Thursday, February 27, 2014

US Human Rights report accuses Sri Lankan Security forces of committing human rights abuses

Fri, Feb 28, 2014, 12:56 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Feb 27, Washington, DC: The United States in a damning report today accused that Sri Lankan authorities maintained effective control over the security forces and the security forces committed human rights abuses.

The 2013 Human Rights Report released by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday said the Sri Lankan government officials and others tied to the ruling coalition enjoyed a high degree of impunity.

"The government prosecuted a very small number of government and military officials implicated in human rights abuses and had yet to hold anyone accountable for alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law that occurred during the conflict that ended in 2009," the report said.

According to the report, attacks on, and harassment of, civil society activists, journalists, and persons viewed as sympathizers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorist organization by individuals allegedly tied to the government were a major human right problem.

Among other violations are, creating an environment of fear and self-censorship; involuntary disappearances and a lack of accountability for thousands who disappeared in previous years; and widespread impunity for a broad range of human rights abuses, particularly torture by police and attacks on media institutions and the judiciary.

The 2013 report acknowledged that disappearances and killings continued to diminish in comparison with the immediate postwar period but attacks, harassment, and threats by pro-government loyalists against critics of the government were prevalent, contributed to widespread self-censorship by journalists, and diminished democratic activity due to the general failure to prosecute perpetrators.

The report highlighting the corruption and lack of transparency in government said the nepotism and cronyism continued, and ruling-party loyalists allegedly received favored consideration for high-ranking government and business positions.

Enforced and involuntary disappearances continued to be a problem, the report said adding that there were no official statistics regarding such disappearances, and citizens' considerable fear of reporting such incidents made reliable accounting difficult.

The Section on Sri Lanka of the 2013 US Human Right Report

The Section on Sri Lanka of the 2013 US Human Right Report by nelvely

Sri Lankan Govt. Periodically Blocked Colombo Telegraph In 2013: US Human Rights Report

February 28, 2014

Sri Lankan Govt. Periodically Blocked Colombo Telegraph In 2013: US Human Rights Report

The Sri Lankan Government periodically blocked access to the Colombo Telegraph website as well as several Tamil news websites including the pro-LTTE Tamilnet, a US State Department report on Sri Lanka's human rights situation in 2013 said.

Internet Freedom

The government restricted access to the internet, including websites it deemed pornographic, as well as websites it deemed critical of the government. The government periodically blocked access to the Colombo Telegraph’s website, as well as several Tamil news websites, including the pro-LTTE TamilNet. Since 2011 the Ministry of Mass Media and Information required websites carrying local news to register with the government. The ministry blocked access to certain websites after receiving complaints about material that was “injurious to the image of the country, the head of the state, ministers, senior public officials, and other important persons.” Thereafter, the ministry blocked 10 websites, although one of those sites subsequently was unblocked. Additionally the government blocked various other news websites throughout the year. In May 2012 a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake dismissed a fundamental rights case filed against the blocking of websites.

In June 2012 the CID raided the offices of independent news website Srilankamirror and official opposition UNP news website Srilankaxnews. During the raid CID officers arrested eight journalists for writing negatively about the government and president and for allegedly publishing false information. The CID entered with a warrant under existing laws, including penal code 120, which permits imprisonment for “attempts to excite feelings of disaffection to the president or to the government…or attempts to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the people of Sri Lanka.” The cases against the journalists were suspended pending further evidence. The CID continued to hold the websites’ computers, which it seized in November 2012. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear a fundamental rights case filed by journalists from the Sri Lanka Mirror in February. As of year’s end, no further information was available.

- See more at: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=220404#wrapper
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 Global Overview includes an overarching summary and key information from the year's report. Hover over Countries/Regions for a list of countries and other areas. Click a region to narrow the list. Click a country or other area to see that report.

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The Rise of Extremist Buddhism in Sri Lanka

Salem-News.com-Feb-26-2014 12:24

After 30 years of an extremely bloody and vicious civil war, the country still does not seem to have resolved the problem of integrating its minorities.

Sri Lankan soldiers execute captive Tamil Tiger soldiers in May of 2009, during the peak of Genocide.

(COLOMBO Mizo News) - These images, shown on the local television, may date from August 2013, but the attacks on the Muslim minority in Sri Lanka have only increased. According to Colombo Police, nearly 20 mosques were attacked last year.

Buddhist extremism? The Buddhist religion seems to have acquired quite another facet in Sri Lanka and some other countries of South and Southeast Asia. In Myanmar, the Rohingya Muslims have been victims of a fairly widespread and long-lasting ethnic cleansing by the Buddhists, criticised by Human Rights Watch and others. In southern Thailand also, the Muslim insurgency since 2004 has led some Buddhists to take to the arms.

In Sri Lanka, six years after the end of the civil war in which the government forces inflicted a heavy defeat on the separatist Tamil Tiger movement, it is now Muslims and Christians, who are the new victims of violence and harassment. In the Muslim quarters of Colombo, fear reigns.

Mohamad, an old man who runs a textile boutique along with his daughter on the outskirts of Colombo, was one of the victims of the attacks. “My boutique was ravaged at the beginning of the year by monks and other persons. They came in large numbers and I did not see them come in a group. They pushed me behind the boutique and vandalised it entirely,” he says, wringing his hands. He looks around warily and whispers: “I begged them to spare me but they hit me with sticks.”

The Muslims, mainly from India or traders from the Arab nations, have been living in Sri Lanka for nearly a millennium. They have mixed with the local population and mainly speak Tamil and live on the eastern board of the country. Today, they make up about eight percent of the 21 million inhabitants of Sri Lanka.

Yet, soon after the end of the civil war in the north and as economic redevelopment began, the ills of the society – inflation, corruption and rising cost of living – need a scapegoat to carry the blame. Preservation of the Sinhalese Buddhist culture is the stated principal objective of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), an extremist Buddhist organisation created in July 2012 by monks.

The method of BBS is radical – to demonise Muslims by propagating rumours and falsehoods about them. “The Muslims are stealing our jobs and monopolising the economy in order to enrich themselves and thence dominate us and the country,” says a young member of the BBS during a meeting organised by the group last August in a Colombo suburb. The young monk, dressed in a saffron robe, appears to be a victim of a true brainwashing by the organisation. He multiplies the insults against Muslims before adding, “Christianity and Islam are indulging in mass conversions amongst the poorest persons by enticing them with money and food.”

Thanks to the support of influential personalities, the BBS has some victories to its account. It obtained a prohibition of commercialisation of certified hallal meat. Recently, the secretary general of the organisation, Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara, declared that “Only the monks can save the Sinhala race.” He added that the monks were ready for the battle, if needed. “Our country is a Sinhalese country and we are the unofficial police here to ensure that our culture and traditions are preserved properly.”

For Amit, a Buddhist Sinhalese taxi driver, however, “these extremists are neither Buddhists nor monks. They only wear robes in order to scare people and very rare are the Buddhists with the courage to criticise a monk.” Buddhist extremism in Sri Lanka appears to be more a conservative political movement based on the preservation of the Sinhalese race.

The development of such extremism is also a boon for the government and many of its influential members directly support the BBS. “This is a political strategy aimed at dividing the population by spreading the image of an Islam and a Christianity which threaten the Sinhalese culture,” explains Joseph, a Christian Sri Lankan of Tamil origin who fled the civil war. A number of journalists and politicians fear a resurgence of aggression, which could indeed lead to more serious conflicts between the communities or the worst-case scenario, another civil war.

Nevertheless, President Rajapaksa and his party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, easily managed to consolidate their political influence during the conflict with the LTTE, allowing the president to gain a comfortable majority in the elections that followed soon after the end of the civil war.

Other political analysts estimate that extremist members of the ruling party would like to see Sri Lankan society fractured once again along racial and religious lines with the objective of capturing a consolidated majority vote by frightening them with the ‘dark ambitions of the minority communities’.

After 30 years of an extremely bloody and vicious civil war, the country still does not seem to have resolved the problem of integrating its minorities. The priority of the government is to attract investors. From time to time, small groups of the Buddhist majority Sri Lankan opposition get together to denounce these invocations to racial hatred. They carry out peaceful protest marches and candle-lit vigils, reciting the teachings of the Buddha: “Hatred can never be stopped by hate. It is Kindness that leads to reconciliation.”

Britain does not believe Sri Lanka's domestic mechanism to address accountability is adequate

Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 12:40 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Feb 26, London: Britain is regularly discussing Sri Lanka with a range of international partners ahead of the UN Human Rights Council session and will continue to press the Sri Lankan Government for credible, transparent and independent investigations into alleged war crimes during the last stages of the conflict, a British minister said.

Speaking at the debate in the UK parliament on Monday, the British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Hugo Swire said Britain does not believe that the domestic processes set up by the Sri Lankan government are adequate to address the humanitarian law violations and accountability issues.

He said Britain had made it clear to Sri Lanka that if a credible domestic process has not begun properly by March 2014, the UK will use its seat on the UN Human Rights Council to call for an international investigation.

According to Swire, Britain continues to be concerned about the lack of credible, transparent and independent investigations into alleged violations on both sides of the Sri Lanka conflict.

The report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay due ahead of the March Human Rights Council will provide an assessment of Sri Lanka's progress, Swire added.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made her report public on Monday.

Swire said the UK strongly support Pillay's position that if Sri Lanka has not demonstrated a credible national accountability process by March 2014, then the international community has a duty to act.
"We have made clear if the Sri Lankan Government has not begun properly with credible investigations by March, then we will use our position on the UN Human Rights Council to work with the UN Human Rights Commissioner and call for an international investigation," he told the UK assembly.

When asked about the UK's assessment on a report by the French NGO, Action Contre le Faim (ACF) International, on the murder of 17 aid workers of the organization in 2006 at the height of the war in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, Swire said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights observed there has been "relatively little progress" in the case when reporting to the UNHRC in September 2013 and the UN High Commissioner's view was reinforced by the 3 December ACF report.

The Sri Lankan Government has recently stated that investigations are ongoing; it is important that progress is made in identifying and bringing to justice the perpetrators, the Minister noted.

When asked about the progress that has been made on the establishment of an independent investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka, Swire replied that the Britain does not believe the domestic mechanism set up by Sri Lanka was adequate.

He told the assembly that the UN High Commissioner following her visit to Sri Lanka last year has said that she had detected 'no new or comprehensive effort' to investigate the allegations.

"We share the High Commissioners concerns and do not believe that processes set up by the Sri Lankan Government, such as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission or the Commission of inquiry on Disappearances announced last year, adequately address accountability."

"If credible domestic investigations have not begun properly by March 2014, the Prime Minister has been clear that we will use our position on the United Nations Human Rights Council to work with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other countries to call for an international investigation," Swire reiterated.

A Dangerous Alignment

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“….drifting into vanities, congregating in absurdities, planning short-sightedly, plotting dementedly.”

George Meredith (The Egoist),

( February 27, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Blackmail or revenge, the Rajapaksas are out to irk India.

A Dangerous Alignment by nelvely

Accountability issues-UNHRC members can’t make independent decisions – Prof. Peiris

by Shamindra Ferdinando-February 26, 2014

Alleging that the issue of accountability was being used as a political tool to undermine post-war Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister, Prof. G.L. Peiris on Tuesday revealed how some member states of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) were being blackmailed into voting against Sri Lanka at the forthcoming session or face the consequences.

Prof. Peiris quoted senior representatives of member states as having told him that they didn’t have any appetite for the Geneva move.

The minister was addressing a distinguished gathering including the diplomatic corps at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS) following the launch of the book ‘1975-2014’ Sri Lanka.

The 25th sessions of UNHRC begins next week.

The US recently announced that it would move its third resolution against Sri Lanka since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009.

The US moved two successful resolutions in 2012 and 2013.

US Ambassador Michele J. Sisson, who left Colombo on some personal matter, is believed to have been campaigning against Sri Lanka in New York to secure support for the resolution.

Prof. Peiris acknowledged the difficulties experienced by the countries having defence agreements with the US as well as others dependent on its financial assistance. Without naming countries, Prof. Peiris said that he had been told by some member states of their predicament due to unwarranted pressure exerted by those moving the resolution.

The UNHRC consists of 47 countries divided into five separate groups.

Giving several examples of Western projects leading to regime changes in several countries, Prof. Peiris explained how countries suffered due to external interventions.

The minister recalled the circumstances under which the British had launched an offensive to bring the Kandyan Kingdom under their control. The minister highlighted the British defending their action in directives given by the then administration.

The minister emphasised that Sri Lanka wouldn’t accept anything inimical to the country’s interest in paving the way for an understanding with those moving the resolution.

Referring to the recent cancellation of Afghan President

Hamid Karzai scheduled two-day visit to Colombo, Prof. Peiris said that many countries still experienced the horrors of conflict though Sri Lanka restored peace in May 2009.

Kerala minister boycotts opening of Sri Lankan mission

Thursday, 27 February 2014

Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has reportedly decided not to attend the inaugural of the honorary consulate of Sri Lanka in Kerala today.

The Times of India has reported that Chennithala had decided to play safe after coming to know that the honorary consul of Sri Lanka in Thiruvananthapuram, Joemon Joseph Edathala, is currently out on station bail in a criminal case for beating up a 63-year-old man.

Chennitahala has told the Times of India that he was invited to the function by Joemon Joseph but he won’t attend the event.

Speaking to Times of India, chief minister Oommen Chandy has said he was unaware of the criminal case listed against Joemon Joseph’s name. “I am hearing about this now. I had welcomed the setting up of the Sril Lankan consulate as that will help strengthen bilateral ties and accelerate tourism growth,” he has said. Chandy has said he would look into the allegations against Joemon.

“I understand he is on bail in a criminal case. The normal protocol is that the Kerala home department should have vetted this person, but that was before
I became home minister so I cannot comment on what was done before my time. I was invited to the event, but I won’t attend it. I don’t know who he is and I am anyway planning to leave town by noon after the cabinet meeting,” said Ramesh Chennithala.

BJP state president V Muraleedharan, who was also invited to the event, has said he too has decided to avoid the function.
Joemon Joseph, however, has gone all out to advertise the opening of the consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.

The advertisement has stated that chief minister Oommen Chandy, home minister Ramesh Chennithala and Union MoS HRD and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor will attend the event.

Sri Lanka:Consider Joint Inquary instead of International Inquiry

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Unlawful Impeachment of the Chief Justice
was a blow to Rule of law in Sri Lanka

National Peace Council release-
The Sri Lankan government has rejected the report submitted by the UN Human Rights Commissioner that recommends an international inquiry into alleged war crimes and human rights violations in the last phase of the country’s war. The government continues to deny the allegations and asserts that it only carried out a humanitarian rescue operation during the last stages of the war due to the forcible holding of the civilian population by the LTTE and also asserts that the alleged number of persons who had died or disappeared as a gross exaggeration.

It set up an inquiry but entrusted it to the military against whom the allegations are made, which does not make it an independent investigation. It is an accepted principle in law that no person can be a judge in their own cause.

The last resolution that was passed in the UNHRC called for an independent and credible domestic investigation. Sri Lanka possesses individuals who have held very high positions both internationally and nationally in human rights investigations, and who could be acceptable to all stakeholders. But with the erosion of the Rule of Law and the independence of the Judiciary with the 18th Amendment and impeachment of the Chief Justice, it is unlikely that the UN would accept a purely domestic investigation as a credible alternative at this time. It is reported that the Western countries, led by the United States, are proposing to pass a resolution at the forthcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that would pave the way for the establishment of an international investigatory mechanism.

The National Peace Council is concerned that the outcome of the confrontation that is taking place between the Sri Lankan government and those countries that seek to set up an international mechanism against its wishes will stir up hatred and antagonism against the ethnic and religious minorities who having been the victims and can be accused of supporting the UNHRC resolution. There is already increased polarization on the issue within the country with one-sided accounts of the past being actively propagated by the two sides. The Northern Provincial Council, which represents the people in whose midst the last phase of the war was fought, has resolved to support the call for an international investigation.

Apart from the increased internal polarization, which is not conducive to national reconciliation, the National Peace Council is concerned that in the aftermath of a divisive UNHRC vote, there can be further adverse economic and political consequences for Sri Lanka, including isolation from the powerful Western bloc of countries which constitute Sri Lanka’s main source of exports, and even leading to bilateral sanctions. It is necessary to come up with a modified resolution where both the UN and the government can be partners of a domestic investigation process which will be credible in the eyes of the UN and all stakeholders.

The National Peace Council therefore calls on the international community and the Sri Lankan government to resolve their differences through such a joint inquiry with a report back mechanism to the UN. This could avoid the weaknesses of a previous joint effort to investigate human rights violations that led to the setting up of an Independent International Eminent Group of Persons to be observers. In addition, provision could be made for the inquiry to take place in a neutral country as well as in Sri Lanka so that those who make the allegations can be assured that they would not be penalized for giving evidence for or against the allegations.

Rajapaksa-Manmohan To Meet At BIMSTEC Before UNHRC Vote

February 27, 2014

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh are likely to hold talks on the sidelines of an Asian economic summit next week, an Indian newspaper reported.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Singh will meet Rajapaksa on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit in Myanmar next week, the Business standard said.

The meeting between the two will take place even as Sri Lanka faces a third resolution that may call for an international inquiry into war crimes at the UN Human Rights Council’s 25th Session which also opens on March 3.

India has voted in favour of two US backed resolutions against Sri Lanka at the Council in 2012 and 2013.

The Business Standard said that asked about India’s approach, Foreign Secretary Sujatha singh said it is a “delicate issue” and depends on what the text of the resolution is.

“I don’t want to jump the gun,” Singh said.

British Tamils demonstrate in London to urge UK to ensure an international independent investigation in SL

Thursday, 27 February 2014

British Tamils Forum held a demonstration outside Downing Street, London, this evening calling on the Prime Minister David Cameron to keep his promise to use the UK’s position at the United Nations Human Rights Council to ensure there is an international independent investigation into the abuses that have taken place in Sri Lanka.

The demonstration came hot on the heels of a report released this week by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, in which she stated that Sri Lanka lacks the political will to hold a credible investigation of its own. She went on to call on the member states of the United Nations to set up an international independent investigation, as part of the international community’s duty to ensure justice and accountability prevail.

The demonstration in London took place on the same day as several Tamil rights demonstrations across the world, as the Tamil people unite in their call for justice and prepare for a pivotal moment in the history of the struggle for their rights and freedom.

Specimens from Sri Lanka's mass grave to be sent to U.S. lab for dating

February 27, 2014
Specimens of human remains found in a mass grave in northern Sri Lanka will be sent to a Beta Analytic archaeological laboratory in the U.S. to be dated, an official said on Thursday.

A special commission was appointed by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa to investigate into the mass grave where 80 skeletons have been uncovered so far.

Former Supreme Court judge S. I. Imam heads the presidential commission and has outlined a plan to send samples on human remains to reporters.

"We are considering the option of sending samples to a laboratory in Florida," he said.

The commission has also commenced an inquiry where 66 witnesses gave evidence earlier this week.

The mass grave was identified in December when construction workers were digging the ground. The criminal investigation department is investigating the discovery and there is suspicion the remains may be of people killed by the Tamil Tigers during the war.

Most parts of Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated north were under rebels' control for the most part of 30 years before the rebels were defeated in May 2009.

A United Nations panel and human rights groups had accused the Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tigers of committing war crimes during the final stages of the war.

The Northern Provincial Council had recently called for a UN- backed investigation into the mass grave in Mannar, but the government has refused to consider such a request.

Meanwhile the police are also investigating another mass grave in Central Sri Lanka where over 150 skeletal remains and bones had been unearthed last year. (Xinhua)

Two Views Of Capitalism’s Global Wobble

By Kumar David -February 27, 2014

Prof Kumar David

How the Economist of 8 Feb 2014 portrays the Wobble

A wench, who extols gluttony and lust and is a member of the Mongolian CP, brought a story in the Economist to my notice. The magazine is revered by the establishment as gospel, is read with reverence and quoted with awe, so I was curious that it used terminology and an illustration reminiscent of a thesis and a diagram I had developed in October 2009 in my essay “Mid stream in a Wobble-U shaped Recession”. This if it still exists, it is buried somewhere in achieves of the Sunday Island of 11 October 2009, but fortunately was included in the booklet “Essays in the Global Economic Crisis” published by the Institute of Ecumenical Development in December 2010. The concept was refined in South Asia Analysis Group (Paper 4574 of 29 June 2011).

There are substantial paradigm differences between my analyses and the Economist. Mine was a theory of why global capitalism entered a period of prolonged crisis and argued that it would be unable to pull out of this hole for a long time. Indeed, a sustained recovery has still to emerge though five years have elapsed since the September 2008 debacle. Brief upturns in America and Europe are followed by disappointing lapses; it’s a wobble at the bottom like a drunkard in a ditch. Recovery, by definition a sustained process, is nowhere in sight.

The Economist, on the other hand, takes a sanguine view of the global economy in its leader of 8 February, “Global economy: World wide wobble” and a longer piece: “The world economy will have a bumpy 2014; but the recovery is not, yet, at risk”. I have reproduced my conceptual diagram of 2009 and the Economists cover page for comparison. Notwithstanding the use of ‘Wobble’ terminology the gap is striking. I will summarise my theory in a moment. The Economist has no paradigm; both pieces are exercises in empiricism; look at data, note trends and make projections. Methodologically they are pencil and eraser exercises; keep a straight-edge on a data-set and draw trend-lines. It is whistling in the dark, hoping for a recovery albeit with fluctuations.

Why a Wobble? Read More

Pastor and wife attacked for defending right to worship

By: Release International-Wednesday, 26 February 2014

A large mob led by Buddhist monks attacked a pastor and his wife in Sri Lanka's Central province when they defended their right to worship.

Eleven monks from the hardline nationalist organisation, Bodu Bala Sena or Buddhist Strength Force (BBS), led about 250 villagers to storm the home of the pastor of Holy Family Church in Asgiriya, Kandy district, on February 16. They demanded that the couple stop holding worship services.

When the pastor and his wife protested, they were dragged outside and assaulted. Later, a senior BBS leader gathered villagers outside the house and warned them against such 'traitors'. He threatened the same treatment for any villager supporting Christian worship.

Meanwhile, Buddhist monks have also been threatening villagers in Warakapola, Sabaragamuwa province, telling them not to support the pastor of the Church of Grace. Signatories of a petition the pastor drafted defending his right to worship have received threats.

NO POLITICS FOR BUDDHIST MONKS

2014-02-26

Executive Sangha Council of the Amarapura Sirisaddhammawansa Maha Nikaya has decided to ban all monks belonging to the Chapter from engaging in any kind of active politics or election related matters.

The decision was taken at a council meeting held last evening (24) in Balapitiya under the patronge of the Maha Nayaka thero of the chapter.

Accordingly, member monks of the Chapter will be compelled to refrain from attending political rallies, taking part in protests, sathyagrahas or other demonstrations, and any other activity that would lead to clashes with the police, without obtaining prior approval from the Chapter.

Details

In Cambodia, monks get political after unpopular elections

A leading monk says rippling discontent about allegedly corrupt elections means "both the monks and the people are waking up now."

ENLARGE

Seim Sovanny addresses supporters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Freedom Park on October 6, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodian Opposition party supporters gathered to petition the United Nations to intervene following disputed Cambodian elections in September that lead to days of protests. (Nicolas Axelrod/Getty Images)

October 8, 2013 08:24

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — During Pchum Ben, a Cambodian religious holiday that came to a close last week, Venerable Keo Somaly got up before dawn.

By 5 a.m. each day, the 32-year-old monk was dressed in his saffron robe and chanting prayers. Not long after, with the sun still hanging low in the sky, he was ready to talk politics.

No Politics for Buddhist Monks by nelvely