Category: Foreign Affairs

By Lasantha Pethiyagoda –

Passing an age of decimation of civil liberties and individual freedom, carried out in the name of fighting manufactured enemies of selection, any civic selection will have shackled citizens to an interconnected police and safety state, unprecedented in modern Sri Lankan political history just before the preceding regime.

In a tyrannic serfdom, the freedom of the wild ass is no freedom at all, as the popular dictum exclaims, whilst the search for unbridled power and limitless terms of office, symbolised these in explicit kind.

Contemporary tyrannies are deceptive. In the age of technology, it has to do with the need to hide its true nature from the eyes of those on whose assistance and indifference its maintenance depends. Effective tyrannies excel at hiding reality from public view, turning the truth on its head and criminalising its manifest victims.

The greatest purveyor of corruption, vice and violence in the country have to surely have had state patronage not merely to survive but thrive. Its varied mechanisms, as properly as getting the major exponent of the deadly arrogance that has poisoned the atmosphere for so extended and having been whitewashed from the discourse should constitute the most significant threat to civil society.

If not for its timely finish in January it would have installed a far deeper malady within the Sri Lankan spirit than had hitherto been seasoned. No significant social issue &#8211 wealth inequality, underworld violence, racial and religious disharmony- could be resolved whilst the state remained an entity that continues year in year out, spending much more cash on military “defence” and grandiose projects than on applications of social upliftment &#8211 a most specific recipe for a spiritual death of the nation. It ought to be incandescently apparent that no one particular who has any concern for the integrity and life of Sri Lanka could have ignored that status quo.

This is the overarching point that drives our existing debates about injustice and militarism even by way of right now. The debasement of the national psyche, the callousness toward continuous targeted killing and violence, the belief that the state has not only the correct but the duty to bring violence anyplace in the land that it wants: that is what lay at the heart of Sri Lanka&#8217s embrace of endless militancy. A rotted national soul does certainly allow leaders to wage endless wars of attrition, but endless violence also rots the national soul. At times this seems to be an inescapable, self-perpetuating cycle of degeneration and degradation.

Sri Lanka’s elite despised the subjugated, poor, malnourished and weak. They felt unequal and wanted a discriminatory technique that lacked any sense of frequent decency. They have been pretentious and cowardly they encouraged religious bigotry with out morality or compassion. They helped the authorities to criminalise independence and freedom abuse ladies and kids revel in vulgar exhibitionism of wealth and opulence, largely in undesirable taste.

For Sri Lankans to endure what lies ahead they will have to harness the human imagination. It is this imagination that makes possible transcendence from darkness to light. In order to nourish and sustain this imagination, the people require to form a basis for widespread grounds.

These will be the forces that they will have in spot of the freedom they lack. The oppressed would be the first, since they know their fate, to admit that on a rational level such a notion may appear absurd, but they also know that it is only by way of the imagination that they or their future generation will survive.

The collective consciousness of ordinary citizens is the most potent power that can turn the tide towards a saner atmosphere.

How this is inspired and sequestered by accountable forces, from within or without in the a variety of factions, will establish what follows in the decades to come.

The effective elite had been specifically interested in moulding their younger generation into becoming a chosen individuals. They wanted their offspring to be folks who esteem energy and strength with awe even though despising and getting contemptuous of financial, physical and social weakness in their serfs.

This young generation will be incapable of becoming outraged with indignation of a society in which the powerful, influential and rich would invariably have had their way whilst the marginalized majority poor and powerless masses were denied even their impotently ineffectual say a new generation habituated into perceiving intolerance as the moral-ethical regular and raw violence as the only solution to all issues or variations future generations only focused on ‘getting ahead’ and incapable of resisting the unrelenting tide of injustice.

Operating against this endogenous imperialism is the privilege and the burden of all who deem themselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than the superficial nationalist humbug of racist bigots headed by some militant saffron clad traitors, and which go beyond our nation&#8217s self-defined ambitions and positions. We should speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for these the ruling elite fictitiously referred to as the enemy.

For centuries, minorities and the marginalised had small handle over their destinies. Forces of bigotry and violence kept them subjugated by the majority aristocrats. Suffering, for the oppressed, was tangible. Death was a continual companion.

For a state whose leaders had historically been guided, in most instances by nobler dictates and motivations, like the ten leadership qualities (dasa raja dhamma), and the general populace&#8217s belief that all blessed things, like timely rains, fair climate and bountiful harvests, and general effectively-becoming and prosperity of the populace comply with when rulers reign justly and righteously (devo vassathu kalena, raja bhavathu dhammiko), our contemporary history leaves a lot to be desired, for numerous good and clear causes.

“Despite what we say or do, at the end of the day we are all like crabs dancing in a boiling pot of water,” stated President Maithripala Sirisena as he added that it is his experiences during the previous two months as the President that created him recognize the true nature of politics.

“I have had the opportunity to meet the Indian Prime Minister, the British PM and the Queen of England. Those meetings created me recognize that there are a lot of challenges that Sri Lanka has to face and we can not do it alone,” he mentioned addressing a meeting organized for the SLFP electoral organizers earlier this week (17.03.2015) in Colombo.

The President, in a very powerful and emotional speech criticized particular aggressive and racist statements made by some SLFP MPs in public rallies and to the media as he described them as ‘primitive statements’ and warned them to stop Sri Lanka from being pushed into yet another war.

“It was PM Bandaranaike that showed us that it’s impossible to establish a government only via Sinhala Buddhist votes. In this country, the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities all have to come with each other – without such unity this country can not be taken forward, there will be no future for this country, please comprehend that,” he mentioned.

The President addressed specific factions of the SLFP who have started openly challenging and criticizing him and said, “You all have created various statements about me but none commended the deferral of the OISL report which was achieved following my election. I can say for sure the deferral of the report was granted due to my election as the President. If that report had been tabled in March, it is the extremely men and women you campaign for and hold in high regard that would fall into difficulty&#8230”

President Sirisena went on to state that because it was upon the invitation of the former SLFP Chairman and the celebration members that he assumed duties as the SLFP chairman, he must be allowed to fulfill his duties.

“This is not a position that a single can come into by force or coercion. Throughout the previous two months I have brought about democracy into the celebration and simply because of that, many are freely making statements and for the first time, has began difficult the Chairman of the celebration. Although I observe the freedom of speech as a positive improvement I also urge you all to enable me to continue my perform,” he mentioned.

Meanwhile, speaking of the upcoming elections, the President said the SLFP need to cast aside primitive slogans that stir racial hatred and sideline particular communities and adopt a slogan that fits the celebration and ensures the well becoming of the country and its individuals.

Watch the full speech

By Emil van der Poorten –

I produced a specific effort to attend the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vs Kandy Sports Club (KSC) game for a range of causes, chief of which was to see whether or not there had been a alter in what has grow to be a war rather than a rugby encounter and I use the word “war” literally rather than metaphorically!

The early indications had been that, as that American master of the malapropism said, so several years ago, it was “déjà vu all over once again.”

The stage appeared set when, in spite of being 1 of a relatively couple of current paid-up members of the KSC, I was not permitted access even up to the club gates (on the public road that goes past them!) to drop off my companion who has a critical heart condition that precludes walking any distance. The police manning the entry point told me that my car was NOT among those permitted access to the location adjacent to the club. I am beginning to wonder no matter whether I am now regarded as a “security risk” in some circles, a status now even the late-unlamented Rajapaksa Regime did not accord me (not to my expertise anyway!)

Anyway, having dropped off my partner some considerable distance from the Club, on the promise that she would stroll additional slowly to the club premises, I parked about two miles away and walked back to the grounds. If nothing at all else, even if not by decision, that provided a “constitutional” that I may well not otherwise have had that afternoon!

Coming events seemed to cast their (prior) shadows when I observed scores of SLN personnel along the road, armed with assault rifles. Also, while I do not know regardless of whether the SLN had bought, actually, thousands of tickets for their personnel, at this match as they have accomplished in the previous, a part of the “parking problem” was the quantity of buses bearing SLN licence- and private-plates parked along the roads serving the Nittawela grounds of the KSC. In case there is any doubt on that score, no Kandy supporters use charter buses to get to the grounds of the Club they support, the vast majority merely trudge up the hill!

When I arrived in the Members’ seating location of the pavilion, I discovered that my partner had succeeded in persuading a couple of non-members to give up their seats to a couple of septuagenarians who had paid an annual membership charge for the privilege of watching a handful of rugby matches every single year. I was also somewhat bemused to see, seated in a single of the better seats in that very enclosure a lady who was, until relatively recently a member of a single of the “ruling Kandyan families” that is reported to be in the process of participating in a dynastic coming-collectively. It does look that ANY association with the “right” folks, no matter how short-term, brings with it particular privileges not available to those who go the orthodox route of paying their dues!

Anyway, the rugby game itself was closely contested and the SLN eked out a 1-point win which proved to be a Pyrrhic victory since, it wasn’t enough to give them the championship the complicated rules of which saw the KSC as the 2015 Champions. One particular of the bright spots of the afternoon was the absence, compared to matches past, of violent or hazardous play and a referee who did not seem to be “under orders” of any kind!

Once the stage was set up for the distribution of the awards and trophy, with the usual bellowing by an announcer who believed in the superiority of volume more than clarity, we had been treated to yet another dose of déjà vu.

At this point, rather than more than-use the word “bizarre” I’d like to replace it with the a lot more appropriate “sinister” for what follows.

Not even during the playing days of the Rajapaksa Crown Princes on the SLN team had we observed the kind of armed presence on public access roads around the Nittawela grounds that we saw on March 15th. Now, we had a sailor in uniform, armed with an assault rifle on the stage exactly where the presentation was to be created! This was certainly an additional “first” for The Debacle of Asia in the matter of an occasion celebrating a national sports championship. There had been sufficient cameras flashing and video becoming shot to prove this beyond the semblance of a doubt. And given the presence of Very Extremely Senior SLN personnel all through this bizarre sequence of events, there can be small doubt that all of it had their seal of approval, not to mention that of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union and the Kandy Sports Club’s notoriously supine “leaders.”

You want a bit of icing on this distinct cake? The trophy that was presented was courtesy of Dialog, the Telco, and doing so, front and centre, actually, was no significantly less that Hans Wijesuriya, the man beneath whose watch, this very publication, Colombo Telegraph (CT) and many other websites, had been blocked, stopping each and every Sri Lankan’s proper to details. I would suggest that this gentleman’s time could have been much more appropriately spent in explaining to the Criminal Investigation Division of this nation the certain democratic practice he was applying by presiding over the blocking of such as CT rather than becoming the cynosure of all eyes at a national sporting occasion!

On the other hand, I suppose that this could be regarded as straightforward proof, if such proof is needed, that it pays handsomely to act in assistance of a violent and corrupt government with no risk whatsoever of any so-known as subsequent “reformers” making sure that the law and order they claimed to champion is applied against those who prevented the citizens of this nation from enjoying their elementary democratic rights.

And for the seal of (current) government approval, if one had been necessary, you had the lately-minted President of the United National Celebration who is also the economic Godfather of the KSC as everybody knows, as an active participant in all of this, with customary smile and bonhomie!

Does any person need to have the irony of all this pointed out to them? Or is it simply yet an additional instance of what several of us preserve pointing out: that the current lot, claiming to rescue us from the most corrupt and violent regime this nation has ever knowledgeable, are no far better than those they replaced? Is this simply farce, Sri Lankan style, or a Greek Tragedy getting played out on an Asian stage?

By Ranil Senanayake –

Throughout the world, the owning or holding of and that belongs to yet another sovereign nation, termed “territories held” have recently been largely returned. The Panama Canal was returned to Panama in January 2000, Hong Kong was returned to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, and Portugal returned Macau Island to China in 1999. The notable worldwide exception has been the US base in Cuba. This history is interesting, as it will certainly have a bearing on the historical events that we are attempting to set in motion.

In 1903 right after the turbulent period following the wars of independence, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba’s new government, leasing Guantanamo bay for two,000 gold coins per year. History notes that the agreement was forced on the new Cuban government to give the U.S. navy permission to occupy the bay. As Cuba attained much more independence and the Platt Amendment was annulled a new lease was negotiated between the Roosevelt administration and a Cuban government that integrated Fulgencio Batista as one of 3 signatories. When the Revolution triumphed in 1959, the new Cuban government requested that Guantánamo be returned to Cuba. Instead of returning it, the U.S. banned its soldiers stationed at the bay from entering Cuban territory. Right after this the Guantánamo base became a constant source of friction between the two nations. Ever because, Cuba’s contact for the return of the location that the United States occupies is based on the principle of sovereignty,”

Sovereignty implies supreme energy or authority. When utilised as national sovereignty the authority of a state to govern itself or yet another state. Typically, it is granted to foreign diplomatic missions and regional laws are not implemented on these lands as seen in the case of Julian Assange, sheltering from the British police, in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The query that should concern us is: Will giving outright ownership of our land to non-diplomatic entities, dilute our authority to enforce the laws of the land inside such lands? It is in this context that the agreements entered to by our Government and foreign Firms ought to be looked at. A deal as crucial as this ought to not have be left to a few bureaucrats, politicians and businessmen to choose, it must have been put prior to the men and women. Who will define the limits of our sovereignty over the new landfill? These drooling more than the possibility of producing a rapid buck must slow down and think.

If we are getting threatened with all sorts of economic repercussions at this early stage of the partnership, what sorts of pressures will the future have to deal with? If we do not see the writing on the wall, as seen from the existing reactions, which do not take into account the wellness and well getting of the natives (us) as essential at all and focus only the enterprise side of the equation, is the price to us not obvious?

Let us examine at arguments for continuing with the project. The China Communications Building Organization (CCCC) may sue us, yes they might, but the knife cuts each ways. If they have transgressed the laws of the land and/or if we can establish damage to our environment as a consequence of their actions, they could be sued back as harm wrought to Sri Lanka by a private entity.

A fear has been expressed that “There is hardly anything that strong nations do not do to safeguard their interests, financial or otherwise”. If this worry comes accurate, what need to be thought of the men and women that placed this nation in such a precarious position? They will be related to those who facilitated the loss of our independence in 1815. Considering that then, it was safeguards of the financial interests of yet another nation that was paramount, till we achieved independence. Are we fearful that the pattern be could be repeated?

Once this nation was proudly non-aligned. We have been friendly with everyone. We believed in equanimity so a lot that when China was unfairly excluded from the international economic order for their political beliefs, we stepped out of line and presented to barter for our mutual wants. Out of that came the popular Rice-Rubber pact. Can we not act in the defense of our resources, our overall health and properly getting, our capacity for wealth creation, independent of partiality not topic to global political groupings?

In the light of the current state of confusion it would be very very good for the legal profession to test what the law says about ‘Sovereignty’. A judicial definition will facilitate the existing discussion on the Port City.

By Sarath de Alwis –

“I am time, the destroyer of all I have come to consume the planet. That one particular is dear to me who runs not right after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen.” The Gita

Funds markets need laws, guidelines and regulations. The integrity, competence and judgment of the Monetary Authority is what is at stake right now. Lee Kwan Yew in his memoirs describes how he set up the capital market in Singapore and dismissed critics who complained of overregulation. ‘In Hong Kong what is not expressly forbidden is permitted in Singapore what is not expressly not permitted is forbidden’.

To take up the assignment, Arjuna Mahendran gave up a lucrative profession in International Banking and his Singapore Citizenship. When he sought much more time, he was persuaded to take more than immediately and his nationality problem was resolved by quickly tracking the approach.

Had he waited till April to take more than, the bond fiasco would have been under the watch of an individual else or there would have been no fiasco at all.

The rocket science of bond trading is explained by a central banker in a paper presented in 2008. The Added Superintendent of Public Debt Department Central Bank of Sri Lanka Mr.C.P.J. Siriwardene explains the growth of the Bond Market place.

Treasury bonds are traded through competitive auctions carried out by the Central Bank on a standard basis. Primary dealers who have been involved in the government debt industry considering that 1992 have direct access to the major auctions. According to the present regulatory framework, principal dealers must subscribe the complete sale and single main dealer minimum investment level is set at 10 per cent of the volume of sale to stay away from any possibility of below subscription. The present auction method is on several price tag basis. Given that 2000, all auctions are performed electronically employing an on &#8211 line technique. Prior to each and every auction, the debt authority accesses the prospective investors by means of major dealers to make sure the availability of funds for the full subscriptions. Private placements of Treasury bonds also take place as a contingency to accommodate unexpected borrowings to keep away from market shocks by providing big volumes to the auctions and cancellation of planned bond auctions. Productive 21 bidders are informed on the identical day of the auction and the settlement is two days right after the auction (T+2 technique). Given that the establishment of the principal dealer method, the Central Bank continued its part as a debt manager to create the major dealer system. They incorporate streamlining of dealers (removing nonactive dealers, appointing new dealers, and so on.), introducing necessary regulatory framework for dealers and building up close connection among main dealers and the Central Bank.

Dr. Harsha De Silva the Deputy Minister of Preparing has announced that the committee of three lawyers will examine all issues and trace any irregularities up to 2012. His erudite posturing and justifying of three mediocre lawyers on a voyage of discovery tracing misdeeds up to 2012 amounts to bottom trawling for red herrings.

This writer did not know who Mr. Gamini Pitipana was till finding out that he was to be the chairman of the probe committee. These days Google does much much more than Dunn &amp Bradstreet. So the name was googled. What  appeared was mind goggling. Royal College Class of ’72. Lawyer at Law. Apollo foods Private Ltd. In the absence of any further details from the usually expansive ,Dr.Harsha what should we make of the meagre details? That Mr.Pitipana is discovered in the law and could cook? Is that what is expected of an old Royalist buddy? Cook a report?

Let us get back to the planet of bond trading. A basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point. To make it easier, if a yield moves from 5.5% to 5%, it has moved 50 basis points.

Naturally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe thinks that the average quantum of gray matter which serves to process data in the brain of the typical Gamarala’ in Sri Lanka is far less than one basis point! But ‘Gamaralas’ are starting to run out of patience. Moving from bad governance to excellent governance the ‘Gamaralas are now experiencing a spell of ugly governance. Certainly really ugly governance at that.

It would be grossly unfair to accuse Governor Mahendran of withholding any data pertaining to his son in law. Sri Lanka is a small nation. The incestuous world of the money market place knew about the two Arjunas. Ranil Wickremesinghe decided to play Sri Krishna and persuaded the elder Arjuna to battle in the harsh world of greed.

Arjuna Mahendran is only a man. Energy is not of a man. Wright Mills the author of ‘Sociological Imagination’ the seminal study of twentieth century society identifies 5 problems we face right now in a cost-free marketplace economy alienation, moral insensibility, threat to the spirit of democracy, disregard to human freedom and most significantly the conflict in between bureaucratic rationality and human purpose.

The issues such the one that is discussed are commonplace.

“Wealth does not center in the particular person of the wealthy. Celebrity is not inherent in any character. To be celebrated, to be wealthy, and to have power demands access to main institutions.” What is nauseating with the governance style of the Prime Minister is that he reminds us of the commandant of Auschwitz who insisted “I never got complaints!”

By Rajeewa Jayaweera –

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

I join my compatriots in extending a warm welcome to you to Sri Lanka. Almost 28 years have passed because Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (RG) visited this island. As you are effectively aware, his visit was shrouded with some very complicated and unpleasant issues for the duration of the periods quickly prior to, in the course of and after his go to. It is hoped your pay a visit to will be a prelude to a new connection based on friendship amongst equals and mutual respect.

The deterioration of relations amongst India and Sri Lanka commenced about 1980 when Indira Gandhi (IG) was elected Prime Minister for the second time. Sri Lankan President JR Jayewardene’s (JRJ) pro-western foreign policy antagonized India immensely, prompting IG to adopt a hostile attitude and embark on a mission to punish JRJ. A virtually purpose created issue was at hand in the separatist movement by some young males in Sri Lanka’s Tamil community. Relations deteriorated from 1980 when India below the direction of IG and assisted by its intelligence arm RAW and Tamil Nadu state government began destabilizing Sri Lanka by way of delivering a protected haven for separatist groups, instruction facilities, weapons instruction and funding for their activities and culminating with India repeatedly voting against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva from 2010 departing from its preceding policy of not voting on country specific issues. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s (MR) ‘Look East’ policy by forging closer economic and military ties with China who have extended unconditional support to Sri Lanka more than the years and the willingness by China and Pakistan to sell arms to GoSL when India was reluctant to give weapons need to be pointed out in this context.

To reset relations, it is needed for each countries to produce an atmosphere of mutual trust. Notwithstanding the initiatives by the Sirisena government, there exists a huge trust deficit in our relations. The perception of double requirements on India’s part prevails even in these days. Your meeting with a TNA delegation in Delhi and National Security Advisor Ajith Doval meeting with Tamil leaders in Sri Lanka does not go down properly in the light of cancellation of talks with Pakistan at Foreign Secretary Level on the grounds of Pakistan’s High Commissioner in Delhi having discussions with Hurriyat leaders stating “talk to them or talk to us”. Getting involved in the Tamil situation in Sri Lanka and at the very same time insisting on the exclusion of Pakistan in the Kashmir issue is a case in point. In response to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s (RW) comment in the course of an interview final week that India ought to show the exact same magnanimity to Italian sailors at the moment held in India that they request for South Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters, Indian Foreign Minister Ms Swaraj had supposedly informed RW that “these are two various problems. Concerns of fishermen are a humanitarian concern. It is an concern of livelihood”. What Ms Swaraj and India want to comprehend is that it is a livelihood situation for our Northern fishermen as properly. Further, India’s ‘humanitarian’ problem is for Sri Lanka a ‘humiliating’ problem. In a manner of speaking, it is a repetition of the 1987 episode – only this time not our airspace by IAF transporters and fighter jets but our maritime boundaries by South Indian fishermen.

It is in the interest of each Sri Lanka and India to reset our relations to a pre-1977 level when issues amongst the two countries had been settled amicably with mutual respect. The Sirisena government has taken some initiatives to address one of India’s primary concerns i.e. the Colombo Port City Project which has been temporarily suspended. Even if the suspension is lifted, re-negotiation of the clause giving portion ownership to the Chinese to a 99 year lease is in the cards. On the other hand, India is however to demonstrate with any tangible efforts, its desire to reset relations except by graciously getting Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera initially and then President Maithripala Sirisena in Delhi. The problem of South Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters has received practically no interest from India.

Leaving politicians and the bureaucrats aside, it is relevant to take into account the emotions, sentiments, dignity and self-respect of the majority of the citizens in this country. While not condoning the act, one of Sri Lanka’s sons displayed his feelings with the butt finish of his rifle in 1987 for the duration of the guard of honour accorded to RG when he visited Colombo to sign the Indo &#8211 Sri Lanka accord. That accord to us Sri Lankans was a contemporary day surrender of our independence. Creating homes, rail roads etc. contribute towards enhancing relations only marginally. Such action is akin to providing a discomfort killer for a physique pain. It does not contribute towards treating the root cause. The reality is that the majority in this country nevertheless really feel strongly of the manner in which India violated this nation with impunity. At least some really feel India continue to do so covertly.

The Sirisena government has decided to accord you the honour of addressing our Parliament, an honour India did not see fit to accord to President Sirisena throughout his current check out to India. You will be the fourth Indian Prime Minister to do so after Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962, Indira Gandhi in 1973 and Moraji Desai in 1979. The Indian historian and author AG Noorani in a current essay in India’s Frontline magazine wrote “India’s relations with Sri Lanka will heal only if there is a sincere realisation of previous blunders and of the grave harm that India inflicted on a hapless neighbour too modest to retaliate”. This would be an ideal chance for you to set the record right. It would call for but 3 sentences of admission of errors of the previous, regret over them and an assurance of non-repetition. It can be appropriately worded preserving India’s dignity. Such an act would help millions in this nation to lastly bury the ugly previous and move on and also a great beginning for India to genuinely and constructively engage in resetting its relations with Sri Lanka and its folks.

By Siritunga Jayasuriya –

The coming state check out of India&#8217s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sri Lanka, and the red carpet welcome accorded to him, such as the ceremonial speech to the Sri Lanka&#8217s parliament, is certainly a undesirable omen for all the democratic minded, left and progressive forces of this nation.

As International Socialists the United Socialist Party (CWI &#8211 Sri Lanka) stands for the best of co-operation, understanding and solidarity with the neighbouring nations peoples, specially with India with whom the Folks of Sri Lanka share a widespread heritage, history and a frequent struggle for the emancipation of our oppressed peoples. USP stands and follows the rich tradition of the BLPI which had a reverberating effect on the anti-Imperialist struggle in both countries in the course of the People&#8217s Freedom Struggle against the British Imperialism in the sub-continent.

The USP has always stood steadfast and has separated itself from the forces of jingoism and appropriate-wing Nationalism from all the quarters, like the so called &#8220Marxist&#8221 JVP and its later day variants. But as a political force which unflinchingly stands for Socialism and its victory in the complete world the USP has stood by the struggles of the men and women in both lands. Be it the recent anti-nuclear struggle in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, anti-capitalist globalisation struggle against POSCO business in Odisha or the heroinic struggle of Human rights defender Irom Sharmila Chanu of Manipur against the draconian Armed Forces Unique Powers Act (AFSPA) which terrorises the peoples of North East and Kashmir occupied by India.

The whole history of USP in Sri Lanka is marked by its uncompromising stand on its assistance to the Proper of Self-Determination of the Tamils of North and the East, which includes and up to separation. But several a occasions the USP has stood alone in the whole country to patiently explain our stand point each to Tamils as well as Sinhala masses. During the infamous IPKF period, when the correct wing reaction amongst the Sinhala population was represented by Deshapremi movement, which opposed the India&#8217s intervention from a Sinhala communalist reactionary stand point.

We in the USP warned that &#8220the army of India is no liberator of the Tamils, they will turn their guns very quickly against the oppressed Tamils, India is here since of its sub-Imperialist ambitions and they will not tolerate a radical government in the North of Srilanka on their southern borders which could influence the Tamil Nadu masses&#8221, but our voice was isolated and even vehemently opposed not just by the Sinhala radicals but regrettably even the Tamil parties did not recognize our independent Socialist stand point.

Times have passed , but the history is repeating itself with a blatantly right variance, now the not only the Sinhala bourgeois and the petty-bourgeois but even the Tamil National Alliance is discovering typical cause in welcoming the utterly anti-minority, anti-muslim and one who stands firmly on the slogan of Hindu Rashtra, which is absolutely nothing but an aspiration of Indian Imperialism, which was hitherto latent.

If for some purpose the Tamil leadership of the North thinks that they have identified a saviour in Modi and would resolve the Tamil Nationality question for them, they are grossly mistaken. USP would like to warn the the misguided TNA and other forces, that Modi, the BJP or its consider tank doesn&#8217t even contemplate Tamils in India as nationality, they categorically state that it is a Language only. Therefore to expect the Modi magic wand to intervene here is absolutely nothing tom foolery. Modi &amp BJP unmistakably stand for the supremacy of Indian nation, which is according to them is Hindu Nation.

For those amongst the Sinhala proper, who consider that Modi is their function model and therefore they can do enterprise with him are also fully mistaken, Modi apart from being the pivotal head of Hindutva nationalist forces, is also also the brutal face of Corporate interests of India. For the BBS varieties who eulogise Modi and RSS, they have to realise that Buddhism according to the RSS is offshoot of Hinduism and not extremely distinct, and therefore they would play down the fact that historically Buddhism was rebellion against the Bramhinical upper caste supremacy of Hindutva forces.

It is in the peoples interests of Sri Lanka, that we find a frequent platform to fight against the tyrants of the region including Modi and our own ilk. It in this endeavour that we need to be with the progressive and struggling forces in Tamil Nadu and the rest of India, who are putting up a valiant fight against the Hindu Proper represented by Modi, BJP &amp RSS.

It is pity that thouse sections who introduce themselves as lefts are maintaining mum on this go to. It has been stated in numerous corners that defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa has been using facist kind methods to suppress the opposition. In that context Modi has shown much more functions of that nature.

USP unequivocally opposes the check out of Modi to Sri Lanka we get in touch with upon the oppressed masses Tamils, Muslims and Sinhala folks to voice their protest against the government of the day for providing such a welcome to an undeserving communal bigot who has the blood of the folks on his hands.

*Siritunga Jayasuriya &#8211 Basic Secretary of the United Socialist Party  (Sri Lankan section of the Committee for a Workers&#8217 International-[CWI])

CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd – the Chinese business handling the constructions of the project has expressed their agreement to completely corporate with the government of Sri Lanka whilst announcing they have suspended the operations as per the instructions of the government.

Issuing an official statement concerning the suspension of the Port City project operate, CHEC has noted that they have received an official communique from the Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Aviation, that has informed the business of the Cabinet selection produced to suspend the ongoing perform of the project.

The firm has also noted that as instructed in the Ministry communique, they would also take immediate methods to submit valid permits and approval troubles by the relevant government authorities with regard to the project.

“We will be taking all necessary methods to give these requested documents as instructed by the Ministry of Ports, Buying and Aviation to abide by the notification received without prejudice to the legal rights of the organization beneath the agreements entered into with the government of Sri Lanka on September 16, 2014,” they have stated.

In addition, the organization has mentioned that they would fully cooperate with the GoSL and continue to adhere to the procedures and situations stipulated in the mentioned agreement such as the commitments contained in the authorized environmental impact assessment study.

The business has also noted that it would continue to comply with the law and adhere to the needed guidelines issued by the government for a mega development project of this nature.

By Mano Ratwatte –

The defining truth for two generations of Sri Lankans (or Ceylonese if you choose) has been the strife between the island’s two primary ethnic groups because independence from the British. Several erudite scholars, political scientists and historians have examined the causes of this conflict. Some say it all began in 1956 and others say it began properly prior to that. This is 2015. A hellish war, which lasted effectively over twenty years has ended. But nevertheless the barriers amongst the two significant communities nonetheless exist attempts to break those barriers are stymied mainly, in the opinion of this writer, by the lack of a typical hyperlink language. These are just personal thoughts of an émigré and not views of qualified authorities. The writer is also thankful to a brilliant gentleman for assisting him edit this opinion column.

Race relations in the USA – some history

Race relations in this writers adopted nation, the United States of America, have a darker and much deeper history. Developed by the unimaginable horror of “industrial” slavery, divisions and discrimination has survived the emancipation (official freeing of all slaves in the USA) of 1862. The hated “Jim Crow” laws, which ensured that Blacks (the preferred term these days is ‘African American’ but for the purposes of this write-up we will use the older term) continued to be relegated to a reduce location in society, persisted over a hundred years because that date. Finally the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, brought about a important change that eased the plight of the Black individuals in the Southern USA significantly.

Following decades of post civil rights healing nonetheless, race relations in the US have taken a turn for the worse recently. A Federal Division of Justice report released on March 3^rd, 2015 on riots in Ferguson Missouri, reveals that African Americans have been profiled and targeted by law enforcement authorities for just becoming black. This is not a surprise. In numerous corners of the US, Blacks which includes wealthy ones, are nevertheless profiled and targeted for harassment. Unlike in Sri Lanka, both Black and White communities speak the very same language, but they are distinct racial groups with a history of systemic discrimination by law. (In the case of Sri Lanka, harassment of innocent Tamils for just being Tamils, was made worse by not having a widespread language.)

The Southern Sates and Racism

In the southern states of the USA Blacks didn’t have the appropriate to vote until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Folks had to fight for that right different obstacles had been placed to stop them from registering to vote. Below Jim Crow, Blacks were regarded “separate but equal” but in practice they had been never equal and were viewed culturally as inferior to Whites such deep seated biases are dissipating but disturbingly are still quite prevalent.

Just before the civil war, legally a Black particular person (whether or not Cost-free or a Slave) was regarded as only to be worth three/5^ths the value of a white particular person as per the Constitutional convention treaty of 1787. This was done not only for tax purposes, but for the explicit purpose of limiting democratic representation in the legislative assemblies¹. That measure was only repealed by the 13^th Amendment to the US constitution which abolished slavery and was ratified in 1865. The 14^th Amendment, ratified in 1868 that incorporated the privileges and immunities clause, applicable to all citizens, and the due process and equal protection clauses applicable to all persons. The Fifteenth Amendment, (proposed in 1869 and ratified in 1870) prohibits discrimination in voting rights of citizens on the basis of &#8220race, colour, or previous situation of servitude. Despite all these laws even though, Blacks continued to be discriminated against fairly openly. For the longest time even right after the civil war ended Blacks could not even sit at the exact same table as Whites in numerous parts of the USA. This is comparable to how some caste primarily based societies function even nowadays, where so known as “lower castes” are nevertheless not allowed equal access or equal rights by practice or even enter through the front door of residences of upper class Hindu households. Brahmin war refugees had been housed, schooled and fed separately from the rest of the Tamils following 2009 by the military.

Deep seated racist or casteist views can be discovered in virtually every single society. They are incorrect and immoral but deeply entrenches biases don’t disappear overnight be they in Sri Lanka or the USA. Atrocities against Black individuals had been commonplace in the Southern USA. Lynching (further-judicial murders) was commonplace. Even mass murder was tolerated, examples are the terrorist bombing of a Church in Alabama (Birmingham, 1963 where four innocent kids were killed by Christian racist Whites) or the attacks, disappearances and murders of civil rights activists in the 1950s and 1960s. Quite seldom did a White get prosecuted for murder and assault of a Black particular person these days. The identities of the terrorists responsible for killing the girls in that church had been identified almost immediately, but no action was taken till the State of Alabama decided to prosecute them in 1977! There were a number of such circumstances which in no way saw light of day. In protests following the church bombing two other black guys have been killed one particular by the police and 1 by White supremacists.

These attacks go back in history. America’s equivalent of the heinous state-instigated pogrom of Black July 1983, took spot in 1921 in prosperous Tulsa, Oklahoma the state this writer considered residence for a extended period . Racially motivated violence killed an estimated 300 black folks. There houses and shops burnt. The victims have been mostly from the prosperous black business community in Greenwood, then recognized as the Black Wall Street. This heinous crime was the outcome of economic envy and wiped out the most prosperous black middle class neighborhood in the USA. State and neighborhood law enforcement officials have been complicit in this attack. Not a single particular person was brought to justice and no official apology to black folks was provided only in 2013, when the Police chief of that city issued a extended overdue request for forgiveness. According to eye witness accounts some members of the Tulsa police force openly participated in arson and murder. But no Governor of the State of Oklahoma has ever accepted responsibility for enabling that crime against humanity, or apologized to the victims. There are several equivalent race riots where whites attacked black individuals in Florida, Illinois and other states with impunity more than time. Tulsa was one particular of the worst.

The incidents of documented targeted attacks on Blacks by Whites in the 19^th century are even higher. Incidents of lynching occurred all the way into the 1940s. Lynching of Black guys had been treated as picnics to be viewed by thousands of gleeful whites. Image postcards have been even made with images of such lynchings mailed in glee or sold as souvenirs. A powerful book “Without Sanctuary” documents these horrific incidents that have haunted the US for a extended time.

Parallels in Sri Lanka

The crimes of July 1983 have been a watershed for our country. The UNP government of the day stood by and did nothing at all, as carnage was unleashed for a week. These had been the all strong days of virtual dictatorship by Parliamentary writ.

President JRJ did a lot to transform Sri Lanka by, opening the economy, bringing in foreign investments and re-setting the outdated stagnant socialist economy. But regrettably, the legacies his government will be remembered for, is the responsibility for attacks on Tamils right after 1977 and the reckless antagonizing of India in the field of foreign policy. It was his government which also gave us this constitution, which is proving to be such a hindrance to democracy. It was also his regime that silenced the democratic representation by Tamils by engineering the removal of the TULF from Parliament. Nevertheless noxious or unpalatable a person’s political view is it was foolish for the UNP to expel the TULF from Parliament. In the absence of a viable opposition, a lot of mistakes are made due to hubris and overconfidence.

The deliberate targeting of minorities (Tamils primarily) by the gangs from the majority communities, resulted in the beginning of a period of carnage and terrorism and grief. Terrified individuals fleeing to India and becoming refugees placing higher political pressure on the Indian Central government to intervene in Sri Lanka. Please note, except for the horrible riots in 1958 where there had been victims of both communities, all targeted attacks on Tamils occurred in the course of the UNP led regime which came following 1977. Those riots have been carried out by gangs related with the UNP and its JSS thugs. These targeted attacks had been a deliberate “pogrom” (an organized massacre of a distinct ethnic group) that shook the psyche of innocent Tamils, even these of the English speaking upper class. A lot of of these men and women felt far more protected and comfortable increasing up and living in Colombo, than in their ancestral villages areas they had no connection to far away in the North or East of the island.

Those who witnessed the 1983 riots report that there was a distinct “class envy” angle to it, when even productive corporate entities have been targeted merely for being owned by Tamils. The parallels to Tulsa Ok are apparent. This violent state sponsored (or at least condoned) act of terror was the seminal occasion that enabled a ragtag band of separatists (who had been supported by India for its personal geo-political reasons) to grow into a massive separatist terrorist group. The LTTE or Tigers could not have survived and grown (even accounting for India’s insidious hand) if it was not viewed as being the only group in a position to shield Tamils. It took the events of July 1983 to ultimately drive even moderate Tamils into the hands of violent seperatists, as obviously the Sate could not, or would not, defend them.

What brought about the alter in the USA?

The United States of America is in several techniques a conglomerate of person States or Countries. The US constitution delegates acknowledges this and numerous rights are granted to individual States to decide, in their Federal kind of government.

One particular such law is the one particular governing interracial marriage (miscegenation). Till the US Supreme Court ruled against it in the landmark Loving vs. Virginia case in 1967^two, interracial marriage was illegal in the Confederate Southern states, as nicely as several other backward states of the Union. This was insidious thinking about people in the South regarded as themselves devout Christians but yet could not accept inter-racial marriage and folks have been even jailed for breaking this discriminatory law. The resistance to political alter was immense, but so was the get in touch with to adjust. Brave individuals on each sides of the racial divide united t bring about the adjustments that have been required. Hasn’t time arrived in Sri Lanka to build bridges also? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the most well-known “face”of the Civil Rights Movement, identified allies amongst Christian and Jewish white organizations parallel to the non-violent protests by Dr. King, the Black Panthers and other militant black groups advocated change via violent upheaval. But the peaceful voices prevailed and have been in the end productive. The violent ones have been relegated to the dustbin of history. How different to our experience in Sri Lanka.

Several analysts think that it was not only just the heroism of Dr. King (who was murdered by a White supremacist) who influenced individuals like Robert F Kennedy ( Attorney General of the US and brother of then President John F Kennedy) an ardent advocate of equal rights for blacks and later President Lyndon B Johnson (LBJ), to alter insidious laws of the US that forced folks into segregated lives and humiliated black individuals in the south. There was also an underlying fear of Black militancy and the possibility that foreign powers might encourage the use of violence to destabilize the US, that lent impetus to the reforms. Even though the Kennedy brothers were goods of the Liberal east Coast establishment, President Johnson was a very good ole boy from Texas and a racist solution of his time, but also a pragmatic and visionary leader.

Even so, when he signed the landmark civil rights act in 1964³, LBJ knew that the Democratic celebration he represented was going to shed a really big group of southern White voters to the Republican celebration forever this group of voters have been commonly referred to as “Dixiecrats”. They had traditionally voted for the Democratic celebration since the finish of the Civil War when the secessionist south was beaten by the Union forces commanded by Republican President Lincoln. More than time, this legislation cost the Democrats hundreds of thousands of votes and also the Southern Electoral College has been Republican ever considering that .This shows that deep seated cultural distrust and segregationist tendencies nonetheless exist amongst older whites in most of previously Confederate Southern States. To this day, only places where Black Congressmen still get elected in the South, are black majority districts. It is not uncommon to hear people speak about the “northern war of aggression” in reference to the Civil war.

Modify comes really gradually

Just due to the fact the US elected Obama as President does not mean these age old biases have disappeared. If a single appears at the voting patterns of each the 2008 election (regardless of it being a year of modify) and the 2012 one particular, you could see that an overwhelming quantity of older Southern Whites voted against Obama and for Republican candidates. This trend is now almost permanent. It is practically a guarantee that in states such as Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi (all Southern and Confederate) a important majority of whites will not vote for democratic Presidential candidates unless he is a “son of the soil”. Jimmy Carter 1976 who was from Georgia, Clinton 1992 from Arkansas both managed to break this trend. Al Gore lost his personal property state Tennessee in the 2000 election, to George W Bush, who was from Texas.

There are exceptions to this divide of course. Florida, positioned in the South remains a “swing” state simply because of its unique demographic patterns, where Whites, Hispanics and older retirees of Liberal persuasion are all mixed collectively. Virginia is a greater example (at one particular time the heart of the Confederacy) exactly where swiftly changing demographic trends have led to dramatic changes in voting patterns. Virginia’s vibrant urban places are close to Washington DC, exactly where highly educated initial generation immigrants from Asia driven by finance and technologies primarily based company conglomerates reside. This combined with the young urban pros, Physicians, scientists, lawyers, all in the larger financial strata, delivered the state to President Obama in both recent elections.

Correct subsequent to it, is the mostly White poor coal mining state of West Virginia which is overwhelmingly democratic at neighborhood and state levels, voted against Obama in the Presidential election. Obama won each his elections mainly via the votes of progressive and northern states of the union. Elections have been won on a coalition of minorities (95% of the Blacks vote Democratic) and a plurality of young voters like young whites and young girls who do not have the exact same prejudices about race as older generations do. In the close to future even a solidly “red” (Republican) state such as Texas is projected to swing far more towards “purple” if not “blue” (Democratic) in voting trends, as demographic patterns change. Hispanic Americans are expected to turn out to be the biggest voting bloc in Texas. This coupled with the younger urban pros who tend to be more liberal, could effectively alter the way Texas votes in future Presidential elections.

Whither Sri Lanka?

The intent here is to show that despite the USA getting the wealthiest democracy in the planet, that there are nevertheless numerous folks who will vote just based on colour/race, just as anyplace else. Sadly it seems in Sri Lanka expedient politicians utilised the Tamil vs. Sinhala divide to acquire power over time.

Was this a result of Colonial favoritism or just far more inherent ethno-religious biases towards every single other? How considerably of post-Independence policy has been driven by a desire for social justice and not by a cynical desire to polarize the voting population in order to keep in energy? What is the end outcome? As a result of the language policies enforced at all schools considering that the 1960s, our citizens can not talk to each other.

The “standardization” and “Sinhala only” policies, while seemingly laudable, wreaked havoc in the lengthy term. It emancipated many Sinhala and Tamil speaking students, who otherwise would not have access to larger education. When English was the only language utilised for greater education, the English speaking upper classes amongst all communities had a large advantage.

But the extended-term effect has been two communities who can’t talk to each and every other. Just put, without the use of vernacular languages. it is unlikely either Sinhalese or Tamils of much less-affluent and rural regions would have been in a position to go to University. A number of generations of students have received a globe class education at no expense to themselves thanks to these modifications. Yet, the contradiction is that with the emancipation of lesser privileged classes, the nation gradually lost the indicates of speaking to every other in a typical language. This writer was fortunate sufficient to have grown up in Colombo in the 1960s and 1970s. Small did we understand that this was the “calm prior to the storm”. Our parents had gone to schools such as Royal, St Thomas, Trinity and their lingua franca was English and their drink of option was Scotch. Sinhala, Tamil or Burgher didn’t matter when parties were held, buddies got inebriated together, cried and fought more than silly issues such as which college had a far better cricket group. They listened to English music largely and study English newspapers. The savvy entrepreneurs no matter whether they have been Tamil or Sinhalese also faired really properly. But was that reality or was that the realm of the couple of privileged families whose 1st language was English?

Then came this writer’s post 1956 generation this was the first generation of the either Sinhala or Tamil education streams in the exact same college. Previously the elite schools employed English as the medium of instruction for all students. Abruptly there was a “Sinhala-stream and a Tamil-stream” and for the lucky handful of “an English-stream” class as well. English was taught only as a Second language at Royal to the Sinhalese and Tamil students. By the 1980s the older generation of outstanding English teachers were replaced by teachers who had quite restricted fluency in the language and taught it really badly the distinction was quite evident in good quality of English education in the senior grades. This writer didn’t feel also comfortable speaking English as a youngster, even even though at home his parents spoke English as did his Grandparents. The older generation partied and mingled with every single other with ease language was not a barrier simply because everyone spoke English. Their cultural identities had been still clearly influenced by the Colonials. There were a couple of who had married from other communities, such as this lovable Senior Police officer who employed to get tipsy at our dinner table and turn out to be emotional. Venerated legal luminaries like Vanam Rajaratnam were good buddies of this writer’s father. Lakshman Kadirgamar, a Tamil assassinated by the LTTE (the ideal ever Foreign Minister Sri Lanka had) was on a 1st name basis with this writer’s father, possessing been from the same school. This possibly was probably the case for many youngsters Tamil or Sinhalese, if they have been from the privileged classes of dare we say the “lucky” generation? This writer started studying Tamil in 1979 beneath the tutelage of a wonderful retired Tamil government servant (as portion of a requirement for his first job in Sri Lanka) was able to study the initial grade book and regrets fully dropping it afterwards.

The End of an Era

Following those expedient decisions of 1956, even at a privileged public school like Royal, where students came from a lot of socio-revenue strata including from slums of Kollupitiya or Jawatte, the medium of communications had been split students either spoke Sinhala, English or Tamil based on which “language stream” class we have been assigned to. There was no link language. The only Tamil and Sinhala students who spoke to each other, have been the Tamils who spoke Sinhala and Sinhalese who spoke either English or Sinhala or each. Judging by the angry reactions to this writer’s arguments about the two groups becoming of the same origins, it is certainly a sad reality that even a fight more than marbles on the terraces at Royal Junior in the course of recess became a “demala panthiyey” or as somebody sadly pointed out “ado demala” as opposed to just becoming so and so who was being a jerk. Why? If it were a fight over marbles it shouldn’t matter what race the offender was.

Similarly in the US regardless of all efforts such cultural dividers exist. A student of this writer’s who was a single African-American parent shared a story how her daughter was told by her classmates in grade three, that they had been not allowed to play with or invite black kids to their properties simply because our parents don’t like “ni****s”. This was in 2010 and not even in an old Confederate state. After, an old black man at a Bar in Milledgeville, Georgia described the racial divide this way “you know the distinction amongst racists in the south and north? In the south, the white man does not care how close a “ni*****s gets to him as long we don’t get also higher up in life and in the north the white man doesn’t care how high up we get in life as extended as we don’t get too close to them”. Sadly there is a lot of home truth in that statement even these days though much has changed for the better in most spheres of the economy.   Yet from time to time suspicion and rage leads to riots. Ferguson was the most recent. Ahead of that in 1994 following the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles Chicago riots in the aftermath of Dr.King’s murder and numerous instances in in between.

Adjust is not not possible

In spite of a far longer history of constitutional discrimination and targeted attacks on Blacks, and regardless of them not becoming even deemed equal to a white particular person, over time the USA has evolved into a significantly higher state of tolerance than it was barely 50 years ago. Race relations have taken a toll for the worse with reports of excessive police action in numerous states lately, but items are far much better for black folks than they had been 50 years ago with much more awareness and far more political activism. Such contradictions and variations must not be permitted to take root in Sri Lanka.

This writer thinks the following would be a start towards altering our society:

1. The senior leader of the UNP ought to emulate President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge and apologize for the heinous crimes of Black July 1983. Amazingly when asked if she hates Tamils for what the Tigers did to her, Chandrika’s response was “no require to hate an entire people for what some have done”
2. The TNA must apologize, on behalf of the Tamil community, for the atrocities committed by the Tigers such as massacres of females and children, and the “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims and Sinhalese from the North.
3. An immediate establishment of Language laboratories and mandatory language research from Grade 1 so that all communities will be necessary to understand Tamil, English and Sinhalese.
4. An independent non-political task force comprised of legal and forensic experts of both communities to investigate the final days of the war and figure out what truly happened.
5. A commission to document and produce a database of those who lost lands due to war.
6. An independent non-political job force to account for the 1987-89 period when thousands of Sinhalese youth disappeared.
7. Locating the bodies of the 600 policemen who have been massacred by the Tamil Tiger terrorists.
8. Take actions to bring back Sri Lankan refugees in India even though meticulously screening for Tiger terrorist infiltrators
9. Take methods to allow the 95,000 Muslim and other victims of Ethnic cleansing in the North to return to their houses as properly.
10. A committee with powers to report on abuse of minorities and beneath privileged communities of all races by law enforcement authorities.
11. More language proficient police from local places to deal with everyday law and order concerns.
12. The establishment of a national Broadband Network, so that more communication can take spot among citizens with out the State being involved. Social media networks are effective tools that were used effectively during the recent election. Enable free of charge access to all varieties of social media, so Sri Lankans as a nation can communicate with a single an additional.
13. Concerted efforts by the government to heal the psychological scars of war on youngsters, ladies and the disabled of each communities by growing the number of vernacular speaking counselors with the help of volunteer services such as the amazing VSOSL which no longer functions there.
14. Cultural exchanges organized for school children of all communities to travel and live inside a community of the other group for a handful of days under supervision by adults so they can see the circumstances of poverty and lack of access to sources cuts across all communities outdoors the privileged classes.
15. Incorporate civil and human rights into the school curricula and replace religious studies as an O-level topic.
16. Introduce legislation comparable to the 4^th amendment to the US constitution which protects individual privacy, and every citizen’s correct to be free from unreasonable government intrusion into their persons, houses, organizations and property-weather by way of police stops of citizens on the street, arrests, or searches of homes and firms⁴.
17. Introduce legislation to equivalent to the five^th amendment to the US constitution which offers the correct to not to give self-incriminatory statements in when taken into police custody.

In conclusion, will Sri Lanka ever have a leader who will emerge to be like MLK? Most moderate Tamil leaders have been murdered by the LTTE fascists, Sinhala leaders like the charismatic humanist Vijaya Kumaranatunge were assassinated by southern extremists. Much more to the point, who will be Sri Lanka’s LBJ who will do the correct issue ? Will President Sirisena be the a single to succeed where others failed?

---

¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise

²http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/loving.html

³http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/

⁴https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment

A leaked confidential US diplomatic cable written by the US Embassy Colombo has raised queries about the correct nature of the drama staged by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) when they left the Chandrika Kumaratunga led coalition government.

At that time the JVP mentioned that they had quit in protest at government&#8217s plans for a tsunami aid deal with the LTTE which could assist efforts to set up a Tamil state.

According to a leaked US diplomatic cable, the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington &#8220Vijitha Herath, the JVP Minister of Culture and National Heritage, complained to us that President Chandrika Kumaratunga was ignoring his party&#8217s recommendations to create a multipartisan consultative mechanism to inform the reconstruction process. Rather, he charged, she had appointed Ministers and celebration members&#8211some of whom are not even MPs&#8211from her own Sri Lankan Freedom Celebration (SLFP) to all decision-creating positions. Not a single JVP Minister or MP occupied any crucial position, Herath said, even even though numerous represent tsunami-affected districts.&#8221

The Colombo Telegraph located the associated leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The “Confidential” cable is signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead on February 15, 2005.

The ambassador wrote &#8220The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Government&#8217s contentious coalition companion, boycotted the February 9 Parliamentary debate on tsunami reconstruction. The JVP leadership cited dissatisfaction with the minor function the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) has assigned it in reconstruction organizing as the purpose for their absence. The JVP was the only no-show at the lively debate. Even MPs from the pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who have regularly accused the GSL of brief-changing Tamil areas in the distribution of help, took part.&#8221

Ambassador Lunstead wrote &#8220He accused the President and other SLFP leaders of utilizing the effectively-funded reconstruction method to serve their own private and political agendas. When asked why JVP leaders deemed it greater to boycott the debate than to argue their issues ahead of Parliament, Herath responded that folks might mistakenly assume, since the JVP is part of the government, that it endorses GSL reconstruction plans. Since the JVP had not been consulted in any of the crucial choices, &#8220we can&#8217t take responsibility&#8221&#8211or blame&#8211for how the method unfolds, he emphasized. By not taking component in the debate, the party hoped to make that distinction clear to the common  public, he indicated.&#8221

&#8220The JVP&#8217s therapy is especially unfair in light of its energetic efforts to aid those impacted by the tsunami, Herath asserted, adding that the celebration has raised practically $ 12 million on its own at property and abroad. This aid is being distributed  to all affected communities, he continued. The LTTE fears that JVP philanthropic activities in the east will enhance the celebration&#8217s popularity there, specifically among Tamils, Herath claimed, and has therefore fabricated stories about the JVP hijacking help intended for Tamil communities. (Note: Jayantha Wijesekera, the Tamil-speaking, rabble-rousing JVP MP for Trincomalee, told us that the LTTE is especially concerned about his appeal and has therefore threatened him on many occasions.) When  asked how the JVP viewed possible GSL/LTTE cooperation on tsunami relief, Herath repeated the normal JVP line: Cooperation is all proper in principle as extended as the Tigers do not take benefit of it&#8211which, of course, he implied, they will&#8221 he additional wrote.