent Tamil people who have suffered under the LTTE for over four decades will most definitely come forward to provide information as to the gruesome details of forcible recruitment by the LTTE. Recently a distinguished member of the TNA privately confided to me an incident where in one of the villages how a father was searching for his daughter. The LTTE during the last stages of the war had come to his residence wanting to forcibly recruit their only son. When the only son refused to go with the LTTE, they shot him in his own house in the presence of his father, mother and sister. The next day the LTTE came back and took the daughter and went. These are the gruesome incidents and experiences that the Tamil people have suffered at the hands of the LTTE. The very same people that speak about "accountability" were aiding and abetting these atrocious violations of human rights and murder. 17 January 2012 TNA Seeks India's Help for 'Corrective Steps' India must kick China out of Sri Lanka: William Avery New York: There are few more knowledgeable observers of US-India relations than William H Avery, a former US diplomat, who served at the US Consulate in Chennai in the 1990s, a time when India’s relations with the US soured after New Delhi’s nuclear tests. In his new book, China’s Nightmare, America’s Dream: India as the Next Global Power, Avery offers a detailed anatomy of the growing ties between the world’s largest and wealthiest democracies.Avery’s book also delivers a broadside against China and says India must respond to how China has advanced its influence in the region, with allies like Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. China has established itself as a growing, and sometimes bullying, power in India’s neighbourhood.India's economic growth since 1991 hasn't translated into global political clout, reasons William Avery. Reuters India and most of the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have festering territorial disputes with China. Avery says India must respond to the Chinese challenge by spending even more on defence and using economic persuasion to influence its neighbours.“India must now concentrate on the Finlandization of Sri Lanka,” Avery writes, while referring to Finland’s subjugation by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. “In the short term this will mean preventing any further non-Indian involvement in Sri Lanka’s affairs.” Avery described how China invested millions to turn the sleepy fishing hamlet of Hambantota in Sri Lanka into a booming new port, just off India’s southeast coast, furthering an ambitious trading strategy in South Asia that is reshaping the region and forcing India to rethink relations with its neighbours.China has been developing port facilities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and it is planning to build railroad lines in Nepal. These projects, analysts like Avery argue, are irksome to India; there are worries that China is expanding its sphere of regional influence by surrounding India with a “string of pearls” that could eventually undermine India’s pre-eminence and potentially rise to an economic and security threat.Avery worries that India’s economic growth since 1991 has not been matched by an appropriate increase in its global political clout. It is now, however, beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Obama administration, like the previous Bush administration, is investing in a long-term strategic partnership with India, and has identified China as a threat while declaring Asia as a priority to the US.India is no budding UK, and any US policymaker who believes New Delhi will act as a lieutenant for US interests has been smoking something herbal. But Avery suggests that New Delhi must build on recent economic successes to make India a truly global power. He suggests that where India sees common interests with the US — a wide and growing field — it should be more than willing to cooperate.“India possesses the same core values that underpinned the Anglo-American relationship: democracy, human rights, the rule of law and the free market,” Avery writes in his book.Despite rooting for a stronger India-US partnership, Avery compares India’s reliance on IT outsourcing, or supplying low-cost brains over the Internet to largely US companies, as a kind of “colonial servitude.” He implies that Indian firms are boosting efficiency for US companies with factory-like business processes. “Today,” he writes, “India is falling in to the colonial trap all over again, except this time it is doing so willingly.”The Wall Street Journal felt that Avery’s book, while “thought-provoking,” sort of missed the plot when it panned outsourcing which was a huge business opportunity.“It’s a fair point that IT outsourcing is draining India’s brightest minds from pursuing innovation. But to compare the industry to India’s plight under the British Empire, when the country exported raw materials and imported goods manufactured from those materials, is a step too far. (India, for instance, runs a large trade surplus with the US),” wrote Tom Wright in The Wall Street Journal.Avery will warm the hearts of the folks opposing Wal-Mart’s march into India by arguing that India should think about “more protection” for its nascent industries at a time when its markets are growing and the West is stagnant. Cops nab LTTE sympathizer from Chennai A suspected sympathizer of the banned LTTE was arrested by Kochi city police from Chengalpettu in Chennai in connection with a human trafficking case involving Sri Lankan Tamils.The case pertains to the incident in which an international human trafficking racket attempted to illegally transport 39 Sri Lankan Tamils to Australia from Kerala on a fishing boat.A team from the Central police station in the city arrested the accused, who is said to be the kingpin of the racket, with the help of Tamil Nadu police. The arrested was identified as Senthuran (38) of Kandy, Sri Lanka."We brought the accused from Chennai on Sunday and presented him before the local magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody," police officials said.The police will seek the custody of the arrested from the court to nab other members of the racket.It was in September 2011 that city police thwarted the human trafficking attempt and arrested nine persons, including four Malayalis. Police also seized a fishing boat from Munnambam, which was arranged by the racket to transport Sri Lankan Tamils to Australia.The group had consisted of 28 men, seven women and four children. 16 January 2012 TNA dismisses LLRC report and sets the agenda for talks Barely two days before the commencement of a crucial round of talks between the Tamil National Alliance, an umbrella group representing Tamil political parties, and the Sri Lankan government, the outfit again called for outside scrutiny of the Eelam War IV.The war concluded in May 2009 and the government has conceded that there have been civilian casualties in the war. Almost all civilians killed were Tamils.“The need for an accountability process that meets international standards while delivering on the right of victims to truth, justice and reparations (including guarantees of non-recurrence) is an urgent and important one. Given the government’s failure to institute a process that meets these benchmarks, the TNA calls on the international community to institute measures that will advance accountability and encourage reconciliation in Sri Lanka in keeping with the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts,” the TNA said in its 70-page analytical ‘Response to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission Report. The TNA had earlier rejected the report in a short response a few days after the release. The Report of the UNSG’s Panel of Experts was seen in Sri Lanka as an affront on the country. The TNA, however, welcomed its findings.The detailed response was released here on Sunday, barely a day before the TNA meets the Indian External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna. The Sri Lankan government – TNA talks are scheduled to be held on January 17, 18 and 19. “The talks will go on as scheduled,” M.A. Sumanthiran, Member of Parliament belonging to the TNA, told The Hindu, when asked if there was any change in dates for the talks. Mr. Krishna’s presence in Sri Lanka during the talks is seen as a chance for achieving some forward movement in the discussions.The main stumbling block in the talks related to the extent and kind of autonomy that the Northern Province could be accorded. Terming the LLRC’s recommendations on this vital question “exceedingly vague,” the TNA said that these “fail to measure up to the past proposals,” including that of the 2006 report of the All Party Representative Committee’s Expert Committee.Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has gone on record, saying that land and police powers will not be accorded. Recalling this stand, the TNA said that “the most current views of the President, however, reflect the government’s unwillingness to even implement the provisions of the Constitution vis-à-vis the Thirteenth Amendment.” This has only reinforced the Tamil fears on the government not being genuine about political solution based on meaningful devolution, it added. SM Krishna heads to SL, devolution tops agenda External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna heads to Sri Lanka Monday on a three-day visit that will focus on pushing the reconciliation and devolution process in the island nation.Krishna is expected to hold wide-ranging talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris and call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa.In his discussions, Krishna is expected to reiterate the imperative need to find a lasting political solution to the decades-old ethnic Tamil issue that has been a source of conflict and instability in Sri Lanka.He is expected to impress upon Sri Lanka leaders the need to take concrete steps for "genuine national reconciliation" and a lasting political settlement in Sri Lanka.He will also meet representatives of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and elicit their views on the progress in their talks with Colombo over the proposed devolution of powers to the regions.The TNA has been pushing for land and police powers in the provinces. Although Rajapaksa has made it clear that the government will not devolve these powers to the regions in line with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, his government has indicated its willingness to discuss the issue.Early this week, Rajiva Wijesinha, the advisor on reconciliation to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said here that a separate ministry for reconciliation, with responsibilities of implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) should be set up.Krishna will also review progress in an India-assisted project for building 50,000 houses in the war-ravaged north for internally-displaced people. He will go to Galle to inaugurate the Southern Railway Project, which has been renovated with India's concessional line of credit.The issue of fishermen straying into each other's territory will also figure in the discussions. Ahead of Krishna's visit to Colombo, a joint working group of fisheries met in Colombo during which India agreed to work on faster repatriation of Sri Lankan fishermen who get stranded in Indian waters. US sanctions put Sri Lanka in tight spot The Sri Lankan government says it is looking for importing crude oil from Qatar and Oman following latest US sanctions against Iran.Petroleum Resources Minister Susil Premajayanth told BBC Sandeshaya that the government was informed by the US of the latest sanctions against Iran."We refine approximately 40,000 barrels of crude oil a day that was imported from Iran," he said.The refinery that was built in late 60s, said the minister, can only refine either Iranian Light or AramCo which is imported from Saudi Arabia.Apart from one shipment a year from Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka imports most of its crude oil from Iran. Six months "With the latest US sanctions, of which we were also informed, we have six months period to prepare," Minister Premjayanth told BBC Sinhala service.At the same time, the government will discuss importing crude oil with Emir of Qatar who is currently visiting Sri Lanka."Although Oman Light is not the same as crude oil imported from Iran for example, we will be able to blend and use it and we are also looking at other options such as Qatar," added the minister.Oman's minister in charge of Oil is also expected to visit the island at the end of this month.Sri Lanka "is in a virtual straitjacket," according to Reuters, as the United States tries to tighten the noose on Iran in an attempt to control its nulcear programme.The United States is Sri Lanka's biggest trade partner.President Barack Obama signed a new law on New Year's Eve that imposed sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank, which clears oil payments.Washington has already imposed sanctions on a Chinese oil company and in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.Minister Premjayanth stressed, however, that there was no specific instructions to Sri Lanka apart from the notice issued to all countries. Sri Lankan Tamils want self determination: diaspora group IGP directs SIU to probe Kelaniya claims IGP N.K. Illangakoon has directed the Police Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to investigate allegations levelled against Minister Mervyn Silva and Kelaniya PS Chairman Prasanna Ranaweera.Two petitions which included allegations such as extortion were handed over to the IGP on Friday by two parties representing the Minister and the PS Chairman, police media spokesman Ajith Rohana said.A public row erupted between SLFP Kelaniya Organiser Minister Mervyn Silva and the Kelaniya PS Chairman recently when the PS Chairman and his group accused Minister Silva of extortion in the Kelaniya area and requested the President to appoint a commission to probe the actions of the controversial Minister.In response the Minister said he had enough evidence to prove that the Chairman was involved in various types of illegal activities and that he would reveal more information against several other members as well.“The SIU normally investigates allegations levelled against police officers. But the IGP can direct the unit to investigate any matter or allegation,” he said.It was earlier reported that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) took over the investigation to probe the accusations levelled at each other by the two parties from Kelaniya. 13 January 2012 Four top US officials to visit Sri Lanka Sri Lanka awaits four senior US officials who will meet government officials, civil society representatives, business leaders and political leaders here in the coming weeks.Ambassador James A. Larocco from the Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies at the Department of Defense National Defense University will visit Sri Lanka and the Maldives Jan 15-19.Holly Vineyard, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia at the Department of Commerce, will visit Sri Lanka Jan 17-19.Alyssa Ayres, Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia at the Department of State, will visit Sri Lanka and the Maldives Jan 18-24.Thomas O. Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour at the Department of State, will visit Sri Lanka Jan 20-26. Canada happy but wants a road map Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada is happy with the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and wants the government to now implement the recommendations with clear timelines.In a statement regarding the report, the Canadian Foreign Minister however said that the Commission had failed to address the grave accusations of serious human rights violations that occurred towards the end of the conflict. The statement said: “Canada notes the public release of the report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Although we are still studying the report, the commission has addressed and provided recommendations in some areas of concern, including reconciliation, the rule of law and demilitarization.“Canada strongly urges the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the commission’s recommendations and develop an implementation road map with clear timelines while also addressing the issues the report did not cover. The report’s recommendations—if implemented—can contribute to the process of political reconciliation that must now take place to address the root causes of deadly strife and division. However, to date, we have seen a lack of both accountability and meaningful attempts at reconciliation on the part of the Sri Lankan government. Decisive action is now required.“Canada remains concerned that the report does not fully address the grave accusations of serious human rights violations that occurred toward the end of the conflict. Many of the allegations outlined by the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka have not been adequately addressed by this report. We continue to call for an independent investigation into the credible and serious allegations raised by the UN Secretary-General’s Panel that international humanitarian law and human rights were violated by both sides in the conflict.“The Government of Sri Lanka must demonstrate the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.” Sri Lanka war study 'disappointing' The Government has been left "disappointed" by some of the recommendations of a report into Sri Lanka's civil war, the Foreign Office said.Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said the Government welcomed the publication of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report. The review was commissioned by the Sri Lankan government in May 2010 to look into the conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers.He said the LLRC report concluded the root cause of ethnic conflict had been the failure of successive governments and recommended devolution. Mr Burt said he urged the Sri Lankan government to implement this quickly.But while Mr Burt said the Government agreed with this and a number of the report's conclusions and recommendations, he said it was felt lacking on the issue of accountability.In a written statement to Parliament, he said: "The British Government is, on the whole, disappointed by the report's finding and recommendations on accountability."Like many others, we feel these leave many gaps and unanswered questions. We welcome the acknowledgement that 'considerable civilian casualties' occurred during the final stages of the conflict and the recommendation specific incidents require further investigation."But we note many credible allegations of violations of international law and human rights law, including from the UN Panel of Experts report, are either not addressed or only partially answered. We believe video footage, authenticated by UN Special Rapporteurs, should inform substantive, not just technical, investigations into apparent grave abuses."Mr Burt said the Government welcomed recommendations on ongoing human rights violations and called for "vigorous" implementation. He said the "success or failure" of the LLRC would be judged on this section.But he added: "On accountability, implementing the report's recommendations would represent a useful first step. But we continue to believe it is important that an independent, credible and thorough mechanism is put in place to investigate all allegations of grave abuses."Mr Burt said the Government continued to be committed to helping Sri Lanka achieve "lasting peace and reconciliation". Man on CBSA's Most Wanted list arrested TORONTO — One of Canada's Most Wanted fugitives was arrested by police late Tuesday following a complaint, officials said.Tharmapaskaran Sellathamby, aka Baskaran Sellathamby, 61, of Sri Lanka, was turned over by Toronto Police to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for deportation from Canada.He is slated for a detention review behind bars this week, CBSA officials said.CBSA president Luc Portelance said Sellathamby was sought for serious criminality after being convicted of aggravated assault.Portelance said Sellathamby was arrested after a tip-off."He (Sellathamby) was picked up in an enforcement initiative by Toronto Police," he told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday to announce a list of 30 new Most Wanted fugitives who are sought for national security and organized crime offences.Deportation proceedings will take place to remove Sellathamby to Sri Lanka. Officials said he arrived in Canada as a refugee claimant and went underground when ordered to leave the country.Sellathamby is the 15th Most Wanted fugitive to be arrested from a list of 90 who have been identified by the CBSA. Eight of the 15 have been deported from Canada.Most of the criminals on this list are from Toronto, Montreal and B.C. Attempt failed to issue LTTE stamps in Britain An attempt by an individual to get the British Royal Mail Service to issue a personalized stamp with the picture of slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabharakan has failed.Following representations made by the Sri Lankan high commission in London, the Royal Mail Service has cancelled the issuance of the stamps.However, a few stamps have been issued to the person who had given the order.It has apologized to Sri Lanka over the matter. 11 January 2012 One more round of TNA-Govt. talks on political solution this month The next round of talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), an umbrella association of Tamil political parties, is set to commence in Colombo on January 17, to continue discussions on the contours of a political solution to accommodate Tamil hopes and aspirations.The three-day talks commence soon after Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who arrives here on January 16, meets Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the TNA leader R. Sampanthan. Observers here attach a lot of significance to the timing of Mr. Krishna’s visit. A few Tamil leaders said that they were hopeful that there will be some progress in this round because of the overt presence of one of the senior-most Cabinet Ministers from India. Mr.Krishna will be in Sri Lanka till January 19, the day the talks are scheduled to conclude.The talks, which began in January 2011, has meandered away with the TNA and the government not agreeing on the crucial question of land and police powers to the provinces, as envisaged in the ‘13 Amendment’ of the Sri Lankan constitution. Mr. Sampanthan is on record saying that the TNA’s proposals, outlining the way forward, were given to the government as early as February 2011.With no response coming from the Government till August 2011, the TNA walked out of the talks. It came back following friendly persuasion by interested parties, and the willingness of the Sri Lankan state to engage with the TNA again. Interestingly, the talks centre around the same issues that have been on the table since 1987.The Sri Lankan government has genuine concerns on granting land and police powers to the provinces, a standpoint that has been voiced at all levels. No province in the country has these powers, though the Constitution provides for such devolution.The next sticking point is the government move to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to go into the entire issue. Mr.Sampanthan says that there had been no talk of a PSC till the TNA-Government talks hit a dead-end around August-September 2011. The TNA has steadfastly refused to name its members to the PSC, while the government believes that a PSC-approved plan, which has the consent of all political parties in Parliament, is the only way forward. Statue of Suwami Vivekanandar damged in Batticaloa district Statue of Suwami Vivekanandar located at the Araiyambathi- Kathankudy road in Batticaloa district was damaged by unidentified group on Tuesday morning.One person had been arrested in connection with this incident.Hands, Legs and face of the statue were destroyed by the group.Eastern Provincial Council member P.Pirasanthan also arrived the spot and lodged a complaint at the Kathankudi police.However Batticaloa district police IGP arrived the location and carried out further investigations this regard. Kathankuddy police are carrying out further investigations this regard. There is still a threat: Gota Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that the possible re-emergence of the LTTE is one of the biggest challenges faced by the country in the post conflict period and that the military has identified the threat and steps have been taken to make Sri Lanka’s intelligence services stronger and establish camps in strategic locations. “LTTE front organisations can encourage and facilitate ex LTTE cadres and those who escaped from the military during the war and pave way for a re-emergence. Those who did not surrender are probably following the ideology of the LTTE. Even though 11,000 of them were rehabilitated there must be cadres who are not 100 per cent rehabilitated,” he said. “We cannot forget everything just because we defeated them militarily. Still the threat is there. There are lots of enemies in the international front taking active steps to derail the path the government is taking to achieve economic development,” he said speaking at a lecture on the topic, ‘Future Challenges of National Security in Sri Lanka’ organised by the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and ANCL. “That is why we still maintain a strong military and that is why a considerable portion of the budget is given to the military. Still it is only two and a half years after defeating the LTTE militarily,” he added. He charged that certain groups for political means charge that the country is heading towards militarisation. Presently day to day law and order is maintained by the police. “To establish a camp anywhere in Sri Lanka is a decision and concern of the country as it is a sovereign state,” he noted. “Currently the front organisations of the LTTE and their supporters are taking internal problems of Sri Lanka to the international level,” he said. The Defence Secretary also noted that the country will have to face the geopolitical situation due to the strategic location the country. “Organisations such as Global Tamil Forum and British Tamil Forum pressurise the international community and western governments to put more pressure on Sri Lanka by all means. They want the international community to look negatively at Sri Lanka and that is how the pressure is taken on us,” he said. The Defence Secretary charged that these LTTE front organisations are closely associated with the international media and that is how they spread the message just like they did by airing the video footages through Channel-4. These organisations also run schools by the name of Thamil Cholai which gives education to about 15,000 students. ‘Who is the traitor - the general or Kudu Silva?’ It is up to the people to decide who the traitor is, said former Army chief Sarath Fonseka.He made the comment at a private hospital in Colombo, where he was given physiotherapy treatment today (Jan. 10).The imprisoned former Army commander said there would be a change to the political culture that was allowing persons like ‘Kudu Silva’ to hold ministerial positions.‘Kudu Silva’ had not passed even grade five, had been a coconut thief before becoming a heroin dealer to destroy the future of the country’s children, Mr. Fonseka said.The people will decide who the traitor is - the general or ‘Kudu Silva’ who sells heroin to the children, he added. Sri Lankan government accuses media movement of petitioning to cancel GSP+ facility The Sri Lankan government Tuesday said that its Intelligence Unit has uncovered information on a campaign carried out by the members of the media rights group, Free Media Movement (FMM) requesting the termination of the GSP+ tariff concession to Sri Lanka.The government said FMM personnel who have fled the country have sent 700 petitions calling for the suspension of the European Union's Generalized System of Preferences plus (GSP+) facility to Sri Lanka.The European Union, citing Sri Lanka's failure to meet human rights conventions relevant for benefits under the scheme, in August 2010 suspended the GSP+ tariff concession for Sri Lanka that provided tax free access to European markets for the country's products, especially for garment exports.Reportedly former head of the FMM Sunanda Desapriya, journalists Podala Jayantha and Uvidu Kurukulasuriya have used financial resources of FMM to carry out the campaign.Further, the Intelligence Unit has found that a convener of the FMM has discretely gathered information for the petition together with an opposition United National Party politician.According to the government media note these alleged activities have been carried out at a house of the Media Village, the media research company. Rajapaksa dynasty and their qualification saga By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya In 1999, the Ravaya published an article under the byline Mahinda Rajapaksa which analyses the provincial council elections results. The late Jeyaraj Fernandopulle asked me who wrote that. I said it was Mahinda Rajapaksa, and he laughed heartily. Everyone around us were very curious about that and asked, “Why are you laughing?” He asked MPs and journalists who were in the parliament corridor at that time to come near him and said “listen! listen! Uvindu says that the Ravaya article was written by Mahinda, how could he analyse statistics since he managed to fail even his Ordinary Level maths! Don’t be stupid, I know his capacity he was with me in the Law College, I even know how he passed the law exams, Karunajeeva or Sunimal Fernando must have written this article for him.”Now, last week Colombo Telegraph published a story based on WikiLeaks which says; Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa did not complete his advanced level exam. The cable which is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” details biographic details on Sri Lanka’s fifth President Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa. The cable was written on November 21, 2005 by the US Ambassador to Colombo, Jeffrey J. Lunstead.Mahinda was described as “JUST A COUNTRY LAWYER” by the Ambassador. He wrote to Washington, “Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa was born on November 18, 1945 in Verukatiya, in the Hambantota District, the third of SLFP founder-member D. A. Rajapaksa’s eight children. (An older brother Chamal is also an SLFP MP, while two younger brothers, Gotabhaya and Basil, had been living in the U.S. but returned to help with their brother’s campaign for the presidency.) He was educated at Richmond College in the southern district of Galle (where his father reportedly had to engage a Sinhala tutor to boost his son’s proficiency in his native tongue), as well as Nalanda College and Thurstan College in Colombo. He did not complete his Advanced Level (“A levels”) education, instead he left his job as a clerk at the library at Sri Jayawardenapura University in the Colombo suburbs in 1970, to run for his late father’s seat representing his native Hambantota in Parliament. …Taking advantage of a decision by the then Justice Minister to allow MPs to enter law school – whether or not they had the necessary educational qualifications – Rajapaksa graduated from Sri Lanka Law College in 1974.”There are hundreds of comments under the Colombo Telegraph posts, people who are supporting and opposed to the Rajapaksas debating the issue of his education. There are plenty of political leaders who do not have proper educational qualifications. So why should Rajapaksa? That is the main argument from the supporting camp. Yes, it not a problem. But, on one hand does the public know about their ruler’s education? Does he admit his school results, if yes, then it can be a great example of courage and determination. On the other hand someone like him needs good educated advisors. What about his chief advisor? His chief presidential advisor and economic development minister who is also his brother was expelled a couple of times from his college in Galle. Another US Ambassador, Robert O. Blake wrote in confidential cable on May 15, 2007, “According to Embassy contacts, Basil advises the President on an array of topics despite his limited education and lack of relevant work experience…Basil was also educated in Matara and Galle. According to his school friends, he was expelled a couple of times from his college in Galle.”Now what? These are the people who rule the country. Blake wrote, “Fear that Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) stalwarts are disloyal has caused the President to lean more heavily on his brothers than on party insiders for support and advice. The President tends to postpone decisions and at times avoids decision making, as well as potential blame for unpopular decisions, by delegating many responsibilities to his brothers… The fact that Sri Lanka has one of the largest Cabinets of Ministers in the world, 53, perversely has contributed to the centralisation of power in the Rajapaksas’ hands because many ministers have overlapped or undefined responsibilities. Successive constitutional changes over the last three decades have concentrated on a progressively larger share of power in the President’s hands…The resulting confusion has meant that most important issues are handled by the President and his advisors, not by the ministers. The President himself holds ministerial portfolios including Finance, Defense, Ports and Aviation. He thus directly supervises over a hundred government departments and administrations. Together with discretionary Presidential spending powers, he personally controls over 60 percent of the national budget. His brothers lived out of the country until just before the election in 2005. As a result, they have a limited understanding of the Sri Lankan public’s concerns and few contacts within the country’s elite. This isolation has meant that almost all important decisions are made by a small inner circle with limited exposure to input and ideas from the country’s public or elite.”Another US Ambassador Patricia Butenis wrote in a confidential cable on November 17, 2009, “Sri Lanka’s formal process for economic decision making is focussed on the Finance Ministry, but included input from line Ministries and private sector. The GoSL has over 100 Ministries, and many Ministers hold their office for purely political reasons. If a Ministry plans to change economic policy, it must first seek approval from the National Planning Commission in the Finance Ministry. If approved then it makes a formal request to the Finance Ministry. In reality, economic decisions are often made by President Rajapaksa and his brothers, with input from a handful of trusted economic advisors. A number of well connected business leaders and academics agreed that economic decision making is opaque, but key decision making is made by a very tight circle, usually President Rajapaksa and his two brothers.”Robert Blake wrote, “Embassy contacts say Basil has no close advisors and more enemies than friends in Sri Lanka because he makes a habit of trying to ‘buy people.’ …Basil worked for the Ministry of Mahaweli Development, where he earned the nickname “Mr. Ten Percent” for demanding a ten percent commission on every project. Basil continues to be accused of significant corruption in his current position.”Ambassador Butenis wrote prior to the presidential election 2010 “President Rajapaksa’s chief opinion pollster Sunimal Fernando – who is a good contact of the embassy on other issues – shared with us the first findings from their initial survey. Many voters saw the Rajapaksa family as corrupt (85 percent) and the president himself as corrupt (80 percent).”This is the level of international reputation we have. One day if someone is able to hack Chinese Embassy cables we will be able to find ‘shocking stuff’. Under the subheading “Discord Between the Brothers” Robert Blake wrote “Basil and Gotabaya appear not to get along very well. Many have remarked that they rarely appear in public together, seem never to attend the same meetings, and at times offer the President conflicting advice. For example, when the GSL was reviewing bids for construction of a proposed new port in Hambantota, Basil and Gotabaya endorsed different Chinese companies. In the end, the President had to split the work between the two companies to appease his brothers.”So, how can the country run with uneducated and corrupt people? Although later denied by former president Chandrika Kumaratunga (CBK), Ambassador Patricia A. Butenis wrote to Washington in a confidential cable, “President Kumaratunga found the Rajapaksa family involvement in politics very distasteful and called them ‘uneducated and uncultured rascals’. She worried that the political climate since her term had become “vindictive and threatening” and that Rajapaksa had ‘muddied the thinking’ of masses.” Some people simply say CBK’s comments on the Rajapaksas are just aristocratic displeasure. But how can they analyse comments from a subaltern leader like Somawansa Amarasinghe? In another “confidential” cable Ambassador Butenis wrote, “Amarasinghe was very critical of President Rajapaksa, saying he had a very narrow vision and an inferiority complex, which stemmed from the fact that he was not from one of the traditional power families. As a result, he suspected everyone, especially ‘learned people.’”Blake wrote, “A presidential advisor told us that leaders like the President, who are not from the political elite, have two options. They can either be revolutionaries and try to destroy the aristocratic system, or they can join the system and try to create their own dynasty. The President has chosen to pursue his own dynasty. Namal, the President’s eldest son, is often mentioned as a possible political successor to his father. A separate Embassy contact told that the President is reluctant to call snap elections because he knows Namal wants to run for a seat in parliament.”But sadly President Rajapaksa managed to place a black mark on his young energetic son and heir apparent Namal Rajapaksa’s face. The scandal of Namal Rajapaksa, receiving favoured treatment by the authorities at the Sri Lanka Law College at his attorneys-at-law final examinations grabbed media attention earlier this year. Thushara Jayarathna, another candidate at the exam, alleged in complaints made to the police, Law College and even the then Chief Justice, that Namal Rajapaksa had been accommodated separately in an air-conditioned room with internet enabled computer facilities to sit for his examinations. In the present political climate of Sri Lanka, the courage of Jayarathna’s decision to go public does not need to be reiterated. He has not only faced physical harm and intimidation for his trouble, but also received no justice either from the Law College or the Sri Lankan courts. The Supreme Court has thrown out his fundamental rights case on technical grounds. British passport applications to be processed in the UK With effect from 16 January 2012, all British passport applications have to be sent directly to the United Kingdom for processing, said the British High Commission in Colombo.The change will ensure that applicants receive the new style passports which were introduced in the UK in October 2010.The new passports have more sophisticated security features, required to meet international quality and security standards.It is not affordable to print these new passports overseas, said the BHC.New designs and processes reduce the likelihood of identity theft and passport fraud, protecting British nationals and borders.The BHC adds that to keep informed about the changes to the passport applications process overseas, applicants could visit http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/passports1/The changes regarding the direct send will be updated after 13 January 2012. The NY Times has dropped Sri Lanka from the best destinations list Sri Lanka is not within the 45 best destinations to visit in 2012. The New York Times listed “45 places to go in 2012” destinations including Kerala and Maldives. The list published January 6, 2012 in the New York Times travel section.It is speculated that The New York Times has dropped Sri Lanka after Christmas Day gang rape and killing incident in President Rajapaksa’s political home base, Tangalle. The Tangalle incident where one British national was killed and his companion, a Russian national reportedly brutalized and raped on Christmas Day by provincial supporters of the administration .Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said the companion of the murdered British tourist Kuram Shaikah Zaman was sexually assaulted after the brutal attack on the couple. Russian national Victoria Alexandrovna, 23, is being treated in Karapitiya hospital, Galle at the intensive care unit. “After the attack Victoria was found naked by the time the police arrived to investigate. According to an eye witness she was raped even as she lay bleeding from the head wound” the chairman of the AHRC Basil Fernando told the BBC Sinhala Service. “A government spokesman’s first reaction to the media was to deny the rape. This is the usual pattern of government spokesmen who tried to defend government politicians even when they are involved in serious crimes”. Fernando further told the BBC.Sri Lanka was among the best destinations to visit in 2012 National Geographic Traveler, by US-based magazine, which has focused on the island’s hill country. Another monthly travel magazine in Britain ‘Condé Nast Traveller’ has nominated Sri Lanka as one of the top five destinations to watch in year 2012. The travel experts of the magazine have predicted that Sri Lanka will be among the hottest new holiday destinations for travellers in the coming year. Unveiling the list of destinations the magazine reveals that, “One of the great joys of travel is the feeling you’ve discovered somewhere special, somewhere that’s all yours, for the first time – before the developers move in and the crowds descend. It could be a new and unexplored region, like the Arctic Circle, or an entire country that has been off-limits to tourists for political reasons, such as Sri Lanka and Burma.” Sri Lanka has been placed third in the list of destinations ahead of Britain, Australia and Abu-Dhabi . Other Asian destinations to watch in 2012 named by Conde Nast Traveller in 2012 includes Vietnam and Burma, which was subject to an unofficial tourist boycott until recently with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.Sri Lanka is targeting 2.5 million tourist by the year 2016. 10 January 2012 “Rethink policy to empower Sri Lankan Tamils economically” In the present-day world where politics is invariably trumped by economics, India has to have a drastic rethinking of its policy in favour of economically empowering the Tamils in Sri Lanka as a sustainable solution for their rehabilitation, former diplomat G. Parthasarathy said on Sunday.In a lecture on ‘Personal Recollections of Relations with Sri Lanka — the IPKF and Beyond,' hosted by The South India Heritage Programme, Mr. Parthasarathy said while politics was important for the international pressure on Sri Lanka to keep its commitments, it was eventually the economic empowerment of the Tamils that would make them wealthy and influential.An alumnus of the College of Engineering, Guindy, Mr. Parthasarathy suggested setting up industrial training and engineering institutions in the North and East of Sri Lanka that would, within a generation, result in the economic integration of the markets in these areas with that of Tamil Nadu—something that Sri Lanka could be persuaded to see as not beneficial merely for Tamils but for the greater common good.“There has to be a basic rethink in Delhi to see in economic terms our neighbours as an extension of the Indian market,” he said. Such a rethink was hardly out of place against the backdrop of the bilateral FTA and the move towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, he said.The former diplomat provided an overview of the 1987 India-Sri Lanka Agreement, the tumultuous stand-off between the Sri Lankan Army and the militant LTTE, the dilemma of the Indian Peace Keeping Force —under pressure from every quarter trying to maintain peace without getting involved in a civil war-like scenario and the escalation of the situation into a bloody no-holds barred battle in which “every side is guilty of excess” and “the psyche of which was such that people went haywire.” ‘TOUGH OUTFIT' While Mr. Parthasarathy paid tributes to the LTTE as an outfit that was “tough, motivated and ruthlessly singular” in pursuit of its objectives—“the word of the leader was law to which even human life was secondary”—his assessment was that the LTTE's bravery was not tempered with the wisdom that a guerrilla outfit never fights a conventional battle.The outfit's disastrous mistake was in engaging in a conventional warfare against a conventional Army.On why the line of thought about condemning Sri Lanka for human rights violations should be abandoned, Mr. Parthasarathy reasoned that while the Europeans might support India, the US was wavering while Beijing and the Islamic world —or for that matter the Asian bloc which holds sovereignty supreme —would vote against us.Recalling an incident when he was instructed by the PMO to call on then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, who was convalescing at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Mr. Parthasarathy found it remarkable that MGR was even during hospitalisation up to speed on developments in Tamil Nadu and quite self-assured about handling the situation. ANECDOTE He also shared an anecdote about Murasoli Maran asking him when LTTE supremo Prabhakaran would do a Yasser Arafat after the Palestinian leader had declared that he recognised Israel's right to exist in peace and security. Government should suspend activities of TNA: Gunadasa Amarasekara National Patriotic Movement blames TNA is working against the government and also urge government to suspend the party.At present TNA is hopes to take several actions against where government would face difficulties at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.Leader of the National Patriotic Movement Gunadasa Amaraseka stated it’s the correct time for government to suspend all activities of the party inside the country.He further said government has ignored the 100 year celebration of South African National Congress but at present TNA representatives have visited South Africa to take part in this event.Leader also warns such activities of TNA would cause major problems in SriLanka. Protest in Sri Lankan capital demanding release of missing Marxist party activists The dissident group of Sri Lanka's Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) staged a protest march on Monday in capital Colombo demanding the release of two of their activists who went missing while organizing a rally in Jaffna last month.Hundreds of protesters belonging to the dissident group's Movement for People's Struggle carrying placards and shouting slogans marched from the Hyde Park to the Town Hall in the capital city demanding the release of Lalith Kumara Weeraraju and Kugan Muruganandan on the one-month anniversary of their disappearance. Lalith Kumara, Jaffna organizer of the Movement and Kugan went missing on December 09 last year when they were organizing the launch of the Movement for People's Struggle formed by JVP dissidents. The dissidents say the military has abducted their colleagues, a charge the military denies. Local media reports said the protest march caused heavy traffic congestion in the vicinity of Town Hall and the police advised the motorists to take alternative routes. Anarchism in the Name of Minister Rishard at Mullaitivu Kachcheri. Anarchism prevails in the name of Minister Rishard Bathiuddeen at the Government Agent office of the Mullaitivu district. One Sivapragasam Sivajeyanthan who works in the office is the one involved in the above activities. He functions as the deputy director of planning in the Housing Construction Project in the GA’s office, which comes under Basil Rajapakse’s Economic Development ministry.Sivajeyanthan had entered the Divisional Secretariat one day recently under the influence of liquor.The incident has been reported to the Mullaitivu police station. Deputy project officer Sivapragasam Sivajeyanthan had threatened the employees there who did not support his corruption acts with transfers with the consent of Minister Rishard Bathiuddeen.A gang led by Sivapragasasm Sivajeyanthan, under the influence of liquor had entered the Divisional Secretariat and had tried to assault the chief accountant A. Jeyakumar for not supporting Sivajeyanthan in his frauds in housing projects and financial activities.Sivapragasam Sivajeyanthan had mishandled the funds allocated for beneficiaries engaged in housing project activities, and had started building houses without giving the beneficiaries any training. He had tried to assault the accountant for not supporting his fraudulent activities.Sivapragasam Sivajeyanthan who functions as a deputy director of planning in the housing construction projects, had used his influence in the post and had constructed houses for his relatives and had also imported several vehicles in a very short period.Sivapragasam Sivajeyanthan calls himself the sole representative of Minister Rishard Bathiuddeen. He says that he can do anything in the Mullaitivu district with the political influence of the Minister and threatens everybody saying that they should obey him.Employees of the Mullaitivu divisional secretariat went on a work stoppage protesting the activities of the deputy director of planning in the housing construction project.Mullaitivu GA Vethanathan who spoke to the protesting employees requested the protest be called off and he was ready to solve the issue, but he has not kept his word and is still silent on the issue. Another coordinating secretary of Mervyn Silva abducted Another coordinating secretary of minister Mervyn Silva has been abducted in Moratuwa.Donald Ranjith Perera alias ‘Panadure Donald’ or ‘Maligawatte Donald’, a businessman of the area, was taken by a group in a van on the afternoon of January 07, said police spokesman SP Ajith Rohana.At the time, he had been on his way from Wadduwa to Colombo, said the spokesman, adding that Moratuwa police are investigating the incident following a complaint.When contacted, Donald Perera’s wife said nothing has been heard about him so far.A few weeks ago, Amal Rodrigo, another coordinating secretary of minister Silva, was abducted by a group in a white van.He was freed a few days later, and he and his family fled the country soon after. Tiger stamps: Lanka to defy UPU laws Sri Lanka’s postal authorities have decided to defy rules and regulations stipulated by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) when dealing with letters and parcels with stamps bearing the emblem of the LTTE and the image of its late leader, officials said yesterday.Already, there are reports that members of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora have issued personalised stamps bearing the emblem of the beleaguered LTTE in France, Britain and Canada. First, it was reported in France, and the issue was taken up diplomatically.According to the UPU Treaty, stamps of member nations are accepted for the entire international route of mailing.Post Master General M.K.B. Dissanayake said he informed La Poste, the French postal authority, not to send any parcel or letter with such stamps to Sri Lanka.“In this case, we will act according to domestic rules and regulations whatever has been stipulated by the UPU. For us, the interest of Sri Lanka is more important than anything else,” he said.The LTTE is a banned organisation in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, it is prohibited to use the emblem of the LTTE within the country. Also, the organisation remains banned in several other countries including the European Union.However, he said he was yet to receive reports about stamps printed in Canada and Britain. Who Is Sarath Fonseka Has everybody forgotten who Sarath Fonseka really is? Clearly the bankrupt United National Party has. It is this same party and its current leader Ranil Wickremasinghe who accused Sarath Fonseka of the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge. Today, Wickremasinghe and the UNP are flirting once more with Fonseka hopeful that his colourful track record will help revive an ailing party of chauvinistic stooges.Wickremasinghe in January 2009 pointed the finger for the assassination of Lasantha (and other crimes) at a team within the military-intelligence wing, albeit one operating independently of government control. “Today it is the opposition and the media who are the targets,” Ranil Wickremasinghe said in the immediate aftermath of the attack on Wickrematunge. “But a similar fate can befall the government and the cabinet tomorrow. I am talking on behalf of the entire House now,” he said.It is three years to the day since Lasantha was brutally murdered as he drove himself to work on Thursday, January 8, 2009.Elsewhere on our pages, today, we reproduce in memory of Lasantha, an editorial he carried on October 5, 2008 – three months before he was murdered where he smacked Sarath Fonseka hard for his assertions of Sinhala supremacy. At the time Army Commander, Fonseka told Canada’s National Post newspaper, “I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese. But there are minority communities and we treat them like our people.” Gracious of him, you must admit. The Tamil and Muslim communities must be touched.Fonseka should know better, because he himself – in a supreme act of selfless patriotism – applied to emigrate to the United States, leaving his beloved Sri Lanka and his majority Sinhalese brethren. And you know what? The Americans gave him a Green Card, the technical term for which is – wait for it – a Diversity Visa.Given that the United States is 74 percent white (just as Sri Lanka is 74 percent Sinhalese), one presumes Fonseka had no qualms about being, according to his own definition, a second-class citizen there.As this newspaper said in 2008, what the likes of Sarath Fonseka simply do not get is that their parochial world view has gone out of fashion just about everywhere else. The world is becoming an increasingly small place, and one in which diversity is celebrated, not denigrated. That is why that sticker Fonseka has stamped on his passport is called a Diversity Visa. The United States welcomes oddballs – yes, even alien Army Commanders – because they feel it enriches their society. All they need is a secondary education.I recall Krishantha Cooray then CEO of the Nation newspaper loudly and angrily telling police officers and anyone who would listen that Keith Noyahr his deputy editor abducted and assaulted on May 22, 2008 was cruelly beaten up on the orders of Sarath Fonseka following an exposé Noyahr had written on Fonseka which showed him in a poor light.Two years after this attack, Cooray was to return from self-imposed exile overseas to support the candidature of Sarath Fonseka for the 2010 presidential election. He continued to back the cause of Fonseka despite Noyahr having had to flee Sri Lanka in fear for his life and that of his young family and being compelled to continue residing overseas too afraid to have to deal with the monster who ordered his assault and near death.A month later Namal Perera, a journalist with the Sri Lanka Press Institute, was ruthlessly attacked on a busy highway at Kirulapone at 5.30 p.m. as he was being driven home by a close friend – Mahendra Ratnaweera. Both Perera and Ratnaweera suffered knife wounds but the assailants failed in their attempt to abduct him. Perera too was perceived to have fallen foul of Fonseka.After the presidential election was formally declared The Sunday Leader’s management made a decision that the paper would at an editorial level broadly throw its weight behind Sarath Fonseka’s campaign.The Rajapaksa administration, by filing multiple law suits against this paper and failing to take real action in the ongoing investigation into Lasantha Wickrematunge’s murder, left The Sunday Leader’s management with no alternative.Facing devastating court cases The Sunday Leader had no option but to back Fonseka and despite my personal reservations I sympathised with the management’s position and agreed to devote a large amount of page space to the General’s campaign. What happened thereafter does not bear repetition.What is significant at this juncture – three years after Lasantha was killed is the hypocritical pontificating of Ranil Wickremasinghe having in 2009 accused Sarath Fonseka of the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge which is recorded in the Hanzard. Even when the forces were recording victory after victory the present UNP leadership belittled such victories calling them names. The UNP was waiting for the forces to get routed in Kilinochchi, as predicted by Prabhakaran, to come out and brag about its political wisdom in not fighting the LTTE. That political wisdom, however, turned out to be a monumental mistake on the part of the present UNP leadership when the forces finally trounced the LTTE in all its fronts including the propaganda front which was patronised even by the UNP.After having gone through all that and finally when the UNP was reduced to a position where it badly needed some cover to hide its political stupidity they engineered another one of those ‘political master strokes’ to inveigle the heroic but politically immature and egoistic former Army Commander to become its Presidential candidate at the election that it had no hope of winning.Ranil Wickremasinghe who on Friday January 9, 2009 sat in parliament wearing a red shawl as a gag across his mouth bemoaning the death of Lasantha and the stifling of the free media, has today isolated that same media unable to stomach its insistence that the UNP needs to transform and reform itself and that Wickremasinghe is clearly not the candidate to do the job.In fact, so bankrupt is the party that the political reality is that the UNP needs to keep the Fonseka factor alive hanging onto what only a party bereft of policy and leadership believes is a trump card. The very man Wickremasinghe accused of killing Lasantha Wickrematunge and who he said was not fit to even command the Salvation Army.No less than 20 MPs on Friday January 9, 2009 were camped in the well of the House in front of the Speaker’s chair, seated cross-legged and adorned with red and black shawls, calling the government ‘murderers’ over the killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge. Today, none of them will mouth his name.In fact exactly one month after Lasantha was murdered and the UNP had organised a mammoth funeral, printing banners and posters denouncing the government for his killing, not a SINGLE one of them – not even those who professed to be his closest friends in the UNP attended a candlelight vigil by his grave on February 8, 2009. Within one month he was forgotten. No longer useful for the UNP to score brownie points.I recall the words of D. B. S. Jeyaraj when he wrote in May 2009, “the United National Party in Sri Lanka has neither been United nor truly national in recent times. Given the internal turmoil and external unpopularity some feel it may soon cease to be even a party.” How very prophetic and true.On Lasantha’s third death anniversary I also recall the words of Mangala Samaraweera. In 2009, Samaraweera was the Sri Lanka Freedom Party People’s Wing leader. Following Lasantha’s assassination he said that Wickrematunge had an audio recording of a confession made by one of the members of the killer squad led by the ‘Ugly American’ and a court injunction against Wickrematunge was obtained to prevent him revealing those facts. Addressing a press conference of joint opposition MPs, Samaraweera charged that the same persons assassinated Wickrematunge.Wickrematunge was known for taking governments of all hues to task. He was a harsh critic of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, and had been locked in a legal battle with the president’s brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who was spearheading the battle against the LTTE, a terrorist group as designated by the US State Department.Coming after numerous killings of anti-government and other journalists such as P. Devakumaran (stabbed May 2008), Sampath de Silva (shot April 2006), Taraki Sivaram (abducted near police station, 2005) – the murder of such a prominent journalist and political figure was widely condemned across the world. The Editors Guild held the government responsible for the killing as it has failed to stop attacks against media personnel. The government also expressed shock at the killing, pledging to do everything in its power to catch his killers.Wickrematunge had been on Amnesty International’s endangered list since 1998, when anti-tank shells were fired on his house.Despite intense media pressure, no one has been arrested as of January 2012. It is clear that the murder investigation may end up as a cover-up, and that safeguards for an independent media appear bleak. 08 January 2012 India’s Krishna in Lanka for TNA-Govt. talks Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna will be meeting the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and government officials within the next two weeks, in a move seen as ensuring continuity in talks to finding a political solution to issues in the North.Mr. Krishna arrives on Monday, January 16. His visit coincides with the next round of talks between the four-member government delegation and the TNA delegation. The talks will take place over three successive days, during which Mr. Krishna will be in the country.On arrival, Mr. Krishna will meet TNA delegation leader R. Sampanthan, and the following day he will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Indian Minister will also visit Jaffna, where he will hand over 45 houses built under an Indian grant to resettle displaced persons. He will then visit Kilinochchi, where he will hand over 10,000 bicycles to residents in the area.Meanwhile, talks between India and Sri Lanka on fishing issues will likely take place after Mr. Krishna’s visit, a Fisheries Ministry official told the Sunday Times. On Thursday, the two countries conducted a 20th International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) meeting on board the Indian coastguard ship “Vajra”, on the Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Line, off Kankesanthurai.“The meeting is held every six months to discuss maritime security, as well as fishermen’s problems”, Navy spokesman Commodore Kosala Warnakulasuriya told the Sunday Times. The Sri Lankan delegation, comprising Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Coast Guard officials, was headed by Commander Northern Naval Area, Rear-Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne. The Indian delegation, also comprising Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard officials, was headed by Naval Officer in Command at Tamil Nadu, Commodore A. K. Mahadevan. US For International Probe The United States is to push for an international accountability mechanism in Sri Lanka over alleged Human Rights violations.Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S Department of State has said this in a response to a petition filed by Amnesty International, Sri Lanka Country Specialist for Amnesty International USA Jim McDonald stated in an email to The Sunday Leader.The online petition by Amnesty International, posted on the White House website, had called on the U.S. to support an international war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka.In response to the petition, Posner said the United States shares concerns about accountability for the alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that occurred during Sri Lanka’s recent conflict and is committed to working with the government of Sri Lanka, the United Nations, and the international community to implement a just and equitable reconciliation process for all Sri Lankans.“At the request of Congress, the Department of State prepared two reports in 2009 and 2010 on alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law during Sri Lanka’s recent conflict. These reports can be found at www.state.gov. As we noted in both reports, the United States takes these allegations very seriously. We believe individual accountability for such violations is a critical component of reconciliation, and meaningful steps in this regard will advance Sri Lanka’s own efforts to heal after decades of conflict,” Posner said.He also recalled that in the September 2011 session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the U.S. made clear its view that Sri Lanka must adopt measures necessary to achieve national and ethnic reconciliation.“We expressed the need for Sri Lanka to quickly and credibly address allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law that occurred during the war, regardless of which side committed them. We have highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to take concrete steps, such as providing to family members an account of those missing and detained as well as promptly issuing death certificates for those killed in the conflict. We will continue to urge the government of Sri Lanka to work constructively on these issues with the United Nations and the international community,” he said. Posner further added that the U.S. hopes the Government of Sri Lanka will address these reconciliation and accountability issues in a manner commensurate with its international obligations, and for its part the U.S. will continue to reiterate to the government of Sri Lanka that, while domestic authorities have primary responsibility to ensure that those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law are held accountable, international accountability mechanisms can become appropriate in circumstances in which a government is unable or unwilling to meet its obligations. UNP favours Land Commission as provided in 13A The main opposition United National Party will propose to the government that the land commissions and which have been provided under the 13th Amendment of the Constitution be implemented in order to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.It is important the government establishes a Provincial Commission for land and police matters as spelt out in the 13th Amendment which will operational in the North and the East which will report to a National Commission which should be set up which will coordinate the issues in the two provinces, UNP Chairman Gamini Jayawickrema Perera told The Sunday Island yesterday.He also said that it was mandatory for a proposed land commission and a police commission to be set up at regional and national levels so that decisions could be taken as to what lands would be apportioned for development and other criteria and the provincial administration could coordinate with the national apparatus on how these lands could be assigned.However, he said that the TNA should not be given the sweeping powers it is requesting in a spirit of self determination but granted, in agreement with other political parties, sufficient powers that will also meet the aspirations of the northern and eastern residents.The UNP Chairman, himself a former North Western Provincial Council Chief Minister, said that there were land issues which he had to decide on as the CM in consultation with the Central Government, which he said, were parallel to the issues in the North and the East.The Party will also announce its stand on the recommendations of the LLRC after January 16 after discussing the broad issues arising from these recommendations at separate meetings of the Working Committee and Parliamentary Group scheduled for Jan. 16.The UNP Chairman said matters relating to party unity too will be discussed. Ex LTTE cadres could join police The Sri Lanka Police Department will create opportunities for former LTTE cadres who are well educated to join the police, Inspector General of Police N.K. Illangakoon said.He said if the former LTTE cadres were willing to join the police after fulfilling the requirements, the Department would recruit them.“They need to have the required educational qualifications and pass the physical fitness tests”, he said.Having ended, three-decades of terrorism, the Government conducted rehabilitation programs for over 11,500 ex-LTTE cadres who surrendered to the Security Forces.After the successful completion of a one-year rehabilitation program most of them have been reintegrated into the society and some have been facilitated to find employment abroad.The Police Chief said that the ex-LTTE cadres who wish to join the police need to have clearance from the rehabilitation authorities about their conduct to consider their eligibility to recruit them to the police.He said the Police Department had recruited over 600 Tamil police officers and they are now serving in the North and the East.“ Police officers who were not conversant in Tamil was the main obstacle to have a good relationship with the Tamils in the North and the East.” “By the end of this month another 350 Tamils will join the Police Department and we will continue in the recruitment drive according to the demand”, he said adding that six Tamil Language teaching centres have been set up to teach 1,200 police officers for six months. Govt boycotts ANC centenary Sri Lanka has refused to accept an invitation from South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) to attend today's centenary celebrations attended by some 40 heads of state or government. The reason -- a delegation from the London-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) also has been invited for the same event. Giving it official status and placing it on par with a government delegation, an External Affairs Ministry source said yesterday was not acceptable. Otherwise External Affairs MinisterG.L. Peiris was to represent Sri Lanka at the event.Already in South Africa for the centenary celebrations is a GTF delegation led by its President, Rev. Dr. S.J. Emmanuel. Also taking part in the same event is a four member delegation from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) comprising Rajavarothayam Sampanthan (leader), M.A. Sumanthiran, Selvam Adaikalanathan and Suresh Premachandran. Both the TNA and GTF were also to hold talks on the sidelines of the centenary event.The TNA move has angered President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He told his ministers during last Wednesday's weekly Cabinet meeting that the TNA was resorting to delaying tactics without engaging the government to work out a political package. He said the TNA had not nominated its representatives for a Parliamentary Select Committee and this was causing considerable difficulty. The government's dialogue with the TNA is to be a priority subject when Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna visits Colombo on January 16.The ANC centenary celebrations will begin at the founding place of the Congress 100 years ago in Waalhoek in Bloemfontein. It will be held at the Free State Auditorium where President Jacob Zuma will make a centenary statement at a ceremony to be attended by 120,000 participants. TULF alleges step motherly treatment by TNA The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) alleged that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has sidelined the TULF after its victory at the Local Government polls last year.The TULF extended its support to the TNA at the last Local Government polls where the TNA secured victory in most parts of the North. TULF leader, V. Anandasangaree however alleged that the TNA had not held talks with the party for over six months after polls.“They got our support and we campaigned on the same platform. Six months have lapsed since the elections and we have not had a single meeting, not to form an alliance with the TNA, but at least on working together for a common cause,” he told The Nation.In addition, he also blamed the TNA and the government for the long time frame taken for each round of talks. He said both the government and the TNA had failed to come up with an effective delegation and called upon both parties to be flexible and realistic in their discussions. The TULF Leader also said that he was not satisfied with the experience and the knowledge of the TNA delegation members to represent the whole Tamil community. “From the government part, the members should be capable of making decisions at the table. If they are only messengers to bring the report to the President or Prime Minister, that is not worth”, he added. Asked over the possibilities of having a practical common Forum for Tamils, he said unfortunately some Tamil politicians work only on petty political agendas to entertain personal interests. Now Tiger stamp in Britain From France to Canada, Tiger guerilla stamps have now appeared in Britain. One depicts a portrait of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran but it is not clear whether the stamp has received the approval of Royal Mail, the sole authority for postal matters in Britain.An External Affairs Ministry spokesperson in Colombo said yesterday the Sri Lanka High Commission had been asked for details relating to the issue of the stamp. This is a prelude to government officially raising issue with Britain.A so-called Tamil Eelam Liberation Students Organization is said to be behind the move in Britain. Last week the Sunday Times revealed exclusively that stamps bearing images of Prabhakaran as well as an LTTE flag had been issued in France.After reports of the appearance of stamps with LTTE images in France, Sri Lanka lodged a protest with French authorities over similar stamps in that country. A British High Commission official in Colombo said he could not deny or confirm this report. TMVP Name Change Likely In March The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) is likely to change its name in March this year when the party holds its first National Convention, a TMVP spokesman said. Following the end of the war in 2009, the TMVP announced it will look at removing the word “pulikal” from its name as it means tigers and could be seen as a reference to the LTTE.Asked why the name has yet to be changed TMVP spokesman Azad Maulana told The Sunday Leader that a name change can be done only with the support of a majority of the party members.Maulana said that the TMVP will hold its first National convention in March this year and a decision on the name change is likely to be taken at the convention.“If the proposal to change the name is put forward at the TMVP national convention to be held in Batticaloa in March then it will be considered,” Maulana said.He said that TMVP leader and Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan will head the convention in Batticaloa while TMVP members from overseas are also expected to attend.The TMVP, previously known as the “Karuna Group”, was formed by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan after he defected from the LTTE in 2004. The TMVP was registered as a political party in 2007 and under Chandrakanthan, they contested their first provincial elections in 2008, winning a majority in the Eastern Provincial Council. 06 January 2012 Sri Lankan religious leaders urge gov't to implement war report Sivaram murder case postponed The trial of the murder of journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram (Taraki) scheduled to begin on Thursday, six years after the assassination has been postponed until April.Colombo High Court judge P. Surasena postponed the hearing as six witnesses including two policemen failed to present themselves at court.The judge also dissolved the Sinhala speaking jury called in for the hearing.State Counsel told court that proceedings could not continue as six important witnesses were not available for the hearing. Witnesses not present The court instructed the state counsel to produce the witnesses on April 25.Arumugam Sri Skandharaja, also known as Peter who was arrested and released on bail in connection with the murder was also present at the court on Thursday.The Attorney General had filed charges against him in 2006. But the case did not proceed further despite having taken for hearing few times for over five years.Taraki, the founding editor of TamilNet was abducted in Colombo on 28 April 2005.His body was found dumped in Sri Jayawardenepura, a high security zone, a day later.International and Sri Lankan media watchdogs have voiced anger over lack of progress in murder investigation. Gun used to kill former UNP parlaiamentarian Maheshwaran was misplaced Police officers of the crime investigation unit informed the courts gun which used to kill UNP parliamentarian T.Mahasehwaran was misplaced.Maheshwarn was shot during a election conversing meeting at Kothena area in 2004. However MP was escaped from the minor injuries.Officers of the Crime Investigation today informed the courts gun which was used to shot MP was misplaced and they are carrying out further investigations this regard.Court ordered CID to submit special report this regard on 19th of January.UNP parliamentarian Maheshwarn shot dead during a shooting incident took place at the Sivan kovil compound on 1st of January 2008. 12 Kelaniya PS members declare war against Mervyn Twelve members of Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha, including its chairman, have declared war against the area’s top politician, minister Mervyn Silva.Speaking to journalists at the Kelaniya PS auditorium on Thursday (Jan. 05), they asked president Mahinda Rajapaksa to save their area from the minister, in the same manner he saved the country from terrorism.Kelaniya PS chairman Prasanna Ranaweera, deputy chairman Chamila Duminda and members Lanka Vijitha Kumara, Hasitha Kelum Madawala and Milroy Perera attended the media briefing.Mr. Ranaweera said he had documentary and other evidence to prove that minister Silva and his henchmen were responsible for acts of extortion, bribery, corruption and other irregularities in the Kelaniya and Kiribathgoda areas.He went onto say that if any harm comes to any of them, it would be the minister who should be held responsible, adding that there are attempts to arrest them by leaving heroin at their homes.The PS chairman said they would meet the president and defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to briefly them about the wrongdoings taking place in the Kelaniya area.He also apologized from all Samurdhi officers regarding the incident, in which minister Silva tied a Samurdhi officer to a tree as punishment.PS member Vijitha Kumara alleged the minister had extorted massive sums of money, and said he would prove the allegations at a debate with anyone.PS member Madawala said the minister was not able to visit Kelaniya area and was now in hiding. WikiLeaks: Basil is corrupt, limited educated and expelled from school “Embassy contacts say Basil has no close advisors and more enemies than friends in Sri Lanka because he makes a habit of trying to ‘buy people.’” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.“Basil worked for the Ministry of Mahaweli Development, where he earned the nickname “Mr. Ten Percent” for demanding a ten percent commission on every project. Basil continues to be accused of significant corruption in his current position.” the Embassy further wrote.Basil worked for the Ministry of Mahaweli Development, where he earned the nickname "Mr. Ten Percent" for demanding a ten percent commission on every project.The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” details biographic data related to the Presidend Rajapaksa’s brother minister Basil Rajapaksa. The cable was written on May 15, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.Ambassador Blake wrote “The President consults Basil on most political matters. Basil’s influence can be seen in the alleged deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to suppress Tamil votes in the North and East in the November 2005 Presidential election and the January 2007 Cabinet reshuffle and luring of “crossover” opposition members of Parliament. According to Embassy contacts, Basil advises the President on an array of topics despite his limited education and lack of relevant work experience (see paragraph 12).”Under the relevant paragraph 12 Blake wrote “Basil was also educated in Matara and Galle. According to his school friends, he was expelled a couple of times from his college in Galle. He joined the SLFP at a young age and supported his brother Mahinda in 1970 when he contested the Beliatta electorate in the Hambantota District Parliamentary elections. In 1977, however, he joined the UNP and worked against his brother. Basil worked for the Ministry of Mahaweli Development, where he earned the nickname “Mr. Ten Percent” for demanding a ten percent commission on every project. Basil continues to be accused of significant corruption in his current position. Basil rejoined the SLFP for a few years, but then crossed back to the UNP in the 1990s. Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga refused to allow him to rejoin the SLFP during her tenure. He then moved to the U.S., but returned in 2005 to support Mahinda’s bid for the Presidency.” Police block student march Police have blocked the path of university students who are staging a march to protest the damage caused to the student heroes statue at Sri Jayewardenepura University.A large group of policemen have erected roadblocks at Kollupitiya junction, where the students are sitting on the road, shouting slogans.A heavy traffic congestion is reported in this stretch of the road.A team led by an ASP is investigating the damage caused to the statue in an explosion. 05 January 2012 TNA and SLMC want Mullaitivu LG Elections postponed The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) yesterday requested the Elections Commissioner Mahinda Desapriya to postpone the elections to the local government bodies in the Mullaitivu district, informed sources said.Earlier, the Commissioner announced he would conduct the elections to the Puthukuduiruppu and Maritime Pattu Pradeshiya Sabhas in the district in March.The representatives of the political parties yesterday met with Mr. Desapriya to discuss matters related to the election. TNA MP and TELO President Selvam Adaikkalanathan and SLMC General Secretary Hasan Ali said it would be advisable to postpone the election at least by six months. Nevertheless, Mr. Desapriya replied that he had completed the basic work for the conduction of the election in March. He said he could withhold the election only for a further period of one month in terms of the election law.“If the election is to be delayed further, the political parties should take a decision. Or else, they should enact a new law in Parliament seeking the cancellation of nominations called for,” he said. UPFA Secretary Minister Susil Premajayantha was currently in the north on an observation tour to seek the possibility of conducting the election as early as possible. Besides, the Commissioner asked the representatives of the parties to meet him early next month to discuss the matter further. For the time being, he said, every step was in place to conduct the polls in March. India offers scholarships for Sri Lankan students The High Commission of India in Colombo has announced the offer of scholarships for Sri Lankan students to conduct undergraduate and post-graduate studies in India. Indian government has offered 40 scholarships for Sri Lankan Nationals under the "Nehru Memorial Scholarship Scheme" for undergraduate courses, 5 scholarships under the Commonwealth Scholarship and 2 scholarships under IOR-ARC Scholarship Scheme for postgraduate course, a High Commission press release said.These will be at various Indian Universities during the forthcoming session of 2012 2013.The High Commission of India selects meritorious young Sri Lankan nationals for these scholarships, in consultation with the Ministry of Higher Education, Government of Sri Lanka, for pursuing various undergraduate and postgraduate courses in different universities. The Ministry of Higher Education has invited applications from eligible candidates and the last date for submission of duly filled up application forms is 27th January, 2012.All scholarships cover full tuition fees for the entire duration of the course and students are also paid a monthly sustenance allowance. The scholarship also covers accommodation allowance and an annual grant for books, stationary. Besides, all ICCR scholars in India are provided full healthcare facilities, first class train fare and an annual grant for educational tours to various parts of the country, apart from several other auxiliary benefits.Further details of the above scholarship and application form can be downloaded from the Ministry of Higher Education Website at www.mohe.gov.lk . LTTE rump still active internationally, Gotabaya slams C4, ABC There are ex-LTTE cadres, pro-LTTE activists and LTTE sympathisers operating in various guises in various countries. Some of them claim to be working within the democratic framework. Others claim to be rights activists. Some are militant in their outlook, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said.He expressed these views addressing a distinguished gathering as the Guest of Honor at the Organisation of Professional Associations(OPA) induction ceremony.“The sympathy afforded to the extremists due to political pressures is only one dimension of the problem. It should be understood that the global network of the LTTE had a lot of funds at its disposal. It is still influential with powerful elements within foreign nations. In particular, certain supposedly reputable media outfits have become nothing less than propagandists for the LTTE cause. The portrayal of active LTTE cadres as neutral observers of the Humanitarian Operation, which both Channel 4 and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have been guilty of, is a clear sign of this bias.” He adds.Full text of the Secretary Defence’s speech delivered at the ‘Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA)’ induction ceremony on 03rd Jan, 2012 released by the Defence Ministry.I would like to thank the Organisation of Professional Associations for inviting me to be the Guest of Honour at this Induction Ceremony. I also take this opportunity to wish the incoming President and the members of the Council every success in taking this organisation to greater heights in future.Sri Lanka today is a country that is enjoying the benefits of peace. For three decades, the people of this country suffered immensely as a result of terrorist activities. The LTTE’s defeat in May 2009 has set the stage for a national revival that should enable Sri Lanka to become one of the leading countries in Asia. Professionals have a critical role to play in this national endeavour.At the same time, it is extremely important that as professionals, all of you are aware of the challenges facing this nation. Although we are enjoying the benefits of peace at the moment, we must take care not to be complacent. Sri Lanka still has enemies, and they still work towards bringing disharmony and conflict to this nation. They pose a challenge that we must all work together to overcome. Being informed and aware of the exact situation is the first step towards confronting it.Despite the defeat of the LTTE’s military organisation in Sri Lanka two and a half years ago, the rump of its international establishment is still active in various parts of the world. There are ex-LTTE cadres, pro-LTTE activists and LTTE sympathisers operating in various guises in various countries. Some of them claim to be working within the democratic framework. Others claim to be rights activists. Some are militant in their outlook. Whatever appearance they adopt, however, their intention is to roll back the hard won peace and drive Sri Lanka once again into conflict.To understand why these groups are such a threat, we need to understand the electoral politics of western nations. The stances Governments adopt are a consequence of their internal politics. There is a large Tamil population in several countries, especially Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and many parts of Europe. Even though the number of radicalised elements within that population is quite small, they are politically very active and have a very focused agenda. There have been a number of local politicians, state officials and even parliamentarians in foreign nations appointed due to the voting power of such minority groups. As a result, the issues these activists project tend to become political issues that are taken seriously. That is why the various allegations levelled against Sri Lanka are pursued with such persistence, despite clear evidence of their absurdity.The sympathy afforded to the extremists due to political pressures is only one dimension of the problem. It should be understood that the global network of the LTTE had a lot of funds at its disposal. It is still influential with powerful elements within foreign nations. In particular, certain supposedly reputable media outfits have become nothing less than propagandists for the LTTE cause. The portrayal of active LTTE cadres as neutral observers of the Humanitarian Operation, which both Channel 4 and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have been guilty of, is a clear sign of this bias.In addition to the media, certain Human Rights organisations also seem to have been co-opted by radical elements. These groups not only lobby foreign Governments, they also try to influence multilateral organisations.These activities fuelled by the rump of the LTTE are a serious problem to Sri Lanka. They may create an enabling environment for future terrorist activities. We must be vigilant against these problems and work to maintain the peace that has been won after so much sacrifice and hardship.As professionals, you must be aware of the geopolitical situation in this part of the world. The region between the Horn of Africa and the Pacific is becoming increasingly important in the spheres of global economics, politics and military activities. Sri Lanka is situated in a unique geographical position within this important region. That has focused the attention of many global powers on this nation. They are all keen to have a Sri Lanka that is favourable to them. That is another reason why our internal affairs are being increasingly discussed in the global context, and another reason for the pressures faced by the Government.One common misconception about Sri Lanka’s foreign relations is the influence that China is supposed to have on this country. It needs to be understood that China is becoming one of the most active and influential countries in the global context because of its vast economic strength. It has economic ties with a large number of countries all over the world. Sri Lanka is one of them. China is active here in commercial and economic development activities. That is the nature of its influence and it is important not to misunderstand this.Achieving economic development is one of the key ambitions of the Government of Sri Lanka. This country must utilise the opportunity afforded by peace to achieve both development and national reconciliation. That is the best way to ensure that the benefits of peace flow to all Sri Lankans. It is also the best possible answer to those who criticise us, and the best defence against those who seek to create new problems in our society Since the end of the Humanitarian Operation, the Government has done a great deal of work towards achieving these objectives. Particular attention was paid to the North, where there were several issues that needed to be addressed urgently. The most pressing issue was resettling the 294,000 Internally Displaced People who had served as the LTTE’s human shield. The areas they were displaced from had been mined heavily by the LTTE. Demining these areas quickly was vital, and I am happy to say it was carried out at an unprecedented pace. The Sri Lanka Army did the bulk of the work while Non Governmental Organisations and foreign agencies provided a lot of assistance. As demining progressed, reconstruction of villages and resettlement of IDPs took place. Most of the demining work is now complete and there are less than 3,000 IDPs remaining in camps today.Another critical issue the Government faced involved the 11,000 former LTTE cadres who surrendered or were detained by the military during the course of the Humanitarian Operation. Among them were 595 child soldiers who were rehabilitated under a programme supported by UNICEF and reunited with their families within one year. The vast majority of the adult cadres also underwent extensive rehabilitation programmes. Most of them have now been reintegrated with society. A small number of cadres with known higher-level involvement in LTTE activities have been identified for prosecution. Today, less than 700 ex-LTTE cadres remain in Government custody. Despite the involvement all the surrendees and detainees had in criminal and terrorist activities in many parts of Sri Lanka, the Government took a bold decision to rehabilitate and reintegrate them to society quickly. This is a commendable decision that speaks volumes for the Government’s commitment to reconciliation. It should be noted that such generosity has not been shown to captured combatants in most other parts of the world. Neither in Afghanistan nor Iraq nor in any other recent conflict have such combatants been rehabilitated and reintegrated with such speed. Unfortunately, some sections of the international community tend to ignore this fact, and continue to criticise the Government on such issues.In addition to demining, resettlement and rehabilitation, the Government has also provided numerous forms of assistance to help citizens in the North return to their normal lives. Infrastructure development has been expedited. Programmes are underway to develop roads, rail, electricity, and irrigation. Support has been given for the restoration of livelihoods. This includes concessionary financing being extended for farming, fishing, and business activities. Through all these means, the Government is working hard to restore normalcy to those civilians who suffered for so many years because of the LTTE’s dominance in those areas.One of the most important gains resulting from peace has been the restoration of democratic elections to every part of Sri Lanka. Local authority elections, provincial council elections, a Presidential election and a General election have all been held over the past two years. In the North, people exercised their franchise without fear for the first time in three decades. That electoral transparency and political plurality has returned to these areas is clear from the results of these elections. This is a significant achievement for a region that was for so long under a virtual dictatorship.Another key benefit of peace is the on-going revival of the economy, with increases in foreign and domestic investment, increasing tourist arrivals, and improved agricultural output. Perhaps more than anything else, the palpable sense of peace, freedom and stability that all Sri Lankans enjoy, shows how beneficial the success of the Humanitarian Operation was for the country at large.Despite all of these achievements since the restoration of peace, the LTTE cadres, activists and sympathisers in foreign nations do their best to portray a bleak picture about Sri Lanka today. Unfortunately, their efforts to discredit Sri Lanka’s progress are sometimes helped by individuals and groups within Sri Lanka whose actions are governed by petty politics. Ignoring the greater context, they ignore or criticise the progress being achieved because of their personal or partisan agendas. This is extremely unfortunate. No matter what disagreements anyone has with the Government’s policies, constructive engagement is what is needed, rather than actions that can have a serious impact on the country.The true value of democracy is that engagement is always possible. The Government always has to listen to the voice of the people. Unlike in countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, in which people took to the streets to change the Government, Sri Lanka is a working democracy. As with any democracy, if the people wish to change the Government, they can do so without any problem at the polling booth. Of course, there can always be things people disagree with, but such disagreement is healthy and the normal political process will sort things out. Our democracy is robust.Any group or person trying to resort to non-democratic means should be resisted and rejected. We must not let this country be taken back to the state it was in during the past thirty years. As a nation, Sri Lanka has had more than its fair share of suffering. We must all work together to put the past behind us, and work towards a brighter future for this nation and all her people.In this context, I hope that all professionals will contribute to the national cause by putting aside whatever personal or political differences they may have and work together for the future. We must understand that the peace we enjoy is a window of opportunity for all us to take this country forward. Let us use that opportunity, and create a better future for all Sri Lankans. WikiLeaks:If Rajapaksa wins, he may destroy everything I tried – CBK “My only regret is that if my party’s Presidential candidate wins, he may destroy everything I have tried to do in the last 11 years.” Chandrika Kumaratunga said to the diplomatic corps.The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” recounts details of the dinner which was hosted by Outgoing Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga for the diplomatic corps on November 16, the evening before the 2005 presidential election. The cable was written on November 17, 2005 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead.The Ambassador wrote “ Outgoing Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) hosted a dinner for the diplomatic corps on November 16, the evening before the election which would determine her successor. About 100 guests–the entire diplomatic corps, including multilateral and UN agency heads, plus various Sri Lankans who have been close to her, such as Peace Secretariat Head Jayantha Dhanapala and Special Adviser Mano Tittewella–attended. Showing that she was not going to change her style simply because her Presidential tenure was ending, CBK showed up for her 8 o’clock party at 9:25.”“As guests took their places for dinner sometime around 10:30, Ambassador was seated directly at CBK’s left hand, UK High Commissioner at her right, and Norwegian Ambassador directly across at the head table. CBK commented: ‘Well, wouldn’t the bearded fellows (i.e., the JVP) have a fit if they saw this.’ Throughout the dinner, Kumaratunga opined on various subjects: –‘My only regret is that if my party’s Presidential candidate (Mahinda Rajapakse) wins, he may destroy everything I have tried to do in the last 11 years.’ he further wrote.Ambassador Lunstead wrote “Kumaratunga said she had heard the theory about a month ago that the LTTE wanted Rajapakse to win, calculating that Rajapakse’s own beliefs, coupled with the ideas of his Sinhala chauvinist allies the JVP and JHU, would show the world that the Tamil demand for independence was justified. Now, following the LTTE call for Tamils not to vote, she began to wonder if that theory was correct. She also thought the LTTE might use paid Sinhalese agents to cause problems after Rajapakse won–burning churches, attacking Tamils etc.–to further bolster their cause. This could lead to ‘UDI’ — a unilateral declaration of independence. –She confirmed press reports that one of Rajapakse’s brothers, a former Sri Lankan Army officer now resident in the US, had planned to fly up to Jaffna along with 300 Army deserters labeled as ‘election observers.’ She had personally ordered this movement blocked.”“She had reached agreement with UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe that if he won, she could stay as President through November 23, when the armed forces were planning a send-off ceremony. (Under the Sri Lankan constitution, the winning candidate can be sworn in any time after the election, and must do so within 14 days.) She hoped that Rajapakse would grant her the same courtesy. She did not have any firm plans yet for her post-Presidency life. ‘I want to just relax for the first year.’ Ranil had offered her whatever position she wanted afterward, and wanted the two parties to cooperate in governing. Her reply: ‘I’ve been offering that to you for the last 10 years. It’s too bad you didn’t take it up.’ She does not know where she will live. The security forces have told her that her personal house is not secure, as it is overlooked by a number of other buildings. The government is readying a house for her, but it will not be finished for a while. ‘Perhaps I will just live in the street.’ Lunstead further wrote.Placing a comment he wrote “I had expected a more emotional, perhaps even lachrymose Chandrika at this moment. Instead, she was subdued and a bit reflective, and certainly making no attempt to hide her opinions. She made no effort to hide her disdain for her own party’s candidate. She no doubt hopes that a Ranil Wickremasinghe victory will allow her some continuing role in Sri Lankan public life.” 04 January 2012 Krishna to tour Sri Lanka External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will visit Sri Lanka this month to discuss bilateral ties and security in the region, besides reviewing progress of a massive project undertaken by India for building 50,000 houses in the war-ravaged north for internally-displaced people. Krishna "is to make an official visit to Sri Lanka on the 16th of this month," the Government Information Department here said today. He will "discuss bilateral relations and security in the region," the department said in a web posting. Krishna is also expected to check on the progress of the housing project undertaken by India in the regions in the island's north, sources in Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry told PTI. India has extended assistance for building 50,000 houses for resettlement of the internally-displaced people. The Indian minister is also expected to hold bilateral talks with Sri Lankan leaders, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his counterpart G L Peiris. Tamil party sources, meanwhile, said Krishna would be keen to follow the progress of on going talks between the TNA and the government here. The Indian government had last week expressed keenness to see full implementation of Sri Lanka's 13th amendment to the Constitution on devolution of powers and further efforts as part of the political negotiations towards reconciliation. Analysts said the Sri Lankan government's latest statement highlighting its relaxed stance on the Tamil party demand for police and land powers to provinces is being viewed with interest in the light of Krishna's proposed visit. Cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, in the statement, said that the government was willing to consider a proposal by the Tamil National Alliance on police and land powers. TNA ‘sincerely committed’ to talks The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) today dismissed speculation that it was planning to withdraw from talks with the government and reiterated its commitment to continue the bilateral discussions.The party also denied reports that it would launch a campaign to seek the support of the Colombo-based diplomatic community to pressure the Sri Lankan government on power devolution.“We are sincerely committed to evolving an acceptable political solution and we will work to achieve a positive outcome that will put the country on the right track,” TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan said.Asked whether any special meetings had been sought to discuss matters pertaining to the national question with foreign missions in Colombo Mr. Sampanthan said, “We meet members of the diplomatic community regularly and there is no special reason for us to meet them now.”TNA Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran also confirmed that no specific meetings had been arranged with members of the diplomatic community to apprise them of the on-going talks with the Government.Sumanthiran stated that his party was not swayed by comments attributed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Cabinet Spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella on the TNA’s ‘war mentality’ and the non-negotiability of land and police powers, but would continue to engage in talks with a view to finding a lasting agreement. The next round of talks will be held on January 17, 18 and 19. Ten suspects identified in Bharatha murder case CID request They said the court is unable to request for the arrest of the suspect through Interpol, as the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Sri Lanka had not declared that it is not possible to arrest the MP.In an earlier hearing, the CID stated in court that the suspect Duminda Silva is currently undergoing medical treatment in Singapore, and was in poor health. The CID said that it was not possible to arrest the suspect due to his medical condition. International warrent "Additional Magistrate told the courts that an International warrant can only be requested in a situation where the local police are unable to arrest a suspect. The CID had not declared that they are not able to arrest Duminda Silva", Lawyer Akalanka Ukwatte, member of the legal team representing the family of the victim told the BBC Sinhala Service.The CID declared in court that the first shots were fired by police sergeant Gamini, who was on official security duty with presidential advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra. Sri Lanka calls French Ambassador on publishing LTTE stamps by French mail service Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs, Prof. G.L. Peiris has called in the Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka Christine Robichon to express Sri Lanka's concern over the issue of four stamps by the French mail service La Poste depicting images of the banned Tamil Tiger terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).Minister Peiris has notified the Ambassador that although the issue of stamps is not facilitated by the French government, it is the government's responsibility to ensure publication of such images of a banned terrorist group should not have happened and urged the French government to cancel the circulation of the stamps with immediate effect. According to a statement issued by the Ministry, Minister Peiris has protested in the strongest possible terms, and urged the French Ambassador for her government to take immediate action for the non-circulation of the stamps. Emphasizing that this action by an LTTE front organization would harm the reputation of the French government globally, the Minister expressed confidence that the government of France would take immediate action not to give credence to such moves by a terrorist front. Professor Peiris has pointed out that when governments, especially in the West allow the pro-LTTE groups to operate in such a manner, the Sri Lankan public will question those countries' bona-fides and the Sri Lankan government has to consider the public opinion since the pro-LTTE groups overseas are still seeking to achieve their objectives through different means. Responding to Minister's concerns, the French Ambassador has said that French Embassy in Colombo has issued a statement stating that these are neither a part of the official philatelic programme of France nor on sale in the French Post Office. Ms. Robichon has explained that the individuals through the La Poste's online services could order personalized stamps and La Poste had failed to detect the violations of the conditions and had printed the stamps by mistake. The French Ambassador has confirmed the publication of 360 stamps by La Poste. However, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed La Poste that LTTE is a terrorist group banned by the EU in 2006, the mail service has assured that no such stamps will be printed further. The Minister has pointed out that this is a devious manner the LTTE is raising funds and underlined the need to halt such activities. USAID support generates jobs and investments in Sri Lanka Support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project Connecting Regional Economies (CORE) has increased incomes for over 14,000 households in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province, Anuradhapura District and Moneragala District through business training and the introduction of new farm technologies and crops, a press release from the U.S. Embassy in Colombo said.The USAID on December 16 has hosted a seminar with the Ministry of Economic Development to review CORE as it nears completion. Beneficiaries shared their results with an audience that included the Minister Basil Rajapaksa, community groups and relevant stakeholders.Since 2008, CORE has partnered with private sector companies to train and place unemployed youth in jobs with long-term career potential. As a result, youths have gone on to work in tourism, information technology, boat building, manufacturing and other industries.USAID/Sri Lanka Mission Director Jim Bednar has observed a focus on mobilizing the private sector as the main engine for growth, job creation, and income generation."At USAID, we look forward to continuing our work together to develop the Sri Lankan private sector and improve the competitiveness of Sri Lankan goods and services," Bednar has said.According to the statement, CORE has promoted an improved business climate through stakeholder dialogue, and helped attract 514 million rupees in direct private sector investment to target areas, along with 660 million through other donors.In a period of just three years, CORE has linked thousands of farmers to distant markets, providing new and more lucrative places to sell their goods.CORE has pioneered innovations such as farmer-owned and -operated cyber centers to strengthen access to Department of Agriculture services that provide up-to-date market information. This allows farmers to get the best prices for their products.In addition, to help break the farmer debt cycle, CORE has worked with the Sri Lankan Government and the World Bank to introduce warehouse receipt financing, which lets farmers use harvests as loan collateral and empower them to decide to whom and when they sell. The murder of the British national and the rape of the Russian lady at Tangalla allegedly by a local politician close to the government The murder of Kuram Shaikah Zaman (32), a prosthetic expert who was working in the Gaza Strip for the International Committee of the Red Cross allegedly by a local politician, accompanied by a gang has led to a sharp criticism against the failure of the Sri Lankan government to maintain law and order and encouraging lawlessness and criminal behaviour. Zaman and an associate, a Russian lady by the name of Ms. Victoria Alexandrovna, (23) went to Sri Lanka for short vacation. A number of foreign girls, including Victoria were enjoying a party when the chairman of the Pradeshiya Sabha, Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana, wanted to dance with the girls; however, they refused. The infuriated chairman started a quarrel with the girls and Zaman, who was outside at the time came in and tried to stop the altercation. At this stage Zaman was assaulted and stabbed with a sharp instrument; he was also shot at, according to the reports of eyewitnesses.After the attack Victoria was brutally raped and was found naked by the time the police arrived to investigate. She also suffered blunt trauma and sustained a skull fracture. According to an eye witness she was raped even as she lay bleeding from the head wound. (photo left: The alleged murderer, Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana, in the company of president Rajapakse)Several eye witnesses who had seen the incidents and made statements are now being threatened and are expressing concern for their own safety. Meanwhile several journalists who have reported the incident have also received death threats and reported the matter to their media agencies.A government spokesman's first reaction to the media was to deny the rape. This is the usual pattern of government spokesmen who tried to defend government politicians even when they are involved in serious crimes.This murder and rape does not come at all as a surprise. Throughout the country similar gruesome murders and rapes were reported during 2011. The Asian Human Rights Commission has repeatedly brought these cases to the notice of the public stating that the criminal justice system has been brought to a halt due to the political control of the policing system. The local politicians, on many occasions, have acted in a wild manner, due perhaps to the political patronage they have from the government. Due to the publicity this incident has attracted Chairman Vidanapathirana surrendered to the police. On assurance of anonymity, a policeman explained that such surrenders are nothing but a game. All the conditions of how to deal with the situation and the manner in which the surrendering suspects are to be released are all prearranged, he said. The whole process of criminal investigations is so manipulated by the government politicians that in many similar incidents the suspects have escaped any criminal punishment. The most glaring example is that of Duminda Silva, a Member of Parliament and a close associate of the Rajapakse family who was known to be a drug dealer and who was responsible for the attack that led to Baratha Laksman Premachandra and several others being killed. Duminda Silva was never named as a suspect in the reports of the criminal investigations submitted to court. The government's excuse was that the police have failed to name him as such.The murder and rape of these two foreigners is the result of the failure on the part of the government to take the necessary measures to maintain law and order. The murder and rape are not accidental incidents but one of the many gruesome crimes that are taking place throughout the country due to the failure of law enforcement system.The Rajapakse regime has clearly shown that it cares little about the law. Every kind of illegality has been permitted and the criminal investigation system has been brought to a standstill.Lawlessness is part of the ruling style of the Rajapakse regime. The government claims, as its right, to engage in any kind of illegality for the maintenance of its power. Assaults of opposition parliamentarians inside parliament itself has now become the rule and this kind of behaviour is condoned by the president and the hierarchy of the regime who are for the most part, members of the same family.Assassinations, death threats and other forms of intimidation of the media are so frequent and still no investigations take place into the complaints relating to such allegations. It is as if the Rajapakse regime has given a holiday to the officers of the Criminal Investigation Division.The absence of investigations into serious crimes is the rule now. When some incidents become social scandals some persons are arrested and then a government spokesman claims that the crime has been solved. However, thereafter hardly any criminal process takes place and many such suspects, particularly those who are close to the government, are let loose after their initial arrest.The result is that the policemen themselves, as well as the public have lost faith in the whole mechanism of law. The cynical comments could be heard about this system constantly. This murder and rape and the similar incidents will keep on happening as long as the Rajapakse regime belittles law and criminal justice. The responsibility for this murder and rape lies not only on the culprits but also on the Rajapakse regime as a whole.The statement of the wife of Mohamed Sali Mohamed Niyas (Loku Seeya shows the kind of gruesome murders taking place in Sri Lanka).According to the post mortem, he was strangled and his throat slit. He had also been pounded in the head and stabbed a number of times. He was also administered 3 injections of unknown chemicals. I am still an unable to imagine how brutal that had been. The body had over 100 kgs of weight strapped on to it which was wrapped with barb wire. The body was then covered with polythene and secured further with chicken fencing. It also had something like an anchor attached to the body. In spite of all that it had washed ashore to Akkarai Paththu. The body was flown back home and the funeral proceedings conducted.What has happened in this incident is an extension to foreigners of two countries of what is normally happening to Sri Lankan citizens all the time. This incident should be an eye opener to the government the respective countries as well as to others about the state of lawlessness that prevails in Sri Lanka. Without local and international effort to undo what the Rajapakse regime does to the legal system of Sri Lanka the future of all citizens as well as the visitors to Sri Lanka will remain a dismal one. There is regret at the moment about the adverse impact of this incident on tourism. However, the problem is not one of tourism alone. It is about a total failure to create the opportunities for a decent way of life in the country.The Asian Human Rights Commission while condemning this incident calls upon Sri Lankans as well as the international community to boldly resist the Rajapakse regime's undermining of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. This descent to animal-like behaviour can only be stopped if the Rajapakse regime changes its policy of taking complete political control of the police. As long as the nation's law enforcement agency is unable to act to protect society from crime there is no way to stop similar incidents from happening again. Lotus Tower will be South Asia’s tallest The construction of South Asia’s tallest multi-functional Tower ‘Lotus Tower’ will commence on January 20.The proposed tower with an entertainment centre will be constructed at the Beira Lake water front in Colombo and the total height of the tower is 350 meters, a statement issued by the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) said yesterday.TRCSL is planning the construction of a multi-functional telecommunication tower and an Entertainment Centre which has been approved by the Cabinet.The proposed tower will be constructed on a plot of land of 3.06 hectares, and it will be situated between the Eastern Beira Lake and D R Wijewardena Mawatha.It is destined to be a striking city symbol and an important landmark by being the tallest Tower in South Asia. It will be a free -standing tower with a four-storey high podium; a concrete tower shaft of moderate diameter; eight storied tower head; and a steel framed antennae mast surmounted at the top.The Tower will provide for Telecommunication and Leisure activities, and will facilitate the relaying of at least 50 separate broadcasting and telecasting services; provide facilities for about 20 service providers in telecommunication; and relaying of defence signals, and in addition indirectly contribute to the riddance and removal of high power TV & FM antenna innumerably located at various buildings in the Colombo City.Apart from facilities related to multi-functional telecommunication activities, the tower podium will also accommodate a telecommunication museum, food courts; administrative offices; exhibition spaces and corresponding amenities.The Tower shaft will be a hollow concrete cylinder accommodating high-speed lifts and stairs for vertical circulations, and ducts for various types of building services. The Tower head will comprise of eight floor levels accommodating an Observation Deck; Revolving Restaurant; Banquet Hall for 1,000 guests; and, two floors of super luxury hotel accommodation along with facilities for building services, which will include fire detection, fire fighting, overhead storage tanks and telecommunication instruments/ equipment etc.The tower mast, surmounted on the tower head will provide a base for antennae of service providers in telecommunication, telecasting, broadcasting, and defence related transmissions etc. The Antennae will be installed at a height of between 250 and 350 meters above ground level, and they will cater to a range of different frequencies.The TRCSL will finance and implement the project, with technical assistance obtained from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Moratuwa. A Team of consultants led by Emeritus Prof Nimal de Silva, Prof Samita Manawadu and Prof Chitra Weddikkara of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Moratuwa have provided professional advice on design, cost planning and cost control of the project. The cost of the Project is US$ 104.3 million.A Chinese conglomerate comprising China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC) and Aerospace Long-March International Trade Co. Ltd (ALIT) will complete the project on a Turnkey Basis, using the concept and preliminary design drawn by local architects.The Signing Ceremony of the Construction Contract between TRCSL and the Chinese conglomerate was held yesterday at the TRCSL premises. A party of 13 Chinese high ranking officials including GuoZhaoping (President, ALIT) Chen Xu (President, CEIEC), and Lin Changhai (Chief Designer) among others, and Lalith Weeratunga (Chairman, TRCSL and Secretary to the President) was present at the Signing Ceremony. Train services to be expand up to Killinochchie by end of 2012 High Ranking official of the Railway Department announced that the Railway Department taken steps to upgrade the railway service up to Killinochchie by end this year.While speaking this regard he went on to say at present we are operating train services up to Omanthai under proper time table.Through this many people were benefited from this train services in such situation Railway Department decided to upgrade the train service by joining new engines and compartments towards the trains travelled to Omanthai.During the recent meeting with Railway Department officials President Mahinda Rajapaksa requested relevant officials to take necessary steps to upgrade the train service in the island.At present Railway Department has started its work in the aim of upgrading train services up to Killinochchie by end of this year. If we fail to achieve our target then we would take necessary steps to provide train services up to Mankulam.Our future plan is providing train services towards Jaffna by mid of 2013 after that we will expand our services up to KKS.At present we are constructing railway tracks from Paranthan to Mankulam said the officer. 03 January 2012 Ganeshan lashes out at UPFA Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader Mano Ganeshan yesterday accused the government of failing to address the legitimate grievances of Tamil speaking people, though the conflict ended in May 2009. He said his party no longer believed in the UPFA’s promises to resolve the national issue.The DPF Leader said that the government had failed to devolve powers to the provinces in line with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The failure on the part of the Rajapaksa administration couldn’t be accepted, he said, alleging that the government was adopting delaying tactics.Responding to a query by The Island, Ganeshan emphasized the importance of the government calling the first elections for the Northern Provincial Council without further delay. The ongoing resettlement, rehabilitation and development projects should be handed over to the Northern provincial administration. Had that happened, the vast majority of people living in the Northern Province would be happy, he said.Contrary to claims, the people of the war-devastated Northern Province hadn’t benefited through various development projects implemented by those running the administration, he said adding that the government was delaying Northern Provincial Council polls in line with its political strategy.The DPF alleged that ‘Uturu Wasanthaya’ initiative had failed to meet the pressing needs of the community, though a section of the media portrayed the project as the panacea for all problems. Solving Sri Lanka’s ‘Tamil problem’ in 2012 – Asia News by Terence Fernando Almost three years since the end of 30 years of ethnic conflict, Sri Lanka has not yet resolved its so-called ‘Tamil problem’. About 200,000 Tamil internally displaced people live in refugee camps in the northern part of the country under military control, unable to go home to their villages. Ethnic Sinhalese appear oblivious of what went on (bombardment and war crimes) and is going on trips to the former war zone. Here is a story of courage and hope of a priest who visited the refugee camps in Cheddikulam. Most Sinhalese in southern Sri Lanka do not believe a ‘Tamil problem’ exists. Almost three years after the end of the conflict, the authorities continue to tell them that displaced people have gone back to a normal life. However, this is not true. Many war victims have been unable to go back home to their region or villages. Instead, they have been forced into areas owned by the government and the armed forces.Few Sinhalese know the truth. After 2009, hundreds of people have travelled from the south to the north to see the lands conquered by the Sri Lankan army. However, war is a crime. Southerners have never heard the sound of explosions or bombardment or experienced the atrocities of war.They have not seen mothers run away with their little children to save their lives, as their husbands and older sons were torn apart in front of their eyes. They have never lived shut away in a bunker, days on end, afraid that death might come at any moment, their thoughts only on how to find food and water for their children. When they visit the north, Sinhalese only see the monuments celebrating the army’s victory.Recently, I travelled to Cheddikulam to celebrate Mass with Tamil brothers and sisters who still “live” in refugee camps. Fr Douglas Milton was supposed to come with me. He is a friend from the Diocese of Mannar. Because of heavy rains, he arrived late by 30 minutes. He surprised me when he started the service telling the faithful, “I apologise for the delay. There was a lot of rain during my journey.”These appear to be simple words, but show instead the dignity, equality, respect and love he has for this lonely and oppressed people. By apologising, my friend brought them hope, courage and strength. He addressed them with the same love, kindness and compassion our Lord Jesus had for his people. India cannot dictate terms says Govt The minister, however, clarified that the team led by him only represents the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling coalition. The TNA that left talks with the government citing the government's failure to respond to a ten-point plan submitted in March, later re-initiated talks on the government's request. In a statement issued on 4 August, last year, the TNA called on the government define and state the government's policy on the structure of governance, the division of subjects between the centre and the devolved units and fiscal and financial powers before continuing the dialogue. President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a recent meeting with newspaper editors has said that the government was not willing to devolve land and police powers to the regions, in line with the 13 amendment to the constitution. The Indian government, responding to the release of the war panel report, urged Sri Lanka to fulfil it's continuous pledges to implement the 13 amendment that devolved land and police powers to the provinces. A Sinhala nationalist partner of the coalition government has, meanwhile, criticised the response by India to the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which was submitted to the parliament on 16 December. Saying that the present government has not given any assurances to India to devolve more powers to provinces, the Jathika Hela Urumaya asked India "to clarify which Sri Lankan government has given this assurance." Wife, children of Kumara Mahattaya freed State intelligence officials have freed the wife and the two children of Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Kumara Mahattaya, who is reportedly the exiled leader of the JVP dissidents.All Australian citizens, the three had come to Sri Lanka on vacation and were at the Katunayake airport early this morning (Jan. 02) to leave the country, when they were detained.They were questioned until late into the afternoon.Kumara Mahattaya’s wife Champa Somaratne is a doctor at an Australian hospital, while the two children are studying. WikiLeaks: Mahinda Rajapakse did not complete his Advanced Level “He did not complete his Advanced Level (“A levels”) education, instead leaving his job as a clerk at the library at Sri Jayawarendapura University in the Colombo suburbs in 1970 to run for his late father’s seat representing his native Hambantota in Parliament.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” details biographic details on Sri Lanka’s fifth President Percy Mahendra Rajapakse. The cable was written on November 21, 20045 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead.Under the subheading “JUST A COUNTRY LAWYER” Ambassador Lunstead wrote “ Percy Mahinda Rajapakse was born on November 18, 1945 in Verukatiya, Hambantota District, the third of SLFP founder-member D.A. Rajapakse’s eight children. (An older brother Chamal is also an SLFP MP, while two younger brothers, Godabhaya and Basil, had been living in the U.S. but returned to help with their brother’s campaign for the presidency.) He was educated at Richmond College in the southern district of Galle (where his father reportedly had to engage a Sinhala tutor to boost his son’s proficiency in his native tongue), as well as Nalanda College and Thurstan College in Colombo. He did not complete his Advanced Level (“A levels”) education, instead leaving his job as a clerk at the library at Sri Jayawarendapura University in the Colombo suburbs in 1970 to run for his late father’s seat representing his native Hambantota in Parliament. When he won at the age of 24, he became the youngest MP in Sri Lanka’s history to enter Parliament–a record that still stands. Taking advantage of a decision by the then-Justice Minister to allow MPs to enter law school–whether or not they had the necessary educational qualifications–Rajapakse graduated from Sri Lanka Law College in 1974.” Signature collection urginging release of Fonseka sent towards US White House Signature collection urging United States to interfere to release former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in SriLanka was sent towards US White house , Saratha Fonseka sources conforms.25,638 persons have kept signatures in this petition sources said.Official website of White House announced US officials would take necessary steps to release former Army Commander.Supporters of Sarath Fonseka thanked people for singing in this petition.Signature collection urging United States to interfere to release former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in SriLanka was sent towards US White house , Saratha Fonseka sources conforms.25,638 persons have kept signatures in this petition sources said.Official website of White House announced US officials would take necessary steps to release former Army Commander.Supporters of Sarath Fonseka thanked people for singing in this petition. 01 January 2012 TNA To Reconsider Talks With Govt The TNA is to discuss and reconsider its position with regard to continuing dialogue with the government on finding a solution to the ethnic issue.The government and the TNA are scheduled to meet for the next round of talks on January 17.However, the TNA’s parliamentary group is to meet before the scheduled date to discuss the situation that has arisen since the last round of talks in December 2011.TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran said the party MPs would meet before the talks and decide on how to proceed with the matter.“We will decide on whether we should continue with the talks with the government taking into consideration recent comments made by the President and certain government ministers. In the event we decide to proceed with the discussions we would have look at how to continue with the process,” he explained.The TNA has however not yet fixed a date for the parliamentary group meeting.According to Premachandran, there would not be any change in the party’s stance on land and police powers to the provinces.He also denied reports that the TNA was trying to request for an Internal Self Governing Authority (ISGA) that was previously proposed by the LTTE.“We want power devolution and we are not looking at an ISGA,” Premachandran said. Electronic Travel Authorization system goes into effect in Sri Lanka from today From today, visitors to Sri Lanka including transit passengers will have to apply for travel authorization online prior to their travel to the country, the Immigration and Emigration Department of Sri Lanka announces. Except for visitors from Singapore and Maldives, the two countries that reciprocate the facility with Sri Lanka, the new system will scrap the previously implemented 'on arrival visa' at the ports of entry. The Electronic Travel Authorization has been introduced to grant prior approval for visa via online for foreign nationals from 78 countries. Indian External Affairs Minister to visit Sri Lanka next month India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna is to visit Sri Lanka on an official tour next month.Diplomatic sources confirmed to ColomboPage that arrangements are currently being made for the Indian official's visit and dates are yet to be fixed for the tour.During his visit, Krishna is expected to meet with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the External Affairs Minister and members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).It is believed that the Indian minister would discuss with the President the ongoing dialogue between the Sri Lankan government and the TNA on a political solution to the ethnic issue.An Indian delegation comprising senior state and central government officials will also arrive in the country next month to participate in the India - Sri Lanka Joint Working Group Meeting on Fishing scheduled to be held in Colombo on January 13 and 14. Sri Lanka 'wheelchair tax' condemned by UK charity The head of a UK charity that sent a consignment of wheelchairs to Sri Lanka has condemned the decision to impose customs duties of over $8,000 (£5,180).Peter Thompson, of the Yorkshire-based PhysioNet charity, said the shipment for Tamil war victims also took more than three months to clear customs.The Sri Lankan authorities said the delay was because paperwork for the shipment was not properly completed.They said all shipments arriving in Colombo are subject to duty payments. But Mr Thompson said the $8,000 (1m Sri Lankan rupees) that had to be paid in customs duties and port storage fees was unacceptable.He argued that the delay in clearing the shipment - which contained 322 wheelchairs and other mobility items for disabled Tamil war victims - meant that the bill had to be paid before it was allowed to be transported to the north of the country.The shipment was sent by PhysioNet in conjunction with a Sri Lankan Tamil charity based in the UK and the Roman Catholic church; together they met all of the costs of getting the consignment to Sri Lanka."But problems arose in Colombo when it took three months to clear the docks," Mr Thompson told the BBC."This is a record for the longest time one of our shipments has languished on the docks of a recipient country - and that includes some of the most corrupt and inefficient countries in Africa."Mr Thompson said the Sri Lankan authorities appeared to put up obstacles every step of the way to prevent the shipment from being speedily delivered."Only following endless paperwork and the payment of $8,000 was the container released and allowed to be transported to the north of the country," he said."During the three months it took for these problems to be resolved, the demurrage charges were building up substantially in Colombo."It's difficult to conclude that this is anything other than a glaring example of the Sri Lankan authorities victimising the Tamil community."The Sri Lankan government in May 2009 defeated Tamil Tigers rebels fighting for independence in the north and east of the country after a bitterly-fought war spanning two decades.Mr Thompson said his charity hoped to send another shipment to Sri Lanka next year, "but only if there are some assurances that this unhappy experience will not be repeated".A spokesman for the port authority in Colombo that handled the consignment said all imports - including those brought in for charitable purposes - are subject to import duties.He said the delay in clearing the wheelchairs was because various government ministries had to give their permission before shipments to the north were allowed to go ahead. Sri Lanka: Paradise lost, post Eelam war-By R. Bhagwan Singh Driving on the potholed A9 highway to Jaffna that could break the strongest of spines, it was great relief spotting a volleyball match in progress at a wayside playground.It was in Kilinochchi, which used to be the LTTE capital until President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced its capture by his troops on January 2, 2009. Less than five months later, the forces ended the Eelam war killing the Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.But today, there is hardly anything to remind the visitor that the volleyball crowd of boys and girls, screaming with excitement at points scored, could have lost several kin and classmates in the bloody war.In an incomplete building adjacent to the volleyball court, another set of students were gathered to participate in competitions in bharatanatyam, singing, folk dance and music, debating, mimicry, and so on.“These are members of the various village youth clubs in the 13-29 age group who have reached these district-level competitions. There is lot enthusiasm,” says Thambirajah Easwararajah, assistant director, National Youth Service Council, which functions under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skill Development.“I am trying hard to win the prize”, chimed in mimicry finalist Ms Harshikka Yasotharan, 16, who will enter the 11th class at the Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalaya in January.Her theme at the competition is interesting. She mimicked a truck driver in terrible torment after knocking down a child crossing the road.Did she witness the blood of the Eelam war? Yes, she replied, but then, she would not want to talk about it. “I want to be a doctor and serve my people.”Even the ex-militants, released by the government after the usual ‘debriefing’ and vocational training, do not wish to discuss the war, at least not in the open, not with strangers.“Even last week, 43 of them were released to their families by the rehabilitation ministry. Nobody wants to talk about the past. The future is important,” says Thambirajah.“Drop in at the Ramanathan government school in Jaffna to witness the cultural competition tomorrow afternoon. There will be 60 girls competing in the music section and another 50 in bharatanatyam”.A Tamil student at the volleyball match mentioned the Inland Youth Exchange Programme. His friend had been on this seven-day stint by 50 Tamil students at a Sinhala school in Kegalle district down south.“And there are 37 boys and 13 girls from Kegalle at the exchange camp now going on at a Tamil school in Marudhankeni, Point Pedro,” explained Thambirajah.Arriving in Jaffna, it did not take long to notice the huge change that’s happened since the last visit shortly after the war ended in May 2009, when there were no roads, no shops, no electricity and no sense of safety amid the survivors of the holocaust.While it’s too soon to expect life in this Tamil town to be as honky dory as that in the capital city of Colombo, its residents seem settling down to a normal routine devoid of the stress of war.“Temples have been restored. The roads are being done, culverts are getting rebuilt. We are able to move about,” said a retired teacher.“We used to have a blanket ready to bundle a few clothes and utensils for fleeing on bicycles whenever we heard the artillery guns. Now I have repaired my house.”What about complaints that the military presence in his town and all over the Tamil north is overbearing — it was said that there were 100,000 soldiers patrolling the lives of some 300,000 Tamils in the north — and that it’s common to find the military officers attending even school library functions and temple festivals? “Yes, you can see there is military presence all over,” said Jayaratnam Veerasingam, 45, of Jaffna University. “But their presence has come down considerably over the months. Our problem is not the military but the violent crime by anti-socials.”‘Veera’, as he is known among his friends, considers himself 'both lucky and unlucky in the war book'. His two sons and a daughter are in school while wife is a dance teacher at the Ramanathan academy.“The kids survived the war but I lost my mother. She was 52 when the IPKF shot her sleeping in our house at Navaly in the early hours of November 9, 1987. They later said someone had thrown a grenade in our vicinity and the Indian soldiers went berserk in response.”Does he hate India because of that tragedy? Veera said he was still in touch with a Gujarati family after conducting the last rites of an elderly man from Ahmedabad whose body was washed ashore in Jaffna and it turned out that he was on a pilgrimage to Rameswaram when he slipped from the Pamban sea-bridge and drowned.“It was common to see portraits of Indian leaders like Gandhi, Nehru and Indira in many houses here during my childhood, but not now. Yes, there is much bitterness about what India did to us Tamils. They (India) started the Eelam militancy (in the early 80s) but they kept away when the final stage of war consumed so many innocent Tamil lives. They could have stopped the deaths. The Sri Lankan government too made mistakes. The Tigers too were equally responsible because they rejected the 1987 (Rajiv-Jayewardene) accord that could have prevented thousands of deaths and kept the north and east provinces united,” Veera said.Apart from the thousands of locals like Veera who are settling down fast to normal life and getting the next generation to prepare for a future of fresh opportunities, several Tamils settled abroad are also flying in to reclaim their ancestral properties and look up forgotten cousins.“I am here exploring how to restart paddy cultivation in my grandfather’s land and also talk to the local Chinmaya Mission on helping some orphan children. My sister has been living here,” said an Arizona-based Jaffnaite on a short visit.He said he was pleased learning that the wholesale vegetable-fruit market at Dambulla in the Sinhala south was now once again flooded with the veggies, jackfruits and bananas from Jaffna and that Kargill, the countrywide chain of departmental stores, is owned by a Tamil. The Chinese factor The Tamil anger against India seems even more pronounced in its diaspora, where frustration has been palpable at Delhi’s lukewarm response to the demand for international investigation of war crimes during the final phase of Eelam war.“India is worried that if it pushes Rajapaksa too hard, he will end up under the Chinese umbrella; but then, he is already sitting on the Chinese lap,” said a senior Indian official, who has long been dealing with the Lankan portfolio, referring to the massive infrastructure projects that the Chinese are handling in Sri Lanka, costing several million dollars as grants and loans.When asked about the claim made by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during a recent interview with this writer, that every project being handled by the Chinese was first offered to India and there was no response, a high-ranking Indian official shot back, “Ah, but they (Colombo) want things for free.”He might have forgotten about the millions of dollars Delhi invested in the disastrous adventure of creating Tamil militancy in the island in the early 80s.And that perhaps sums up the Indian misery in this beautiful island, where the Tamils in the north are no more India loyalists and are in fact upset that Delhi let them down in the Eelam war, and the Sinhala government is seen getting cosier by the day with the Chinese, for whom Sri Lanka is important to counter the Indian influence in this part of the Indian Ocean and also to protect their (Chinese) ships carrying loads of ore from its African mines. Sri Lanka police to connect all stations through an online network Sri Lanka Police Department is planning to link all police stations through an online network to provide a better and efficient service to the people.The move facilitates the decision of the Police Department to complete investigations regarding minor complaints within 48 hours, police sources say.In addition, payment of fines through SMS and the use of modern technology to obtain fingerprinting have also been planned.The 145-year-old police department recently launched a new service to track the status of the Police Clearance Certificates (PCCs) through SMS.Streamlining police work with the use of modern technology is conducted in collaboration with the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka. Jailed former Army Commander of Sri Lanka will not be pardoned Anoma Fonseka, the wife of imprisoned ex-Army Commander of Sri Lanka, Sarath Fonseka said that there was no truth in certain media reports that the ex-Army chief would be freed today (Jan. 01).Speaking to weekend Ravaya newspaper, Mrs.Fonseka reiterated that there would be no apology made on behalf of her husband, since he had committed no wrong.She also said that no direct proposal has been made to the family of imprisoned former Army commander that they should seek a presidential pardon on behalf of him.However, she admitted that there were indirect suggestions that she should request President Mahinda Rajapaksa to pardon her husband.
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