No positive response to UN WGEID request from Sri Lanka since 2006

30/08/2014

[A mother at the public meeting held on 30th Vavuniya to commoreate the Disappearance Day; Photo BBC Sandeshaya]
In it s report to upcoming 27th session of UNHRC the UN Working group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) says that it has not received a positive respons form Sri Lanka for its request (on 16 Oct 2006) for an invitation to undertake a visit to the country.

Sri Lanka chapter of the WGEID report follows:

94.The Working Group notes with concern that it has transmitted four prompt intervention letters during the reporting period concerning the alleged intimidation of and reprisals against human rights defenders who work on the issue of enforced disappearances (A/HRC/WGEID/99/1, para. 123; A/HRC/WGEID/100/1, para. 94; A/HRC/WGEID/103/1, paras. 154–155). While thanking the Government for its responses to two of those communications, the Working Group recalls article 13 of the Declaration which provides that steps shall be taken to ensure that all involved in the investigation, including the complainant, counsel, witnesses and those conducting the investigation, are protected against ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisal.

95.The Working Group appreciates the replies on a high number of cases from the Government of Sri Lanka and hopes that a visit will contribute to the clarification of many of the outstanding cases.

96.The Working Group thanks the Government for its response to the general allegation sent on the process and methodology of the Presidential Commission on Enforced Disappearances and hopes that the challenges identified are addressed in a way that secures the right to truth and justice.

97. The Working Group notes resolution 25/1 of the Human Rights Council of 26 March 2014, which calls for advice and technical assistance by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and special procedures mandate holders, urges the Government to cooperate and offers any assistance necessary in that regard.

98.On 16 October 2006, the Working Group requested an invitation to undertake a visit to the country. No positive response yet has been received from the Government in spite of reminders sent. The Working Group hopes that a positive reply will be received soon.

- Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances*

Gota convenes special security meeting: government to solve its election violence with answers more criminal
(Lanka-e-News- 30.Aug.2014, 11.30PM) At the brainstorming special meeting summoned by Sri Lanka (SL) criminal defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse last 27th, the reports pertaining to the election results furnished by the defense Ministry intelligence division and that by the State intelligence service (SIS) were absolutely contradictory, according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

According to the report submitted by Chandra Wakishta , Director of SIS , the votes likely to be polled by the government in Moneragala district is 43 %, and the victory will be 50 % or below. Wakishta’s report also mentions that the votes in favor of the government had immensely declined in Siyambalanduwa , Athimale and third mile post , because of the activities and conduct of Minister Sumedha Gunawathie Jayasena .

All contracts of Gem mining in those areas have been awarded to the brother of the Minister and one individual by the name of Sisira in her shop. Consequently the government has earned the displeasure and bitter resentment of the people, Wakishta’s report pinpoints. As a remedy the report recommends that exploitation of power in excess during the last two days before elections should be avoided, in which case this hostile climate against the government can be eliminated. 

While SIS Director releases a disappointing report against the government , Ex Major general Hendavitharne , the bosom pal of Gota , and defense Ministry advisor had issued a report which discloses that the government will win polling over 40% of the votes.

The report prepared by Colonel Silva a subordinate of Henda , is based on information garnered by intelligence officers of the forces at ground level , Hendavitharane had pointed out. This report is in conflict with that of Wakishta. In any case it is the report of Henda that has been accepted by Gota, reports say.


A security chief who is engaged in making an analysis on this stated, Henda had prepared this report to conform to the ‘jilmart’ (fraud) the government is anticipating to commit , for if some day the government ‘s fraud is exposed , the government can fall back on this report and claim long before that the report had also confirmed what the result (jilmart) would be, the security chief explained.

The report on escalation of election violence owing to the government party was another matter that was taken up by Gotabaya at this meeting. As a solution to this , it was suggested by him , that it shall be made compulsory that a complaint of the UPFA regarding election violence be recorded by the police ahead of the complaints made by UNP, JVP and Democratic party. 

Gotabaya also ordered that a circular be sent to every police station in that province that before any complaint is recorded, the OIC of the relevant police station be consulted .As the OICs of those areas are all government henchmen and stooges , they could change anything to suit the needs of the government, he added. In pursuance of the directives of criminal defense secretary Gotabaya , DIG Gamini Navaratne who is in charge of Uva elections is to dispatch notices to all the police stations of that province tomorrow itself.

Is Sri Lanka A Dictatorships?

By Lakshan Wanigasooriya -August 31, 2014

Lakshan Wanigasooriya

Dear reader when I first started work on this article the aim was to find elements of government that would move a regime or leader towards dictatorial rule. No leader has ever confirmed he or she is a dictator however we all know who they are in history and presently. Many who write into the Colombotelegrah and other free media (I use the word very carefully – as I don’t believe there is such a thing as a free lunch!) who are campaigning for establishment of secular, liberal, democracy has been making this allegation that Sri Lanka is fast moving towards being such a state. What I aim to do in the below article is to present some points and element one sees in dictatorial leaders and regimes. History I believe is the best teacher and history repeats itself with a doubt.  

When I first started my interest in politics back in the last 80’s and then choosing politics as part of my degree one of the things that I always looked at from a past tense was dictatorships and authoritarian rule; because for some reason I really failed maybe due to my ignorance that we could ever have emerging dictatorships in the 21^st century the UN all the regional organisations, 24/7 media the internet all seem to be progressive tools against such a force. Dictatorships and authoritarian rule seems a fading concept reserved to the history books.

What makes a dictator, what keeps them going ; what motivates them is it power or money if so surly that must have a limit or are they that don’t have a limit’ or satisfaction in life that fall on to this category? Rewind back the time and lets go back to the 1920’s a 34 year old Hitler was languishing in prison after an unsuccessful attempt to over throw the German government but yet within decade he was the chancellor and one of the most powerful people in Europe; How did he do it? He received two buffets of fate, first the German defeat and then the resulting financial ruin. If you look at dictatorships around the globe unfortunately fate has played a major role. President Rajapaksa also had fate very firmly on his side in his rise to power, take the late 80’s and 90’s and if you asked or said to anyone if Mahinda Rajapaksa was presidential material any answer other than a firm “NO” would have been a good measure of one’s Sri Lankan political knowledge. I am making a very public confession here the strength having come from getting to know the quite recently that President Premadasa foresaw that Mahinda Rajapaksa would make lot of trouble for the UNP. In the late 80’or early 90’s when I still in my teens I read on the daily news that Mahinda Rajapaksa was confirmed the highest honour in Buddhism and I got this thought that one day he might become the president of the country. The reason for this was how come this award was missed by the president of the time or any serious politicians in this era, this showed me his ability to avoid radar and work through stealth until the time was right to unveil.

Read More

DIG who opposed releasing anti-Muslim rioters received death threats

[Aluthgama anti Muslim riot was initiated by BBS]-30/08/2014
Quoting unnamed police sources BBC Sinhala service reports that Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) V.Indran, who had refused to release the 13 suspects arrested over the Aluthgama clash, is facing serious threats to his life.

DIG V. Indran who was in in-charge of Kalutara and Panadura police areas was transferred with immediate effect as the DIG in-charge of welfare activities at Police headquarters in early August.

On 3rd August Lanka News web reported that reason for his tranfer was that the allegations leveled against him by Defence Ministry for rejecting to release 13 suspects arrested in connection with the communal riot occurred in Aluthgama

Lanka News Web report dated 30th August says that that DIG Indran has left the country for safety,

An unexpected diciplinary inquiry was initiated against him after the allegations on non release of BBS sympathisers but stopped abruptly.

Also, it is revealed that another initial investigations of a probe initiated against him is being done by officers who had earlier been subjected to disciplinary action by DIG Indran, says BBC Sinhala service.

Critique Of The MARGA Colloquium On The Last Stages Of The War In Sri Lanka

By Jean-Pierre Page -August 31, 2014 

Colloquium –  Issues of Truth and Accountability; Narration III; The Last Stage of the War in Sri Lanka

I would like to share with you a few ideas in relation to the 3^rd narrative of the last stage of the war in Sri Lanka.

I will try to make myself as clear as possible!

I don’t believe in this notion that it is the influence of the Tamil Diaspora that determines Washington’s foreign policy and that of its Western allies! And I think it is very wrong and dangerous to put all the Tamil Diaspora in one basket. Most Tamils I know outside this country do not support a separate State. They are not separatists, and they are not Terrorists.

If Sri Lanka is to formulate an offensive strategy rather than a defensive one, it should take all these into consideration!

Of course, the Tamil separatist forces outside do have relations with Washington and its allies, but these relations are determined by the national and geostrategic objectives of the US and its allies, as we have seen in Afghanistan, or now in Iraq, Syria and the Ukraine. For the West, when it suits their objectives, they are good Tamil Tigers and when it doesn’t, they are bad Tamil Tigers, like the good jihadists and bad Jihadists. It all depends on the circumstances. Today, the LTTE has been defeated, but tomorrow it can become useful again!

That is why I find most of the political comments and reflections in Sri Lanka very introspective. They are not concrete observations of the reality.

                                                         Read More

Issues of Truth and Accountability: A Private Sector Perspective

by Chandra Jayaratne 

- on 08/30/2014

The “Third Narrative” reviewed at the Colloquium presents an alternative narrative, of the events of the last stages of the war, and has been developed as a response to the UNHRC resolution of 2014. This is in the wake of the purported conflicting and contradictory accounts of the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka. These varying accounts have come from the Defense Authorities/ Army and the Government of Sri Lanka, I-NGO’s, University Teachers for Human Rights, Academics, Documentaries, Film Clips and Publications by Individuals, ex-Soldiers and Combatants, Diaspora Groups, Civil Society Groups, Activists and Collectives in and Outside Sri Lanka and presentations by the International Community, the UN Secretary General’s panel of experts, and the LLRC.
Issues of Truth and Accountability a Private Sector Perspective by Thavam

"Sarath Silva and MR’s third term" 

　by Sarath N. Silva-August 30, 2014

I write to you in response to the Article bearing the above title published in the "Political Watch" Column of The Sunday Island of August 24, 2014. The Article claims to be a response to an interview of mine published in the IridaLankadeepa of August 17. I raised a strictly legal issue whether the incumbent President, who has been twice elected to office, is qualified in law to be elected to office for another term. If he is not so qualified, whether he is entitled in terms of Article 31(3(a)(i) of the Constitution to direct the Commissioner of Elections to hold a premature Presidential election after the expiration of four years in office, on the basis that he is eligible to hold office for a further term.

Sarath Silva and MR’s Third Term by Thavam

North Sri Lanka – Growth And Development

By S. Sivathasan -August 31, 2014 

S. Sivathasan

Investing resources judiciously, creating wealth, consolidating it and distributing it appropriately are prime tasks of governance – Thirukkural.

People with a History

Sangam literature serves the Tamils well in the study of their social and economic history. The better known Chola exploits of a millennium back owe their origin to the Sangam era. The first Tamil Poet Laureate of Tamil Nadu after India got independence was Namakkal Kavignar. He said “We Tamils are legatees to great achievements; let us do all that is appropriate to regain our past glory”. Life affirmation and material prosperity characterized earlier times. Full awareness of it influences their thought and action in both places across the Straits. With such consciousness perhaps Edmund Samarakkody MP speaking in Parliament in 1961 said; “Tamils are a proud people, a people with a history”. Yes, people with a rich heritage will seek to reassert their rights to give the appropriate economic dimension to their aspirations.

What stands in their path and against their forward movement will have to move out of their way. When the Treaty of Versailles heaped humiliation on Germany, Mao Tse Tung as a young revolutionary of age 25, addressed some French leaders in 1918, along these lines – You people think you have done something great. In ten or twenty years war will break out – What a warning it was to those insensitive to the susceptibilities of the defeated and impervious to the inevitable destined to follow. What a parallel it has to the war and its aftermath in Sri Lanka.

Human Resources

The unconventional way in which Japan and Singapore grew in recent times has dazzled the world. The irrepressible energy of the Japanese was duly channeled by good governance to make the economy top notch. The mental energy of a single leader in Singapore has taken the nation to laudable status among first world economies. They have blasted the notion of richness in indigenous natural resources as basic to create more wealth. To them the richest resource was the people to whom modern education was provided and skills imparted. As important or more was the luring of foreign finance together with transfer of technology.

Sri Lanka and the Northern segment are rich in human resources, though yet to be cut, polished and value added. The last three-quarter century has shown the world over, how material wealth can enhance human resources that have remained stagnant for long. For the segment of the North, economic opportunities abroad have opened up possibilities never considered practicable earlier. It is to such material that those in governance owe an obligation to provide the environment for further growth.                                                     Read More

A provincial poll that is more of a battlefield

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Is there any country in the world where the ruling administration castigates the Department of the Police, (gripped tightly in the iron fist of its own politicians), for failing to control election violence?

This amazing if not palpably ludicrous phenomenon is increasingly exhibited in Sri Lanka as the Uva province moves towards a provincial poll which is beginning to resemble more of a battlefield rather than an electoral fray.

No level electoral playing field
This week, the UPFA’s General Secretary and a senior Minster of this government lambasted the police for failing to stop election violence in Badalkumbura in the Monaragala District. Supporters of the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) were attacked by goons of a ruling party politician while putting up a stage preparatory to an election rally. Claiming that they were the injured party on the other hand, the government complained that their supporters had to be hospitalized. Indeed, these clashes left intervening police officers also injured.

This appears to be a tad different to what took place during the previous provincial council elections. The violence is concentrated this time around in Moneragala where the government’s show of strength is directed also at former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka’s electioneering efforts.
In this ugly fracas, efforts of ruling party politicians to show themselves off as victims should receive short shrift. The attempt is to project the government on a level electoral playing field with the opposition parties. This is logically unsustainable. At no time following independence has all state institutions been so completely controlled by the ruling party as in these unhappy times. The Department of the Police has fared the worst in this regard. Its professional command hierarchy has been rendered obsolete. Political patronage reigns supreme.

Non-existent morale of the police
This status quo has not changed by bringing the Department under a so called Ministry of Law and Order to give effect to the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission that the police must be de-politicized and de-militarized. The police continue to be run in a militarized manner subject to the whim and fancy of ranking superiors who are protected by political patronage. In fact, police officers are themselves perhaps in the worst predicament that they have ever been as the honourable among them struggle to maintain equitability in this appallingly lop-sided power equation.

Individual cases show the overall pattern very well. A police officer was interdicted last month by his superior supposedly for informing a private TV Channel that he was ordered to do labourer’s work at the Borella police station by the officer-in-charge (OIC). A few days ago, he complained to the Supreme Court that his fundamental rights had been violated. And what of that other unfortunate police officer who attempted to stop a Deputy Minister from speeding and was abused and assaulted? Action was also taken against him and he later resigned from the police service in disgust. This extent of politicization of the police department is unprecedented.

Retired police officers who protested against the 17th Amendment for vesting disciplinary control of errant police officers in an independent National Police Commission (NPC) remain markedly silent in response to these profound injustices. At that time, the objection was that those who exercise administrative control over the police must also exercise disciplinary control. It was opined by some that bifurcating the two functions would have a disastrous impact on the morale of the police. But the question now is whether the so-called morale of the police is existent in any manner to be talked of? The one voice consistently speaking out on these matters belongs to former Senior Superintendant of Police (SSP) Tassie Seneviratne. Many more should follow his lead.

And the opposition is also responsible for this state of affairs. The jettisoning of the 17th Amendment was by all political parties, as we must remind ourselves. Despite the JVP being in the forefront of pushing this Amendment through, they also joined in the chorus of discrediting the NPC. It has been consistently contended in these column spaces that the political objection to the 17th Amendment arose primarily as a result of the steadfast functioning of the NPC in its first (and constitutionally appointed) term. In the absence of strong public support, the independent NPC was replaced by a puppet entity under the 18th Amendment. This body now only wastes public funds to no discernible purpose.

When the South is in disarray, what hope can the North and East have?
So what is the reality that currently confronts us? Ordinary Sri Lankans in whatever part of the country are united in their condemnation of the police. Mob attacks on minorities and on activists have seen the police only as silent observers. Now to add insult to injury, we have government politicians also blaming the police.

This problem must see substantive reform of the police administrative structure and the reinstitution of an independent supervisory body, not mere tinkering with the Police Ordinance. Where the former conflict areas are concerned, increasing the number of Tamil speaking police officers is hardly an effective solution. Representation of minority police officers in a state structure designed to mete out injustice is no answer. Michael Brown, the unarmed, black teenager shot and killed by a white police officer in Missouri, led to riots and outrage across the United States. This ignited fierce debates on institutionalized racism within the police ranks by community activists, lawyers and policemen themselves.

Such questions must likewise occupy public debate here. As the rawest recruit to the head of the Department of the Police is aware, refusing a political command invites professional suicide if not danger to life and limb. Spokespersons for the regime would do well to refrain from pretending otherwise.
And the most telling point is that if effective law and order is not maintained in Sri Lanka as against the Sinhala majority, what hope could minority citizens possibly have?

Economics And Elections

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“When the social contract is abrogated, when trust between a government and its citizens fails, disillusionment, disengagement or worse follows.”

Joseph Stiglitz (The Price of Inequality)

( August 31, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Most Lankans do not earn enough to make ends meet, according to government statistics.

53% of the urban population, 73% of the rural population and 81% of the estate population do not receive the minimum income necessary to pay for food and other basic needs, according to the Department of Census and Statistics.

Economics and Elections by Thavam

Four parties give nod to JHU Constitutional Amendment EXECUTIVE RETAINED 


By Ravi Ladduwahetty-August 31, 2014

Four political parties have agreed to a new Constitutional Amendment, which has been proposed by the Jathika Hela Urumaya's Parliamentary Group Leader Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera. The Amendment revolves round the reducing of the powers of the Executive President and limiting the number of Cabinet Ministers to between 20 and 25. The proposals, which come under a banner titled: 'Way forward for the country for a better tomorrow,' has been agreed upon by four political parties -- the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Democratic Party, Communist Party and Lanka Sama Samaja Party.
 
 
Former Chief Justice Sarath. N. Silva is spearheading a team of constitutional experts in the preparation of the Draft Bill, which would be placed before the public at the BMICH on 30 September 2014, the Thera added. 'There is a need for amendments to the Constitution as Sri Lanka has not accomplished its goals, despite the completion of five years, since the cessation of hostilities. There has been a breakdown of the law and order situation and rampant corruption, fraud, waste and decadence of moral values and a general breakdown of all the hopes, which people had with the completion of the war.
These solutions, which will be in the form of a Constitutional Amendment, will offer better prospects for the future development of the country, Athureliye Rathana Thera told Ceylon Today.
 
He said the highlights of these amendments would be announced at a news conference shortly.
The proposed Constitutional Amendment states;
• Executive Presidency will remain, but the President would be allowed to hold only the Defence portfolio in the Cabinet, while being the Commander- in- Chief of the Armed Forces.
• All elections – Presidential, Parliamentary, Provincial Council polls to be held and completed within two days.
• Removal of the preferential system of voting
• Evaluation of performances of ministers to be done. If any minister is deemed not up to the mark, he/she to be removed by a simple majority in Parliament. Vacancy to be filled by the President and according to his discretion.
• The Cabinet portfolios would be listed in the Constitution. Ministry Secretaries would be appointed by the President on the recommendations of the minister. Performance of ministry secretaries would also be evaluated.
• Establishment of the independent commissions for elections, police, judiciary and the public service.
• Abolition of the preferential system of voting, while retaining the PR system.
 
 
• Right to Information Act to be established.
• A Technical Auditor General to be appointed in addition to the current Auditor General, who is only a specialist in finance. The Technical Auditor General's office will engage in technical audits, which will prevent corruption.
• New foreign policy, which will reflect the independence of the nation without being servile to the dictates of certain parties.
• Religious co-habitation through the formation of a Board of Religious Leaders.
• Lands and facilities for sustainable agriculture.
• Local manufacture of both indigenous and western drugs.
• Expanding the university system and providing loans to undergraduates.
• Dependence on local power and energy sources.
• Efficient public transport service.

Concerns, misgivings, unease aside, e-NIC set to invade individual privacy

By Chandani Kirinde-Sunday, August 31, 2014

The data collection programme of all Sri Lanka’s citizens over the age of 15, with a view to establishing a database, some of which would be included in an electronic National Identity Card (e-NIC), has drawn criticism from Opposition legislators. They say it would lead to an invasion of individual privacy, which a senior Government official in charge of the programme, refutes, saying the data collected would benefit a majority of the people.

Concerns, Misgivings, Unease Aside, E-NIC Set to Invade Individual Privacy by Thavam

Precursor Of Bigger Things; It’s Not Just A Provincial Election: Speculating About After-Uva

By Kumar David -August 31, 2014

Prof. Kumar David

Provincial elections in Lanka are like by-elections. Elsewhere in the world by-elections are an opening for voters to express their disgruntlement with the party in power, here it is invariably an opportunity for a sycophantic electorate to come out and cheer the party in power, whether SLFP or UNP, and bum its way into favour. What happens at a general election, however, is a different test. Elections to the European Parliament belong to this by-election category; earlier this year the established parties across Europe were hit in the solar plexus, but come the next national elections the upstarts (Marie le Pen, UKIP etc) will slip back to more modest positions. The Uva PC election takes place at a time when it is not quite a pseudo by-election where the electorate will bend over backwards to bum the government. I will not call it a litmus test of things to come either, but it will signal trends to a degree.

It is foolish, even so late in the day and less than a month before polling day, to hazard a guess what the outcome will be for the reason that subterranean disenchantment with the government is said to be in motion, but putting a number on votes, except to say the UPFA vote will decline, is hazardous. The fall may be substantial, it may be inconsequential. My goal today is not this guessing game but to speculate what the political consequences of different outcomes may be. That is a safer and more logical line of analysis.

Let be put some background down on paper first. The August 2009 Uva PC election was a landslide victory for the UPFA, the largest victory of any PC except for the 2013 TNA tornado in the NP. The UPFA polled 72.4% (and took 25 seats including 2 bonus seats), the UNP 22.3% (7 seats), the JVP 2.5% (1 seat) and the Up-Country People’s Front 1.6% (1 seat). This is the benchmark against which we have to compare swings, but first comparison with the recent Western and Southern PC elections of March 2014 is relevant. (The dated 2012 and 2013 PC election results are no longer significant).                                                           Read More

Students of Law College thanks to Lanka E news..!

(Lanka-e-News- 30.Aug.2014, 5.30PM) 

We are a group of students from the Law College Sri Lanka who sat the 2nd year exam in July.

We faced much difficulty when we sat the Property 1 and Property 2 papers since some questions were made from out of syllabus and the ones from the syllabus were from a specific area only, without covering a wide subject area.

With no other means of help or support and feeling extremely helpless, we turned to Lanka e news as our last resource.

Without any hesitation you published our injustice and told the world about the unfairness.

As a result the authorities of Law College especially the principle became considerate and decided to help us.

The students who answered the questions that came out of the syllabus in property 2 paper were given bonus marks for those questions and all marks of Property 1 were uplifted for a better pass rate.

This indeed help all of us 2nd year students and we have passed well as a result.

We take this opportunity to Thank You with the bottom of our hearts!

Sincerely all of us always wish you all the best for everything you do!

Kindly keep up the great work you do for keeping Justice Alive in this corrupted country!

The good wishes of all of us students and our families will be with you forever!

May your journey towards Justice be a Success!

Most sincerely,
(Signed below)

Students of Law College 
Sri Lanka

P.S.
If one day we become Attorneys at Law, you will have a bunch of lawyers by your side, ready to defend you anytime anywhere in the name of justice!