Britain’s social mobility crisis in ten graphs

• By Martin Williams28 JUN 2017

A damning new report has criticised politicians’ efforts to improve social mobility.

The research, by the Social Mobility Commission, warns that for years policies have “failed to deliver enough progress in reducing the gap between Britain’s ‘haves and have nots’.”

“The old agenda has not delivered enough social progress,” it says. “The policies of the past have brought some progress, but many are no longer fit for purpose in our changing world.”

So, how bad is it? Here are ten key graphs from the Social Mobility Commission’s report that paint a picture of the problem.

1. Child development equality has flatlined

This graph shows the percentage-point gap between deprived and non-deprived areas for children who reach a good level of development by the age of five. It was improving, but has now flatlined.

2. If your parents are not highly educated, you receive less child development time

The gap has got wider over time. Here, we can see the number of minutes that parents spend on their child’s development per day, in 2001/01 and 2014/15.

3. There’s still a big gap between rich and poor children at school

This shows the percentage of pupils who achieve at least level 2 in Key Stage 1. It’s broken down by those children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), and those who are not.

4. Attainment for poorer children is improving quicker in London than the rest of England

As above, this graph is based on pupils who are eligible for free school meals. It shows the percentage who achieved at least five A*-C grades at GCSEs, or equivalent. (We’ve added the coloured lines on to the Social Mobility Commission’s graph to make it easier to track each region’s progress).

5. Good school leadership is linked to location and deprivation

The percentage of secondary schools with “good and outstanding” leadership is far lower in deprived areas outside London. This graph shows the breakdown by both region and deprivation in 2016.

6. Careers advice in schools is declining

This one shows the percentage of schools offering career support between 1997 and 2008. Every category of support has decreased except university visits, which have slowly become more widespread.

7. University access is improving… but the government is set to miss its target

The government wanted to double university access for students from low-participation areas by 2020. It looks like that won’t happen, but there is steady progress nevertheless.

8. University access improvements are driven by poorer students going to the least selective universities

The percentage of disadvantaged 18-year-olds entering higher education has increased the most among those who go to low entry tariff institutions.

9. Social mobility has improved much more in some professions than others

This graph shows the percentage of people at the top of a sample of professions who went to private schools, in 1987 and in 2016. This demographic continues to dominate among barristers and the judiciary, and have actually increased in proportions in journalism and medicine. But the percentage of privately educated CEOs has dropped dramatically.

10. Most poor people live in working households

People who are in poverty are less likely to be unemployed than they were 20 years ago. Unemployment has fallen but wages have stayed low since the financial crisis, meaning the percentage of people suffering from in-work poverty has gone up.

The double R Reconciliation and Rhetoric
 

• If Yahapalana Government is serious about reconciliation, the first decision should be to work towards a new social ideology in the Sinhala South 
• Why ‘reconciliation’ is just another fraud under this Yahapalana Government  

2017-06-30

“Today, words like ‘progress’ and ‘development’ have become interchangeable with economic ‘reforms’, ‘deregulation’ and ‘privatisation’. ‘Freedom’ has come to mean ‘choice’…… This theft of language, this technique of usurping words and deploying them like weapons, of using them to mask intent and to mean exactly the opposite of what they have traditionally meant, has been one of the most brilliant strategic victories of the tsars of the new dispensation. It has allowed them to marginalise their detractors, deprive them of a language in which to voice their critique and dismiss them as being ‘anti-progress’, ‘anti-development’, ‘anti-reform’ and of course ‘anti-national’-negativists of the worst sort.” [Arundhati Roy – Outlook India / 3 July, 2009]

The double R Reconciliation and Rhetoric.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

 

The Police Commission Must Charge The Prime Minister & President For Hate Crimes

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –JUNE 29, 2017

Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

In a most welcome move, UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrama announced:

“The UNP welcomes the statement of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Prime Minister and the President to use the full force of the law against those causing religious tensions, racial hatred and undermining the efforts at reconciliation since the new government came to power.”

However, it was an empty boast. It was only on 05.03.2017 that The Hinduwrote that the Sri Lankan government had rejected a fresh appeal from the UN to allow international judges to investigate alleged war crimes committed during the conflict with the LTTE. Worse, at that time, President Maithripala Sirisena had vowed not to prosecute soldiers, saying he “would not subject the Sri Lankan military personnel to any probe. […] I have clearly said that I am not prepared to serve charge sheets to our soldiers or to have foreign judges to try our security forces … It is my duty to protect the troops.”

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said similar things against the prosecution of soldiers who allegedly murdered Tamil civilians. For example, Ceylon News of 31.05.2017 reported

“Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the process of setting up an Office on Missing Persons obtained approval from the cabinet of ministers not to take legal actions against those who made thousands of the people disappear during and after the war.”

He has also joined the President in rejecting government’s commitment to the world to have foreign judges probing into violations by the troops. Instead, he has expressed confidence in the domestic judiciary which has repeatedly proven itself communally biased. This came mere months after his statement that “his government was not against an international participation in carrying out investigations into alleged war crimes during the last stages of the conflict between the military and the LTTE” (Cochin, India; 13 February 2017).

When our leaders say one thing to us and another abroad, what are we to believe? They are simply purveyors of falsehoods, undeserving of our trust.

These statements are of great concern. The inexorable application of the law is intrinsic to a democracy. This protection of lawless armed forces challenges democracy. In protecting murderers, the government encourages anarchy.

Hate speech as I have written before, “insults and threatens the targeted group, makes them live in fear or shames them, making them hide who they are.” The ensuing fear and shame make victims withdraw into their ghettoes. For Tamils, rather dangerously, this withdrawal in fear of a murderous state that makes heroes out of our decapitators, increasingly becomes a passive wish to separate from Sri Lanka.

The PM and President are tearing the Sri Lankan nation apart. In protecting troops who engaged in the murder and carnage of Tamils, they are indulging in hate speech and promoting the murder of minorities. By letting down Tamils who trustingly voted for them, they risk instability and foreign interference. By refusing victims the protection of the law and justice for the families of civilians who were murdered and disappeared, they are fostering separation and a potential insurrection through a call to arms by Tamil extremists who would see democracy failing us all, Tamils, Sinhalese, and Muslims.

Consider Eeswary of Anandapuram in Pudukudiyiruppu. She surrendered her son Thuraisingam to the army at the end of the war in May 2009. He has been disappeared. Eeswary had gone from one army camp to another and finally settled into a prolonged protest in Kilinochchi with other mothers and wives whom a similar fate had befallen. Worn out and exhausted, she died on 23.06.2017, yesterday. Or consider Thayalini of Mallakam. She had surrendered her husband, EROS’s Pararajasingham, to the army. The army denies having him. Her three children of whom the two girls married recently are moving on. But her grief sees no respite. Then there is Sasika, aged about 40. Her husband disappeared after being taken in by the army.

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UN CESCR 61: CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON THE 5TH PERIODIC REPORT OF SRI LANKA

Chairperson of the CECSCR 61 Z. Kedzia during the Sri Lanka session.--Sadun Thudugla, a Sri Lankan ESC rights activist speaking at a side event during the CESCR 61 © s. deshapriya
Image: CESCR 61 Sri Lanka session was held 12-13 June  at Palais Wilson, Geneva.©s.deshapriya.

29/06/2017

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Sri Lanka*

8. The Committee recommends that the State party build on the national momentum and expedite its Constitutional reform process,including the adoption of a comprehensive Bill of Rights that fully incorporates economic, social and cultural rights, bearing in mind the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights. The Committee encourages the State party to take into account the submissions of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka to the Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform in this regard. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to its General Comment No. 9 (1998) on the domestic application of the Covenant.

UN CESCR 61 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON THE 5TH PERIODIC REPORT OF SRI LANKA.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Concluding-Observation-Sri-Lanka-CESCR-61.pdf by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

 

The Northern Woman

Inside Story: New Ministers Sworn In For The Northern Provincial Council

Women’s affairs covers the educated women also. Unless Mrs. Sasitharan becomes humble enough to learn from them – and becomes the passive medium through which they would be seen as leaders Mrs. Sasitharan would fail the Jaffna Tamil Woman.

by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam-Jun 30, 2017

( June 30, 2017, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ananthy Sasitharan was sworn in as the NPC Minister of Women’s Affairs, Rehabilitation, Social Services, Cooperatives, Food Supply and Distribution, Industry and Enterprise Promotion.

Mrs Sasitharan who is closely associated with the Militants needs to focus on developing a structure that the current Northern Women would be able to relate to and adopt at the family level. The first lesson needs to be to ‘internalize’ any shortfall in status allocated as per her past but at the same time be grateful for the contribution made by her family – especially her husband to the formation of Provincial Council that she is now part of.

Through my direct experience with the Female militants, during ceasefire, I learnt that they accepted the male dominated environment they were in but at the same time quietly went about completing their support work. As the wife of Elilan – the LTTE head at Trincomalee, one would expect Ananathi also to have played that role. Now Mrs Sasitharan is occupying the leadership role in Politics and needs to respect the Political structures and as Minister, Mrs Sasitharan needs to bow to the Administrative structures common to all folks in Northern Province. The value of Thamilini – the Women Leader within LTTE needs to be remembered and paid tribute to by Mrs. Sasitharan. The Title of Thamilini’s book – ‘Oru Koor Vaallin Nizhalil’ / ‘ In the shadow of a sharp sword’ confirms the essence of my assessment above – that the women were a support force.

There are women in Jaffna society who are led by their achievements in Higher Education. Mrs Sasitharan needs to learn from them or if they seem false – then Mrs. Sasitharan needs to renounce any benefits from that pathway that seem available to her. Otherwise, Mrs. Sasitharan is likely to submit to those who are pleasant and ‘show’ high profits from her position. The moment Mrs. Sasitharan takes for example her husband’s place or worse Velupillai Prabhakaran’s place – she would naturally disconnect from the root of the Provincial Council Act. Without that connection, Mrs. Sasitharan is likely to be influenced by the greater benefits in wider world.

Women leadership in the world based on LTTE structure, is not likely to be strong and high. The parallel has already been shown within the Sinhalese Community – through Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who was promoted by politicians to occupy her husband’s place. A woman leader must command respect – through belief or Intellectual Administration. Belief is Natural measure on Equal platform.
Intellectually, it needs to be developed by reducing the higher status that we start with through the side seeming to be our side and hence being entitled to share in our status. An intellectual measure would uphold Justice only when applied at the same level on both sides. Hence Equal Opportunity – on the claim of which we had the war. But by using arms we showed cleverness to defeat and did not sacrifice to own.

Women’s affairs covers the educated women also. Unless Mrs. Sasitharan becomes humble enough to learn from them – and becomes the passive medium through which they would be seen as leaders Mrs. Sasitharan would fail the Jaffna Tamil Woman.

Inside Story: New Ministers Sworn In For The Northern Provincial Council

JUNE 30, 2017

The new nominees by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran (CVW) to replace the sacked Ministers T. Gurukularajah (Education) and Ponnuthurai Ainkaranesan were sworn in before Governor Reginald Cooray. The new nominees are Ananthi Sasitharan and K. Sarveswaran. Ananthi was involved in making many of the complaints against the four Ministers, while Sarvesvaran’s brother Suresh Premachnadran led the street protests against the ministers in support of CVW.

C.V. Wigneswaran – Northern Chief

The hurt over CVW’s conduct in was not merely political. There was a lot of pain in the Protestant Community over Gurukularajah’s sacking as if he is a crook.  Gurukularajah was the son of the late Rev. Thambyrajah who founded and lived with his children in Navajeevanam, a home for orphans in the then undeveloped lands of Paranthan which he transformed into luscious paddy fields. A brother of Gurukularajah’s joined the clergy. Another ran Navajeevanam during the war years. Gurukularajah himself served ably as Director of Education in Kilinochchi. He was, importantly, found guilty only of administrative lapses, yet his sacking was lumped with that of Ainkaranesan who was found guilty of corruption.

In an effort to put on a face of being at peace with the Federal Party (ITAK or FP), Chief Minister CVW paid a visit to the office at Martyn Road Jaffna, of his nominal party, the FP, on the 26th.  Welcoming him, and as a pointed reminder of his neglected loyalties, party General Secretary Mavai Senathirajah told him, “It is my pleasure to welcome you to these premises on your first visit.” CVW insisted that he had been there before and the conversation trailed off with Senathirajah asking when and receiving no firm answer.

At that meeting, CVW told Senathirajah of his intention to offer Ananthi the portfolio on women’s affairs. It is noted that Ananthi, widow of disappeared LTTE-er Sasitharan (a.k.a. Elilan), contested for her seat at the NPC on the FP’s nomination but was suspended from the FP after she burnt the effigy of M.A. Sumanthiran, MP. It is said that at the next election, she will contest under the Tamil Congress’s Bicycle symbol as she is sure not to be given the FP’s nomination.

Senathirajah told CVW that he has to follow party discipline and not boost a suspended member. CVW is on record as saying elsewhere that he was nominated by all constituents of the TNA and not just the FP, and that his use of the FP’s House symbol is accidental because the TNA as an unregistered political party was merely using the FP’s symbol as a matter of convenience.

Upon seeing CVW’s adamancy, Senathirajah promised to get back after consulting his colleagues. Subsequently it was suggested to CVW on the telephone that Provincial Council member Emmanuel Arnold be made the minister. But no agreement was reached. Arnold, said a Jaffna Roman Catholic resident,

“is immensely popular as head of the St. John’s College Old Boys’ Association and among Roman Catholics in the old Jaffna Electorate. He has high potential to be MP if the First Past the Post system is reintroduced with electorates. I am sure this is part of Senathirajah’s thinking. I commend Senathirajah for his long-term thinking”

However CVW did not accept Senathirajah’s recommendation.

Such well-publicized peace-pipe-smoking meetings between Senathirajah and CVW were belied by press reports that CVW on the 28th late evening met with the Federal Party’s detractors. That evening saw a gathering at CVW’s home to which only those who supported CVW in this spat were invited. NPC Member M.K. Sivajilingam forcefully said that he wanted a Mullaitivu man to be a minister and that is why he had declined the portfolio offered to him first by CVW. NPC member from Mullaitivu, Kandiah Sivanesan, echoed these views reminding CVW that while speaking at the NPC on the current dispute on 14 May,  CVW himself had voiced the need for a Minister from Mullaitivu. In the event, however, that did not happen and not one of the five members from Mullaitivu was appointed. Nonetheless, Sivajilingam accompanied the new ministers to their swearing in. Unconfirmed reports say that CVW too took some oaths because of the additional portfolios he has taken on.

Be that as it may, the two new Ministers’ period of office is to be just three months. Openings for peace-making as well as revolting will remain as CVW’s supporters vie for office and the new inquiry against the two ministers who escaped CVW’s guillotine is prolonged.

“With this, CVW is more firmly obligated to the Tamil Makkal Peravai and Suresh Premachandran’s Mandayan Group,” noted an analyst who recently organized a discussion on the corruption scandal.

Signs of the impending eruption were seen as CVW readied for the new inquiries he is launching against Fisheries Minister Balasubramaniam Deneeswaran and Health minister Dr. P. Sathiyalingam who had both been cleared by CVW’s initial inquiry. CVW justifies this seeming double jeopardy on the grounds that witnesses did not show up.

Testified one of Dr. Sathiyalingams, supporters

“Tackling Dr. Sathiyalingam would be a tough-sell because of his leadership during the Mullivaikal massacres when he as the government medical officer treating the wounded drew attention to the killings through bombings of hospitals by the government.”

However, that high reputation is presently eclipsed by the new charges of corruption against the good doctor. Thundered CVW at the meeting with his supporters last night, “Even if the two ministers do not show up at the inquiry, the inquiry will proceed and I will take firm action according to the report.”

M.A. Sumanthiran fired a counter-salvo in an interview on 16 June 2017 with the Nation:

“The matter all started with allegations against one Minister. The Council passed a resolution calling for an inquiry to be conducted into the allegations against the said Minister. Wigneswaran … instead appointed a committee of inquiry to look into corruption allegations against all the Ministers even though there were no allegations against the other three. He picked the inquiry panel members.

“He then published advertisements in the newspapers calling on the public to make allegations against the Ministers. In the subsequent inquiry report, the committee found one Minister guilty of nine or 10 charges of corruption, another Minister of circumventing administrative regulations and exonerated the other two. The committee recommended the removal of the two found guilty. All he had to do was implement the recommendations.

“Yet, he kept the matter hidden for two weeks … and decided to take action against all four Ministers, when two were clearly found guilty and two were not. …

“He has since asked the two found guilty to resign and he has suspended the other two. He has taken action against all four. All five Ministerial portfolios are now brought under him. …

“He is trying to cover up the wrongdoing of the two found guilty by attempting to take all four out.”

Sumanthiran added just today 29th, upping the ante, “There are complaints against departments directly under the Chief Minister. That is why the ITAK has asked for an investigation into complaints against all the five members of the Board of Ministers including the Chief Minister.” Some Tamil newspapers wrote that there are 38 charges against CVW himself.

Said a Tamil American associated with Wigneswaran’s visit some time back to the US that he could not understand CVW’s erratic ways of seeking funds and inexplicable loyalties to one staffer:

“I am surprised at his play for power. He could make excellent speeches but is too poorly organized to run any administration. He missed many appointments and even a flight, messing up an important meeting in Boston. It is his administrative inability that makes him so dependent on the Australian Nimalan Karhtigesu.”

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Sri Lanka: Jiggery-pokery Drama in Army

Expose` : Good governance commander in chief completes two years but MR ‘s control still within army !

by Our Defence Correspondent- Jun 29, 2017

Jun 29, 2017

( June 29, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When you can’t win a person on merits or performances in duties then you must play the game of monkey politics while spoiling the principles and the managing rules in the institution you are responsible for. Often, those who live with inferiority complex tend to play with rhetoric with rhythms of egos. They are afraid of the merit-based system. They are afraid of systems based on transparency and accountability. But they talk loud, about justice and other noble ideas to con the external parties who feed them. What a world we live in!

The cheap propaganda to achieve the dream of appointing the next Sri Lankan Army Commander is somewhat showing a jiggery-pokery drama in higher circles at the present.

As the Commander in Chief, President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed the Lt. Gen. Crisanthe De Silva to head the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) while promoting him as a four Star General. The CDS seat has been vacant since 16 June, after the retirement of Air Chief Marshal (Retired) K A Gunatilleke.

We wish our new CDS all the best for his service during the next two years. Despite some difficulties and less-appropriate action as the Army Commander, General Crisanthe De Silva played a significant role in course correction in the Sri Lanka Army as an institution.

Subsequently, the appointment of new CDS, the Commander of Army will be vacant unless President gave orders to the CDS to overlook the Sri Lanka army till his retirement scheduled to be in third week of August this year.

However, many Media and social webs are on rampage attacking senior army officers who are on the line of expectation to be next commander. This, unfortunately, is not a new trend or an exception in the Army as the largest state organ in the country, but in fact, well spread among other institutions as well. Therefore, one against another came into this kind of common habitual attitude in many institutions.

a well-informed source within the President’s Secretariat told the Sri Lanka Guardian, that the President himself expressed displeasures and agony over the internal “greedy struggle” for grabbing the chair of next Army Commander. That is indeed highly disturbing to the President.

On the one hand some senior officers are engaging in mudslinging attacks on their competitors while using their mouthpieces websites and other tools; On the other hand, some senior officers are using their proxies to convince the President, so then they assume they can bend the President’s decision. The bottom line is that this kind of behaviour is confirming the depth of deterioration of state apparatus in the country.

Meanwhile, there was a very interesting text message received by the President Maithripala Sirisena two days ago when the Mockingbirds declared war among themselves. The extract of the message says;

Regarding appointing the Army commander;

Best advice is to allow present Army commander General Crisanthe De Silva to continue till 21 August 2017.

What would be the consequences the President has to face if Major Gen. XXXX (name withheld) is appointed, these are the consequences for President.

1. President will lose his credibility
2. All religious leaders will go against him.
3. Majority of the members of the army will be unhappy for a wrong decision
4. President will create a very bad presidency in the Army for violating army procedures (detail of this item withheld by Sri Lanka Guardian as we find contents are highly sensitive)
5. Breaking and violating good governance policy.
6. President will be blamed (by educated people) that merit and seniority have no place in this government.

After seeing the message on his device President Maithripala Sirisena had given the usual light smile with deep thought, Sri Lanka Guardian learns.

The battle is on its edge. The most important factor is how the winner is going to implement his task for the benefits of the institution and the public of this nation in general.

Nothing could be better than recalling the sage words of the song by Johnny Cash when we are experiencing moments like this ;

There’s a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won’t be treated all the same
There’ll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around
…

Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the Man comes around
….

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him.

Enjoy the song here;

Former ISI chief pledges support to Rajapaksa

BY GAGANI WEERAKOON-2017-06-25

There is no secret about President Maithripala Sirisena looking up to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in many instances, be it doing yoga to mark International Yoga Day or following his dress-code during pre-election campaign. This time it was about ministers using mobile phones during Cabinet meetings.

Last October, in a move to prevent leakage of sensitive information on important policy matters and decisions, Prime Minister Modi issued a directive to his ministers not to carry smartphones and other mobile phones to Cabinet meetings. The fear of those being hacked was also involved when taking the decision.

Banning the use of mobile phones during Cabinet meetings in last October due to security reasons was the first such instance in India while Britain has banned using mobile phones at Cabinet meetings since long ago.

Using mobile phones during Cabinet meetings was the topic from time to time since the time President Chandrika Kumaratunga chaired the meeting as she accused her senior ministers of leaking information to 'some' journalists by getting them to hear the discussions as and when it happened. It did not take long for President Mahinda Rajapaksa also to ban his Cabinet Ministers from bringing in mobile phones to Cabinet meetings, due to reasons well known.

However, President Sirisena's directives to keep mobile phones switched off during Cabinet meetings has got nothing to do with an apparent security threat like in India, but was made to end a pure nuisance. It was said, the decision was taken to make sure that every minister pays attention to what is being discussed.

"The President took this decision after observing that most ministers were either on phone calls or logged on to social media platforms like Facebook, twitter or instagram," a well-informed source claimed.

UL trumped by ministers

President Sirisena decided to take a 'decisive decision' against the controversial Board of Directors of the national carrier SriLankan Airlines in the near future when the Board of Directors were summoned to a crucial meeting after the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Secretariat.

Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the government also decided to implement in full, the recommendations by the Board of Inquiry led by J.C. Weliamuna.

The Board of Directors were summoned to clarify and explain the situation with the allegations of them acting in an arbitrary manner and SriLankan accumulating continuous losses. SriLankan currently has 25 aircraft, 360 pilots and 7,200 employees.

Commenting on the issue a week before, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Senaratne said that the airline has accumulated a loss of Rs 22 billion after the present administration came into power. He added that the SriLankan Airlines is being administered observing in the breach all regulations and ignoring all instructions issued by the line minister, Minister of Public Enterprises Development, Kabir Hashim.

"1,300 people have been recruited without the minister's knowledge. Those who were appointed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa to top positions have not been removed and they are running the show," he said.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the national carrier has pointed out that about 1,400 employees have resigned and to fill those vacancies, they recruited 1,250 afresh.

Minister Senaratne had argued with proof that what the CEO was stating with regard to the recruitments was in fact not accurate.

Ministers Rajitha Senaratne, Sarath Fonseka and Ravi Karunanayake had pointed out corruption and shortcomings of the Board of Directors, at length. According to sources four members of the director board have also levelled accusations against the conduct of the CEO.

While President Sirisena emphasized that the accusations levelled against the director board by ministers were true, and that it is evident the board is divided, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had noted that the national carrier has been able to reduce the losses under current management despite having shortcomings. Minister Kabir Hashim, under whose purview the SriLankan falls, had also endorsed accusations that recruitments were carried out without his knowledge.

Docs lock horns

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne was having lunch at his residence after returning from the weekly Cabinet media briefing when he got a call informing that his ministry has been stormed by university students causing colossal damage to properties.

He quickly gave instructions to top officials and informed of the situation to President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

It was later informed that despite security would be beefed up at the surrounding area of Town Hall in Colombo and Ministry of Higher Education when university students are holding protests, authorities were clueless about the Health Ministry coming under attack. Though in a normal situation, the intelligence services would inform relevant authorities to take precautionary action, it was revealed that the students had outsmarted the intelligence services.

After turning Town Hall area into a virtual battle field as students clashed with the STF members, it was alleged that doctors had refused to treat the STF members who were admitted to Colombo National Hospital along with the 80 students.

An individual identified as Mahinda Rathnayake has written to the President of Sri Lanka Medical Council to conduct a proper investigation against the doctor who refused attending to STF personnel citing the medical officer has breached his oath as a doctor.

In addition to this, the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) called a strike - which they called off after two days, last morning- in support of the anti-SAITM struggle by university students and to condemn the police attack.

However, the GMOA made headlines as a fellow medical officer who came for a discussion held at the Sri Lanka Foundation leaving behind hundreds of patients who came seeking treatment was sent back to the hospital, to taste bitter medicines, with a broken nose.

Doctors discussing the current crisis over private medical education were later found exchanging fisticuffs as one member hit the other one on the face using a ceramic cup.

MR in Pakistan

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa left to Pakistan last Monday afternoon to participate, as the guest speaker, at an event held at the Pakistan National Defence University.

Speaking at an event organized by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) and Global Village Space (GVS) Rajapaksa said terrorism is against the spirit of humanity and no country can prosper if people are compelled to live their lives under fear.

Delivering his speech on the topic of the talk which was 'Sri Lanka's Struggle for Peace and its Lessons for Pakistan and the Region,' Rajapaksa said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka's mutual relationship is sustained by cultural heritage, economies, and common stand on international issues.

"We are grateful for the unconditional and steadfast support we received from Pakistan. It is a matter of deep satisfaction that I was able to raise Sri Lanka's voice with Pakistan. They have stood by us through thick and thin," he said. Rajapaksa added there is no distinction between terrorists, mirroring the good versus bad Taliban debate in Pakistan.

He also said that in the case of Sri Lanka, armed forces provided unrelenting support, backed by actual and concrete actions on part of the government.

The former President said that successful anti-terrorism operations depend as much on internal factors as they do on external factors. Public education and support is necessary to thwart any sympathy or help for the enemy. There is no room for hypocrisy or double-dealing, he stressed.

In his concluding remarks, Rajapaksa stressed: "We must learn from one another, be productive and provide practical solutions."

He further stressed on the need for more such dialogues and platforms to better understand the menace of terrorism and employ measures to combat it and achieve peace in the region.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that stronger Pak-Sri Lankan partnership was key to promoting greater cooperation in the region and also a bulwark against the challenges facing the region including the issue of terrorism and poverty besides warding off any self-assumed notion of hegemony in the region, Pakistan's 'The Nation' reported.

"This he said while talking to former President of Sri Lanka Rajapaksa, Percy Mahendra, at Punjab House in Pakistan on Thursday when the latter called on him along with his delegation," says a statement issued by the Interior Ministry.

According to Pakistan media, Lt. Gen. (Retd.), Asif Yasin Malik has said, Pakistan has a lot to learn about peace-building from Sri Lanka, and there are a lot of parallels between the situations in the two countries vis-à-vis terrorism.

Former Pakistan High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Seema Baloch has stated that the Sri Lankan Government took decisive action against terrorism.Following its success, Sri Lanka began to open its routes and increasingly integrate with the international community.

Speaking on the issue of human rights, she has blamed the international community for its double standards.

"In some cases we describe the lives of others as collateral damage and in other cases we emphasize it as civilian casualty," she said.

Former Chief of Pakistan's powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar who now heads the National Defence University while commending Rajapaksa has said that they do not find the accusations levelled against Rajapaksa when commanding the country towards peace by defeating terrorism as fair and just.

"Pakistan will stand by you at any given time," he had said.