NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan held by 'terrorism' investigators in Sri Lanka 

    January 1, 2014 9
Military officers in Sri Lanka have placed an NDP MP visiting the Indian Ocean island under house arrest Tuesday, confining Rathika Sitsabaiesan to her hotel, according to unverified reports.

Sitsabaiesan was met at her hotel by a military office from the Sri Lankan "Terrorist Investigation Department" (TID) Tuesday evening after visiting she had visited some Tamil-dominated areas in the north part of the country.

Sitsabaiesan, who just celebrated her 32nd birthday Dec. 23 and is the first Tamil ever to be elected to Parliament, has been a fierce critic of the Sri Lankan government,which stands accused of war crimes against Tamils during that country's bitter and bloody civil war.

Sitsabaiesan, who represents the Toronto area riding of Scarborough-Rouge River -- a riding with a large Tamil population -- had spoken out against the government at a Parliament Hill rally this fall.

Two online sources -- TamilNet and the Colombo (Sri Lanka) Gazette -- reported that Sitsabaiesan had been confined to her hotel in Jaffna, the capital of Sri Lanka's Northern Province.

Minister of State for Consular Affairs Lynne Yelich tweeted late Tuesday, "My staff is in direct contact to provide support. Our High Commissioner in Colombo will be making representations in Sri Lanka to determine her status."

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird's department is investigating Sitsabaiesan's situation and tweeted: "Minister @Lynne_Yelich and I, and our staff are working on these reports of @RathikaS. We've been in contact."
(cnews.canoe.ca)

Canadian MP not questioned by Sri Lankan authorities 

  January 1, 2014

By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody

Immigration and Emigration Officials are alleged to have questioned a Sri Lankan born Canadian MP who is currently touring Sri Lanka on a fact finding mission.

Born in Jaffna, Rathika Sitsabaiesan is said to have arrived here based on an invitation by the Tamil National Alliance.

While she has already been to her house in Jaffna, using her Tourist Visa she is said to have engaged in political activities and international news reports have published that she has since been placed under house arrest by Sri Lankan authorities.

“We have not taken her into questioning,” added Department of Immigration and Emigration Controller General Chulananda Perera.

Department of Immigration and Emigration Monitoring, Intelligence and Investigating Unit Chief Immigration Officer Amith Perera stated that “From what we know she is a dual citizenship holder. The Criminal Investigation Department or the State Intelligence Service must be conducting investigations.”

Northern Province Chief Minister C. Vigneswaran and Jaffna Police were not available for a comment.

When queried as to whether she was under house arrest in Jaffna, while Tilko Jaffna City Hotel General Manager S. Sutheswaran confirmed that she was currently staying at the Hotel, Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana stated that “We have not placed her under house arrest.”

Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya confirmed that “This is a false report that has originated from Canada.”

Norway’s ‘Jiffy’ wrought disaster on people sans environmental certificate : Minister Susil asleep
(Lanka-e-News-31.Dec.2013, 11.00PM) May we recall that Lanka e news in an earlier report exposed with copious and cogent evidence the grim facts and grave dangers posed to the human race by Jiffy product Private Co. located at Kobaygane Gurugodawatte , Kurunegala that is run by two crooked cronies , Suhada Gamlath and Sandeepna Gamlath of the traitorous Rajapakse regime , and belonging fully to the Norway government which hypocritically proclaims to the world that environmental protection is its very soul . 

Norway’s ‘Jiffy’ wrought disaster on people sans environmental certificate Minister Susil asleep by nelvely

Bribery Petition Against Bribery Chief ( Full Text Of The Petition)

( January 1, 2014 - Colombo - Sri Lanka Guardian) The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is to lodge a complaint against the Chief of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), today, by submitting a petition to the very Commission of which he is the head.

JVP Propaganda Secretary, Vijitha Herath, said the petition includes allegations of bribery and corruption committed by the CIABOC Chairman, Jagath Balapatabendi, in the past six years, from the time he was a Judge of the Supreme Court until the present time in his capacity as the Chairman of CIABOC.

Balapatabendi had come under severe criticism on several occasions in Parliament recently, for allegedly suppressing and covering up charges of bribery and corruption that had been lodged against government politicians and their stooges.

UNP Colombo District Parliamentarian, Sujeewa Senasinghe, during the third reading debate of the 2014 Budget, had pointed out in Parliament how the Bribery Chief had allegedly aided and abetted in the arrest of the former Director (Preventive) of Sri Lanka Customs for an alleged charge of bribery early this year, as a personal favour to one of his friends, the owner of Vehicle Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., Harsha de Silva.

Senasinghe said that though an arrest has to be made when the bribe was being accepted, in the case of the former Customs Preventive Director, Ranjan Kanagasabai, the Bribery officials were not present at the time the bribe was purported to have been given, to positively conclude whether the bribe was accepted or not. Many attempts to contact CIABOC Chairman Balapatabendi for a comment, porved futile.

Full text of the petition is follows;

JVP to file complaint against Bribery Commission chief

 Wednesday, 01 January 2014 

The JVP is to file a complaint with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption against its Chairman, retired Supreme Court judge, Jagath Balapatabendi.

The media unit of the party has stated that the complaint would be based on various allegations of corruption levelled against Balapatabendi and call for an investigation into the matter by the Commission.

The JVP will file the complaint at today (1) at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

Photo courtesy - Sri Lanka Mirror

Police sergeant arrested with live bullets 
Police sergeant arrested with live bullets



ByPremalal Rathnayaka-
January 1, 2014 

A police sergeant of the Trincomalee Police was arrested for keeping two live bullet boxes unlawfully in his possession.

It is reported that the sergeant had left the two boxes of bullets inside a pocket of his jacket with the bike he had left for repair at a garage in Trincomalee.

The garage owner who had come across the boxes had made a complaint to the Trincomalee Police. The police sergeant who was arrested afterwards is scheduled to be presented in Court.(Ceylon Today Online)
OIC arrested for possessing of heroin 

 January 1, 2014 
Officer in Charge of the Wellampitiya Police has been questioned under a detention order by the court for reportedly keeping heroin in possessing.
 
Colombo Crime Division is carrying out further investigation. 

A Human Rights Manifesto

by RON JACOBS-DECEMBER 30, 2013

Julie Wark has written a manifesto for justice. Simply titled A Human Rights Manifesto, her book examines the UN Declaration of Human Rights and compares it to the current situation. In doing so, it is clear that we as a species have failed. While there is certainly plenty of blame to go around, from those activists who have resigned from the battle to those who have convinced themselves that the current political and economic systems are capable of remedying the daily violations of human rights, the bulk of the blame remains with the greatest violators of those rights. That means governments, their militaries and police officials, and their courts. The ultimate violator however, in every measurement Ms. Wark relates, is the current manifestation of the capitalist economy: neoliberalism.

This book destroys the myth that neoliberal capitalism is a positive force for humankind. It does so by merely stating the facts. Example after example of the cruelties and deprivations unleashed in the name of corporate and financial freedom leap from these pages. Thousands of children starving every day; forests, rivers and mountains ravaged, raped and destroyed by the machines ploughing under our planet’s future; wars undertaken and resistance destroyed to ensure the continued expansion until death of the capitalist system emanating from the world’s financial capitals. The perversion of local and national food economies via corporate manipulation of production through the commodification of food and artificial GMOs to the withholding of fertilizers and food via sanctions, humanity’s fundamental right to not starve is denied. Despite the ravages described in A Human Rights Manifesto, the author holds out an optimistic hope flickering in this litany of despair. That flicker emanates from that long-forgotten and ignored declaration.

It’s been clear to many for a while that humanitarian interventions are usually something else entirely. How else could one explain the increase in death that often occurs after the supposedly humanitarian troops arrive with their automatic weapons, their fighter planes and attack helicopters? How else can one explain the fact that when the original military phase of such interventions are over, the foreign troops remain, imposing the will of their political and corporate commanders back home? How else does one explain that in so many of these interventions, the majority of the civilians residing in said countries still find their lives at risk? The nature of these interventions and their non-humanitarian results have led many to scoff whenever the words “human rights” appear as a motivation. This skepticism feeds into the invaders’ dynamic quite helpfully, leaving their military power plays unchallenged in any meaningful way.

Ms. Wark’s book reclaims human rights for those whom they were originally intended. That is, for all humanity, especially those whose existence is considered unnecessary by the Goldman Sachs of the world. Instead of defining these rights in a manner that considers the right to buy and sell to be more important than the right to eat, Wark’s text is inspired by an understanding that human rights can only be human rights when they are applied to all of humanity, not just those of a certain nation, political or religious philosophy, and certainly not only to those with property and wealth.

Essentially anarchist in its analysis, The Human Rights Manifesto gives no government or economic system a free pass. Yet it is primarily a searing indictment of neoliberal capitalism.

Don Winslow is the author of several works of crime fiction. His novels are about people that travel in the smuggling of contraband, drugs and human. The laws of society rarely apply in Winslow’s world. Instead, it is usually the individual who is most brutal and amoral that succeeds. When the force of justice does appear, usually in the form of a renegade cop or private investigator, that justice is without mercy. I mention Winslow because Wark quotes his novels in her book. The quotes she chooses are not laudatory. Instead, they compare the morality of those who run and profit from the neoliberal capitalist economy to those that operate in the murderous economy Mr. Winslow writes of so graphically in his novels. The difference, the use of these quotes seems to claim, is just a matter of scale.

Perhaps the most interesting discussion in this book is the one presented by Wark concerning language and its (mis)use and manipulation. She lambastes the misuse of words like justice and the phrase human rights. Not only has their meaning been manipulated, it has been rendered meaningless. If the words describing a phenomenon no longer have any absolute meaning, then the phenomena become whatever those in power decide. In this world, justice becomes revenge and war becomes humanitarian intervention.

When the original UN Declaration was signed in 1948, it combined economic and political rights. After the major capitalist nations balked at the two elements being linked, the declaration was split and those nations objecting did not sign the part dealing with economic rights, which included statements detailing the right of all humanity to form labor unions, earn a fair wage, have shelter, health care, food and education. Washington and its cohorts knew that including these in any declaration of human rights would make the world they hoped to help build–the world we live in today–pretty much impossible. After all, without the commodification of food, education, shelter and health care, how would the financial-corporate nexus control the world like they do now?

Julie Wark’s book is a revolutionary tract. All it does is demands that the human rights claimed by the wealthiest and most powerful in our world be applied to everyone. It is a shame that such a demand has become a call to revolution. But, if that’s what is demanded, then we would do well to begin.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir rules out power share

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since the fighting started in mid-December-30 December 2013

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has ruled out any power sharing with rebel leader Riek Machar to halt violence that has killed at least 1,000 people.

Mr Kiir told the BBC that Mr Machar - his deputy until sacked in July - should not be rewarded with power for rebelling.

The fighting broke out more than two weeks ago in the capital Juba. It has spread to many parts of the country.

South Sudan only became independent in 2011, after decades of conflict.

What began as a power struggle between the two men has taken on overtones of an ethnic conflict. The Dinka, to which Mr Kiir belongs, are pitted against the Nuer, from which Mr Machar hails.

'No reward'

In an interview with the BBC, President Kiir said Mr Machar had not earned the right to share the leadership of South Sudan.

Riek Machar (left) and Salva Kiir, shown in a photo from last July, are under pressure to negotiate

Sharing power, President Kiir said, "is not an option".

"These men have rebelled. If you want power, you don't rebel so that you are rewarded with the power. You go through the process."

He recalled that he did not come to power through a military coup but via the ballot box.

"Elections are coming in 2015 - why did he not wait so that he went through that same process?" he asked.

Mr Kiir also refused to release political allies of his rival who have been detained. Mr Machar has said he will not negotiate unless the men are freed.

Fighting has reportedly continued ahead of Tuesday's deadline set by regional leaders for peace talks to begin.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is in South Sudan to try to help start negotiations.

The BBC's James Copnall says aid workers fear a humanitarian crisis

He has threatened military action against Riek Machar if he refuses to co-operate.

Meanwhile, on the ground, families have been split up as people fled their homes when the fighting started.

Thousands of children are likely to have been separated from their families and many children are surviving on their own in very remote areas, aid agency Save the Children says.

Some have witnessed their parents being killed and their homes looted or destroyed.

Fighting broke out between rival army factions some two weeks ago after allegations of a coup attempt

What began as a power struggle has taken on overtones of an ethnic conflict

24 Hilarious Puns That Only English Nerds Will Understand

1. Why did the run-on sentence think it was pregnant?

2. But how can you tell that this question is notpregnant?

24 Hilarious Puns That Only English Nerds Will Understand by nelvely

Syria conflict pits Shia against Sunni as Hezbollah says this is ‘war we must win’

Commander of militant Lebanese group claims that it has been forced to intervene in self-defence after sectarian attacks

The Syria conflict is increasingly dragging in militant groups from surrounding countries. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images
In a grand manor house in northern Lebanon, eight men, all of them well-to-do professionals, had gathered to hear an important visitor talk about the war.

Syria conflict pits Shia against Sunni as Hezbollah says this is ‘war we must win’ by nelvely

Indian court’s “clean chit verdict” to Narendra Modi

Note- Sri Lanka’s mainstream media, under the influence of Sinhala extremists and perhaps,   Israeli influence, do not publish these articles. Therefore kindly circulate this article amongst all for wider circulation.

By Latheef Farook-30 Dec 2013

Indian Court's Verdict Shatters Muslims’ hope for justice from judiciary

Indian judiciary is fast collapsing in the face of rising RSS Hindutva which derives its inspirations from Hitler, Mussolini and now functions in close collaboration with Zionist Jews who turned Middle East into a killing field. Indications are that Indian Muslim can no longer turn to judiciary for justice under rising violent anti Muslim Hindutva forces.

This is what one could conclude at the Ahmadabad magistrate court’s shocking, shameful and frightening verdict on Thursday 26 December 2013 stating that there no evidence to prosecute Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in a case relating to the anti Muslim pogrom in 2002. The verdict has given a clean chit to Narendra Modi and 58 others.

Indian court’s “clean chit verdict” to Narendra Modi by nelvely