Category Archives: Rajapaksa regime

June 29, 2016 · 12:35 pm

Zeid on Warpath says UNHRC and Yahapaalanaya are on the Same Page

The Island, in two [confusing] items today 28 June 2016 … http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=147741 …. AND …  http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=147742

The Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC has renewed its call for international participation in the proposed war crimes probe in Sri Lanka following representations made by the government of Sri Lanka and the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The Island yesterday revealed that TNA Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran had disclosed a tripartite understanding among the GoSL, the US and the TNA in respect of foreign judges as well as other personnel to be accommodated in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism.

Call for foreign judges renewed

*Fresh probe into ‘cluster bombs’ sought

*Lankan peacekeepers striclty screened

article_imageUN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, in his special report that dealt with the entire gamut of issues, said: “A key question remains the participation of international judges, prosecutors, investigators and lawyers in a judicial mechanism. Continue reading →

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June 24, 2016 · 3:51 am

Ominous Threads in the Present Paths of Constitutional Reform

Rohana R. Wasala, in The Island, 22 & 24 June 2016, with title “A glance at PRCR report in the context of drive for federalism”

Tamil_Eelam_territorial_claimThe armed struggle for creating a separate state in Sri Lanka was decisively defeated in 2009. But, the separatist ideology is still very much alive and shows signs of flourishing again. According to the US State Department the LTTE fronts active in that country continued their collection of funds for their activities through 2015, though the outfit still remains on its list of banned foreign terrorist organizations, so designated since August 10, 1997. Yet the Americans support the demand by expatriate Tamils, the TNA, and Tamil Nadu politicians that the government ‘demilitarise’ the north. Despite this, the Sri Lankan government lifted its ban on a few of these fronts in September last year. Chief minister Jayalalitha of TN has pledged to make one of her priorities the creation of Eelam in Sri Lanka that the terror leader Prabhakaran envisioned.  Continue reading →

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June 16, 2016 · 4:22 pm

A Puzzle: When Weiss, Amnesty International and Aussie Greens LIE

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, where the title is  “Moral Crusader Journeys into Duplicity”

Today’s world in the West is marked by currents of secular fundamentalism mounting campaigns against paedophiles, smoking, corruption and “crimes against humanity”.  The humanitarian campaign directed at war crimes has on occasions promoted a strange phenomenon: where people of ethical stance indulge in outright lies as well as the massaging of facts. When Amnesty International, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (Sydney) and such moral crusaders as Gordon Weiss descend to such duplicity, the world must surely take note.

MILNE on SL Christine Milne on Sri Lanka –www.youtube.com = Pic 1

The Australian media-man Gordon Weiss is the epitome of a moral crusader. Of Polish Jewish ancestry, it is likely that his leanings are coloured by the horrors inflicted on the Jews in Europe during the first half of the 20th century. His presentation of self within his own web site, his intense demeanour when fronting the public on TV cameras or stage and his campaign against the government of Sri Lanka (GSL) stand as testimony to the stance “crusader for truth.” Continue reading →

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May 30, 2016 · 1:33 pm

Mattala as His Handiya: The Story Behind The World’s Emptiest International Airport

Wade Shephard, courtesy of Forbes Asia, 28 May 2016, where the title is “The Story Behind The World’s Emptiest International Airport”

Hardly anybody goes to Sri Lanka’s Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) because they have a flight. No, the air transport hub is currently a daily flight or two away from being completely defunct, and the people who do go there tend to be tourists making a side trip from the nearby wildlife parks to see the stunning, fully modern airport in the middle of the jungle for themselves. I arrived at HRI, which is located in Sri Lanka’s southern Hambantota district, in the mid-morning to find a group of tourists huddle together in front of its passenger terminal. I asked them why they wanted to visit an empty airport. “It is a really beautiful building,” one of them told me matter-of-factly.

A Sri Lankan Budhist monk takes pictures of an unseen Sri Lankan airlines Airbus A-340 which transported President Mahinda Rajapakse who became the first passenger to go through the facility at the new Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala, in the southeast of the island on March 18, 2013.  AFP PHOTO/Ishara S. KODIKARA

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May 2, 2016 · 6:51 am

Without an Enabling Environment Lankan Patriots at the Cutting Edge will not return to spike Growth

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Ananda Wanasinghe, M.Ec and migrant in Australia, in The Island where the title is “Most things are rotten in the state of Sri Lanka”…. ALSO IN https://thinkworth.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/most-things-are-rotten-in-the-state-of-sri-lanka/

wanasinghe cartoon-ISLANDTechnocrats led by Lee Kuan Yew transformed Singapore to a super-rich and powerful city state in twenty-five years. Sixty-eight years after independence, with far more resources than Singapore had, we are still muddling along in a grievous state of underdevelopment. In a recent address to a gathering of engineers, President Sirisena said that intellectuals must remain in Sri Lanka to support the development of the motherland, rather than seek personal development through high-paying employment in the rich developed countries. Earlier, he had invited Sri Lankan professionals working abroad to return and participate in the development of the nation. He was, in other words, asking technocrats to sacrifice their professional advancement and personal well-being for the welfare of the nation. But there was no promise of ensuring an enabling environment with law and order and professional freedom for them to work in. Therefore, his request was meaningless.maithripala-sirisena-and-Chandrika-Kumaratunga-640x415 Continue reading →

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May 2, 2016 · 4:56 am

Malik scrummages among the “Powers” in USA for Economic Benefits

Island News Item, 30 April 2016, with title “Malik calls for preferential market access for SL in the US…..“ECTA with India this year, FTA with China in early 2017”

Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema last week urged the U.S., Sri Lanka’s largest export market, to increase market access for Lankan exports which he said “will be crucial for building a more prosperous, stable and peaceful Sri Lanka.” The minister was speaking in Washington at the 12th Joint Council meeting under the US-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement at an event attended by Ambassadors Michael Froman, US Trade Representative, and Ambassador Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the United Nations – both cabinet members. Samarawickrema who described significantly increased preferential market access as the ‘jewel in the crown’ said this has the capacity to generate “quick wins” making the point that Sri Lanka was pressed with challenges to manage the short term.

MALIK plus USAUS UN Ambassador Samantha Power, United States Trade Representative Michael Froman, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama and Sri Lankan Ambassador to U.S.A Prasad Kariyawasam, at the United States-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council Meeting

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April 28, 2016 · 4:44 am

Hardline Ethnic Mind-Sets: Jane Russell’s Findings and Reflections

Michael Roberts

Rajan Hoole is now presenting his studies of Sri Lanka Tamil political ferment in the 20th century via the Colombo Telegraph and local newspapers. This earnest endeavour is to be applauded. However, such surveys are not without their problems. Serious commentary on his arguments – as distinct from off-the-cuff blog comments – will have to dwell on the “depth and reach” of his documentation.

JR in 1976Jane Russell in 1976Rajan-Hoole-3 Rajan Hoole today Chandra-w-borderChandra de Silva today

The historical material, whether secondary literature or primary sources, on the politics of the period extending from the 1920s to the 1980s is considerable. For one hand to delve into the readily available data at depth in brief articles[1] is well-nigh impossible. Even with this caveat it is surprising that Hoole has made no reference to Arasaratnam’s and KM de Silva’s essays on the constitutional agitation of the early 20th century, Ranjith Amarasinghe’s study of the Trotskite movement (2000) or the documentary material on GG Ponnambalam’s approaches to the Colonial Office in Documents of the Ceylon National Congress and Nationalist Politics in Ceylon: 1929-1950 (1977). Continue reading →

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April 25, 2016 · 2:45 am

The MISSING in the War Years: A Cumulative Bibliography as Aide

Michael Roberts

Let me begin with Rajasingham Narendran’s harrowing tale describing the moment when he returned to his home in the Jaffna Peninsula after the IPKF’s imperial occupation of the north in 1987: “My mother: 68-year old at the time of her killing. Slim build. Had been attacked by animals and crows and was in an advanced state of decay. My brother: 38-year old at the time of his death. neither obese or thin. Body intact though bloated. The gardener: Age approx. 60 years. Obese. All flesh had fallen off and the skeleton was clearly visible. A neighbour’s watchman: Age approx. 60 years. medium build. Only thigh bones-femurs and the skull remained. The rest of the body had been consumed or carried away by animals.”

   NARIYA 1 A jackal feeding on a buffalo carcass at Kumana -April 2014–Pic by Roberts missing= Photo by Eranga Jayawardena A Tamil lady in search of a missing kinswoman–Pic by Eranga Jayawardena in Groundviews

This is just one corpus of fact and tale that will have to be evaluated by the unit that is envisaged by the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms set up by the present government. If one visits the web site where the SCRM seeks submissions from the public, you will be led to “Boxes” where you can present ideas and/or information. The set of Boxes numbered 9 [nine] has this request: “The government has decided to set up An Office of Missing Persons. What measures should the office take to address the issue of the missing?” Continue reading →

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April 22, 2016 · 1:38 pm

The Reconciliation Task Force in Sri Lanka

The formal title is ‘Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms”  and its web site is  http://www.scrm.gov.lk/  and the deadline for submissions is drawing to a close.The Personnel constituting the Task Force are an impressive mix, while Mano Tittawella is its “Secretary-General” (c.v. below).manoouri plus Manori, Farzana and  … RANILAT KOVIL Ranil at launch ? Continue reading →

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April 18, 2016 · 5:38 am

Reflections on Sri Lanka’s Experience in Defeating Terrorism

RAJIVARajiva Wijesinha, text of a talk at the ‘Afkar-e-Taza: Rescuing the Past, Shaping the Future’ Seminar, at Lahore, April 3rd 2016, where the title was “Defeating Terrorism: The Sri Lankan Experience” …with highlighting added by Thuppahi. Also available at https://rajivawijesinha.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/defeating-terrorism-the-sri-lankan-experience/

The world seems to be at boiling point at present given the increasing impact of terrorist activity. Civilian populations are subject to ruthless attacks in Africa, the Middle East and now both Europe and Asia. Typically, there is much less attention to what happens in our part of the world, which I believe may explain why there seems no adequate response to deal with the menace. Western powers engage in long distance operations that result in more civilian deaths in the less developed world, and the occasional claim that an identified terrorist has been killed. But the reach of the terrorist organizations seems only to grow in the face of such operations.

president-premadasa-on-may-dayPresident Prwemadasa on ! May 1993, a few minutes efore he was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber = https://blog.dzone.lk/2009/10/25/last-day-of-president-ranasinghe-premadasa/ Premadasa

There has indeed in recent years been only one unquestionable success in dealing with terrorism. In 2009 Sri Lanka defeated a terrorist movement that had pioneered suicide killings, with responsibility for several incidents where the victims had been numbered in hundreds. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had also killed two heads of government and destroyed several leading moderates of the ethnic group which it claimed to be liberating, namely the Tamils of Sri Lanka (Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India, President Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka, Messers Amirthalingam, Yoheswaran, Sam Tambimuttu, Neelan Tiruchelvam, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Mrs Sarojini Yoheswaran, Ketheswaran Loganathan, Alfred Duraiyappa, etc). Continue reading →

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