-Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan has sworn in as East Chief Minister.
-Government Group of PC in the East was divided: Hizbulla and other two members who are elected to Provincials Council in the East was keep away from the Government and decided working as a separated group in the PC.
-Cheif Minister Pillayan:Pillayan has been appointed as the Chief Minister for the Eastern Province, his swearing in ceremony will take place today at 4 pm at the Presidential Secretariat.
-Over10 Killed and more than 75 injured in a Bomb Blast: Over 10 people were killed and more than 75 injured in the Suicide bomb blast targeted Poice bus near at Sambodi Viharaya in Colombo Fort a short while ago (May 16).
-Bomb Blast in Fort, Colombo .. More Details Will Follow....
-Sri Lankan caught with drugs at airport: Customs officials at Kuwait International Airport foiled a Sri Lankan boy’s attempt to smuggle 10,000 narcotic pills into the country. Security sources say the contraband was hidden inside his hand language. The drug pusher, who was coming from Colombo, was referred to Drugs Control Department.
-'LTTE continues to use T.N. as a supply base”: The Centre has extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as an unlawful association by two years. The notification to this effect was issued on Wednesday, according to a Home Ministry release here.
-Azerbaijan launched WTO membership talks with Ecuador, Sri Lanka and India: Makhmud Mammadguliyev, deputy foreign minister of Azerbaijan, said that in April and May bilateral talks were held with almost all countries that have displayed an interest to this process.“Now we are negotiating with new countries among which are Ecuador, Sri Lanka and India,” Mammadguliyev said.
-Eritrean leader blames CIA plot for youth exodus: Eritrea accused the CIA and other Western agencies on Tuesday of luring young people away from the Red Sea state in a plot to weaken a nation seen as a threat to U.S. interests in the region.
-BJP wants ISI to be put on intnl watch : Voicing concern over growing terrorist activity, the BJP today demanded that the Centre should immediately take diplomatic efforts to put ISI on the international watch.
-Bomber Kills at Least 12 in Afghanistan: A suicide bomber cloaked in an Afghan woman’s body-covering burka killed at least 12 other people and wounded at least 27 Thursday in southwestern Afghanistan, a sparsely populated region where Taliban militants have increased attacks in recent months.
-China Says Quake Death Toll Could Top 50000: China says nearly 400 dams and reservoirs near the epicenter of Monday's deadly earthquake were damaged, triggering new worries as Chinese officials warned Thursday, that the death toll could top 50000.
-India extends ban on LTTE by two years: The union government on Thursday extended by two years the ban on the Sri Lankan terrorist outfit, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as an unlawful association. The notification to this effect was issued by the home ministry.
-SLAF Bombs Suspected LTTE Targets: Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected LTTE training base in Kilinochchi on Today (14 May) Wednesday, military sources here said. The air force bombed a key Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) training facility at Kollanvillu, four kilometres south of Mulankavil, between 7.15 and 7.30 a.m., the defence ministry said.
-Patil expresses concern over LTTE’s ‘air capability’: Union Home Minister of the Government of India, Shivraj Patil has expressed concern over the reported air capability of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that could be a threat to the vital installations in South India.
-Minister’s Adviser Killed: A popular Human Rights Activist, Secretary of the Forum for Human Dignity, an advisor to the EPDP Secretary General and Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda and a senior member of the EPDP, Ms. Maheswary Velautham was shot and killed on Tuesday night by the LTTE. Three LTTE cadres disguised as soldiers had gone to her house tonight (13-05-08) around 8 p.m. shot and killed her in front of her family in their usual manner and escaped.
-Over 60 killed as terror strikes Pink city: A series of eight bombs tore through the crowded market areas of Jaipur in a span of 12 minutes on Tuesday night.At least 60 were killed and 200 injured in the serial blast. Reports say that a ninth bomb was defused. The blasts took place shortly after 7pm.
Visionary science fiction guru Arthur C. Clarke, best known for the classic film "2001: A Space Odyssey," died in a Sri Lankan hospital on
third week of March 2008 at the age of 90.
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Ballots against Bullets
“In all three cases, the LTTE was the natural suspect, though it did not acknowledge the same – not at least in the early hours”.
Victor Karunairajan, a journalist with extensive East-West experience has had an exciting career having worked with Anglican, CSI and Catholic institutions, a Buddhist organization and a socialist government in as many as seven countries.
Bahukutumbi Raman, Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, and Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies..
The Rajapakse administration was willing to work closely with the Tamil opponents of the LTTE. If they cooperated they would be granted the security they needed to escape from the Tiger killers, a paramount consideration for any dissenting Tamil; they would also be assisted in their work against the LTTE, with money and weapons.
"The JVP, like the LTTE, did not want to share power with anyone; it wanted to rule alone. It would have tolerated the existence of other political parties and organisations only on condition of uncritical obedience. Even the SLFP was attacked, and attacked mercilessly, when it proved itself unwilling to abide by all the JVP’s rules."
Aimed at our young people in particular, The Sri Lankan Guardian launches a campaign to help develop awareness of our rich natural assets and the need to protect and conserve them. We will from time to time publish features and reports on nature life which we are confident, will be used in schools as supportive material.
Copyrights Protected: All the content on this web site is copyrights protected and can be reproduced only by giving the due courtesy to Sri Lanka Guardian.
Interviews
New Book:- TERRORISM :Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Terrorism is a threat, a modus operandi and a phenomenon. A resolution of the UN
General Assembly after 9/11 designated it as a threat to international peace and security.
As an MO, from a largely uni-dimensional threat of the years before the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, it has evolved into a multi-dimensional threat. As a phenomenon, it has many dimensions—political, economic, ideological and operational. Even the profile of a terrorist keeps changing. The terrorists of yesterday were seen as “misled youth” from the exploited or wronged sections of society. An increasing number of the terrorists of today are educated and come from well-to-do families. They are self-motivated and technology savvy. Their ability to add sophistication to their methods of operation surpasses the skill of the security agencies. This book seeks to contribute to the task of understanding terrorism as it is evolving.
Its author, B Raman, headed the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis
Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency, for six years and has continued studying the subject even after his retirement in 1994. He is well known as an analyst of terrorism in India and abroad. He is much in demand in international conferences on terrorism. His prolific writings on this subject are widely read and his views are heard with attention and respect.
Children In Sri Lanka
"...We are Tamils…but this story is about children of war…we crouched down in the bunker in silence. We would alternately sit on our flip-flops to avoid dirtying our clothing, and stand huddled in the bunker that was eerily reminiscent of a grave. It was just tall enough that we could bend over halfway without brushing against the tree trunks making up the roof of this make-to shelter. But as the bomber planes flew overhead more and more frequently, forcing us to disrupt our classes to run into the bunkers, the bunker seemed more and more like a grave.....
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) With this bomb attack on a busy street, the LTTE has once again demonstrated to the world its total commitment to violence and terror to achieve its separatist goals in Sri Lanka, and its absolute contempt for democracy and human rights, the President stated while expressing his condolence to the families of those many killed and wounded in the LTTE's latest carnage today (May 16). He also requested all the citizens to remain clam and to be provoked by this display of its unmitigated terror.
Full text of the communiqué‚ issued by the Presidential Secretariat:
I hasten to unreservedly condemn the latest act of cowardice and brutality by the LTTE, in exploding a bomb that has killed and injured many civilians and police personnel, in Colombo, today. I wish to first extend my sincere condolences to the bereaved families of those killed, and call upon blessings for a speedy recovery to all those injured in this act of wanton savagery.
With this bomb attack on a busy street, the LTTE has once again demonstrated to the world its total commitment to violence and terror to achieve its separatist goals in Sri Lanka, and its absolute contempt for democracy and human rights.
Repeated savagery of this order underlines and reiterates the need for concerted action by all those who cherish democracy, human rights and the values of civilized society, to eradicate the menace of terrorism of which the LTTE remains the bloodiest example today.
While understanding the deep shock and revulsion felt by all at this loss of life and limb caused by the LTTE, I call upon the people to remain calm and not be provoked by this further display of its unmitigated terror. Your continued patience and restraint in the face of such undisguised savagery is the best way to assist the Security Forces to succeed in their operations to defeat terrorism in our country. - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Media bashing extended to Sri Lankan Online News Sites
“This suppressive atmosphere paved the way for Online publishing and especially during last year, there was an increased traffic of Sri Lankan news in the internet, focusing both the local and the Diasporic reader. Most internet tracking engines indicate that Sri Lankan news websites have over 60% local hits at an average daily. Thus Online publishing has also attracted the attention of the authorities since of late.” _______________________
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “We wish to bring to your notice for immediate intervention, the new trend that is silently but swiftly developing in the Sri Lankan media,’ said editor of the Lanka Dissent in a letter to Sunanda Deshapriya who is a Free Media Movement convenor to take this issue in serious manner and urgently. According to the letter, “during the past few years, we were witnessing the bashing up of the print and the electronic media, where the journalists were physically targeted. Some had to pay the price with their lives, some with brutal assaults and injuries and some with numerous threats to life. As we all know, over the past few years this has compelled media institutes to be very cautious in how they present news and views in their publications and broadcasts. With veiled threats in the air, most media personnel were forced to get into a “safe mode”.
“This suppressive atmosphere paved the way for Online publishing and especially during last year, there was an increased traffic of Sri Lankan news in the internet, focusing both the local and the Diasporic reader. Most internet tracking engines indicate that Sri Lankan news websites have over 60% local hits at an average daily. Thus Online publishing has also attracted the attention of the authorities since of late.”
1. The arrest of journalist J.S. Tissanayagam who was in the process of developing a news web site “Out reach” along with 04 others, perhaps was the beginning.
2. Hacking of the “Opinion poll” for the Eastern PC elections conducted by the Daily Mirror Online edition on the day before the elections, compelled the DM Editorial to go on record publicly to say they are removing the ‘opinion poll’ due to hacking.
3. Nilantha Ilangamuwa, the Sri Lankan editor of the “Sri Lanka Guardian” website came under severe attack through the infamous “Asia Tribune” with insinuations that he is a R&AW agent bent in undermining the sovereignty of the country and thus provided justification he claims for hate mail on hacked / forged e-mails.
4. Editorial e-mails of ‘The Island’ newspaper have been also hacked, claims the online edition of ‘The Island, apart from hacking some of their online newspaper features.
It is in this background that we view, the latest hacking of the e-mail used by “lankadissent” news website that had been used to insult and threat Sri Lanka Guardian Editor Ilangamuwa and Sri Lankan news portal “Infolanka” administrator. We were experiencing strange intrusions into our mail from around 06th when all our mail in the “inbox” was deleted. By now even the “password” has been hacked and has therefore compelled us to move into more secure modes in internet communication.
We wish to stress that this cannot be a ‘lone hacker’ enjoying his/her exploits. We have reason to believe this is an attempt in blocking local news going out into the local and the international community. This is an attempt at suppressing the remaining independent part of the Sri Lankan media and thus a serious infringement on the right for information and expression. Perhaps the beginning of official hacking in suppressing total dissemination of information.
We would therefore wish you would take this issue in its most serious manner and urgently too. - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Foreign Minister condemns suicide bomb attack
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “ I strongly condemn the suicide bomb attack by the LTTE in Colombo today (16 May 2008), which claimed the lives of seven police officers and two civilians, as well as causing serious injuries to scores of civilian bystanders,” said Rohitha Bogollagama, MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Sri Lanka in a statement released from Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco.
"This cowardly and brutal attack on a police bus, is but the latest atrocity unleashed by the LTTE on security personnel and civilians. It is a sign of utter desperation of the terrorists, in the face of their complete defeat in the Eastern Province, both militarily and politically and their imminent annihilation in the North," he added.
"The Government will never succumb to the fascist designs of the LTTE, and is more resolved as never before to eliminate terrorism from every part of Sri Lanka. The people of Sri Lanka are solidly behind the security forces in this endeavour. The international community has also now realized the true nature of the LTTE, which has once again proved its absolute contempt for democracy, pluralism and cilvilized values of humanity."
"I extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in this terrorist outrage and also my sincere wishes for the speedy recovery of those who sustained injuries." - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Karunanidhi hospitalised
(May 16, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) They say you get emotional when you are physically weak. And just days after he made an emotional appeal in the Assembly to all political parties in the State to work together for the cause of people, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was on Friday admitted to a hospital after he reportedly complained of ‘severe neck and back pain’.
Confirming rumours that were doing rounds since morning that the Chief Minister was not well, an official release from Finance Minister K Anabazhagan, who is second-in-command to Karunanidhi both in the government and in the party, has appealed to everyone not to disturb the Chief Minister till he returned from the hospital.
Karunanidhi has been ‘strictly advised’ by the doctors to be under treatment at least for a few days, as a result of which he was admitted to Ramachandra Hospital at Porur, Chennai on Friday.
Meanwhile, Karunanidhi’s admission into hospital has again opened the floodgates for speculation in the political arena. Most of the conjectures revolve around the octogenarian politician’s health and how long can he go on in the political arena.
There is already a huge discussion going on about the next line of leaders in the DMK to step on to the centre stage. Karunanidhi himself seems keen to pass the baton.
As if to confirm his thinking, On 5 May, Local Administration Minister and Karunanidhi’s son M K Stalin concluded the reply to the demands for grants for the Industries and Information Technology departments in the Assembly.
These are departments that are under the Chief Minister and normally, he would have presented the demand for grants and replied to the debate.
But Karunanidhi leaving the floor open for Stalin was also in keeping in line with the promise he made in the party’s conference at Tirunelveli late last year to give greater responsibilities to youngsters in the party (Stalin despite being in his 50s is still the youth wing chief of the party).
Even before the buzz created by Stalin stepping in for Karunanidhi on the floor of the House could settle, political circles here were abuzz with another rumour that efforts are on to make M K Azhagiri, the elder son of the DMK supremo, as the vice president of the party.
Recently Azhagiri was acquitted in the case relating to the murder of former Minister T Kiruttinan.
He also called on the Chief Minister soon after the verdict and reportedly expressed his desire to take a plunge in active politics. With Stalin, the younger son of Karunanidhi, enjoying a prominent position in the State government, Azhagiri reportedly urged his father to provide him a pivotal role in party affairs.
It is rumoured that at the forthcoming general council meeting of the DMK, a few changes would be made in the bylaw of the party to accommodate Azhagiri as the vice president of the DMK.
It is also expected that Karunanidhi would make some ‘important changes’ in the DMK and in the government immediately after he returns from the hospital. - Sri Lanka Guardian
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Mahinda Rajapaksa extended his deepest sympathies to the bereaved families and the victims of earthquake that struck western China on May 12.
In his letter to the President of China, Hu Jintao, President Rajapaksa said “I am confident that the immediate relief and rehabilitation work undertaken by the government of China under your leadership will alleviate the sufferings of the affected people and enable them to recover in the shortest possible time." Full text of the message:
His Excellency Hu Jintao President of the People`s Republic of China
Excellency,
I was deeply saddened to hear of the death and destruction caused by the earthquake that struck western China on May 12.
Having gone through the fury of nature ourselves in 2004 December due to the unprecedented tsunami that struck our country, the Government and the people of Sri Lanka extend their sympathies to the bereaved families and the victims of this calamity. At this hour of grief, the sincere thoughts and prayers of the people of Sri Lanka are with the people of China. I wish a speedy recovery to those who are injured.
I am confident that the immediate relief and rehabilitation work undertaken by the government of China under your leadership will alleviate the sufferings of the affected people and enable them to recover in the shortest possible time.
Accept Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration. - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
No peace without human rights!
“War crimes by Sinhala extremists in the government and its security forces not only violate human rights, they also help the Tigers. The LTTE says that Tamils are being oppressed by the state in Sri Lanka, and the only way they can escape from oppression is by having a separate state. Atrocities by Sinhala nationalists can be used to convince Tamils and foreign governments that the Tigers are telling the truth. And so long as that happens, they can never be defeated.” _________________________
by Rohini Hensman
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The worst thing that can happen in Sri Lanka is not a war conducted in compliance with international law. The worst thing that can happen is an all-out violation of those laws. Anyone who doubts this only needs to think back to the late 1980s in the South. All the young men in villages were being rounded up and killed. The JVP was killing families of people in the state security forces while the state security forces killed families of JVP members. Schoolchildren were being slaughtered, and torture and disappearances were rampant. There was an all-pervasive fear of organising to stop all this, or even raising your voice against it, in case you might be the next one to be tortured and killed.
That was not the "ethnic conflict". It was tens of thousands of Sinhalese being killed by Sinhalese: the JVP on one side, the Sri Lankan state on the other, and many innocent people caught in the middle. We must not forget this experience, because it can happen again unless we take immediate steps to prevent it.
If we think back a little further, what was happening in the late 1970s and early 1980s? The Sri Lankan state was behaving in exactly the same way the victims were Tamils. Many Sinhalese people were not aware of what was happening, because it was not reported by the Sinhala press. Others were not bothered, thinking that only Tamils were being killed and Sinhalese were safe. But we know now that they were wrong. Once people in positions of power are allowed to violate human rights with impunity, no one is safe. Democracy cannot survive in such circumstances.
In the mid-1990s, there was an attempt by the PA government to restore democracy and stop the rampant abuse of human rights by the state. To a great extent it was successful, and life returned to normal in the South despite the outbreak of war from time to time and occasional terrorist attacks.
But now the warning signs have started flashing red again. The armed forces have been involved in ugly human rights violations in the north and east, just as they were last time. And instead of punishing the culprits, the government has been covering up for them, just as it did last time. Are we going to let the situation get out of control, as we did last time? We would be foolish indeed to make the same disastrous mistake again! This time, we must stop the situation from getting out of hand before it is too late.
Importance of international law
Some people in the government and armed forces seem to think that just because we are in the middle of a war, they can do anything. But this is not true. Even in times of war, certain actions are illegal: for example, targeting or terrorising civilians in any way, rape, torturing and killing prisoners, recruiting children. Political and military leaders who allow or encourage their followers to carry out such activities are characterised as war criminals by international law.
Such war crimes have been committed by Sinhala extremists in the government and state security forces in Trincomalee, Mannar, Muttur and other places. The government claims it is investigating them, but many people are suspicious of these so-called investigations. Supposing a man has killed his neighbour, and his family members say, "Let’s not go to the police, we will investigate this murder ourselves". Will the family of the murdered man, and the other neighbours, trust them to carry out an honest investigation and make an honest report of the results? Aren’t they more likely to say, "You know he’s guilty but don’t want him to be punished, that’s why you don’t want us to go to the police"?
This is exactly how family members of the victims in the north and east, as well as many others in Sri Lanka and abroad, feel about the government’s investigations of human rights violations in the North and East. Members of one arm of the state are guilty of war crimes, and members of that same arm or other arms, all of whom are like family members to the criminals, are supposed to investigate. No wonder there is no faith in these investigations!
Instead, various human rights groups and activistssome who have risked their lives opposing the LTTE—have demanded that a UN-sponsored human rights monitoring mission should come to Sri Lanka to investigate such atrocities and publicise their findings. The government may be resisting this demand because it thinks that its authority will be undermined if it agrees. But the truth is the opposite: its authority will be strengthened.
If an impartial body finds that there are cases where members of the armed forces or their allies have been guilty of human rights violations, and the government punishes them, it will gain legitimacy both within and outside Sri Lanka. On the other hand, if in other cases such a mission says that government forces are innocent, people will accept their verdict because it is seen to be impartial.
Creating space for democracy in the North-East
War crimes by Sinhala extremists in the government and its security forces not only violate human rights, they also help the Tigers. The LTTE says that Tamils are being oppressed by the state in Sri Lanka, and the only way they can escape from oppression is by having a separate state. Atrocities by Sinhala nationalists can be used to convince Tamils and foreign governments that the Tigers are telling the truth. And so long as that happens, they can never be defeated. However badly they are hammered by the military, they will always come back. There will be more terrorist attacks, and eventually the war will break out again.
The only way to defeat the LTTE and create space for democracy in the north and the east is to convince the majority of Tamils as well as the international community that the safety, security and democratic rights of Tamils are protected in Sri Lanka. This can be done even during the fighting, by ruling out attacks on non-combatants and moving towards democratic devolution. If an impartial international human rights monitoring mission testifies that the government is abiding by international law, that would be a moral victory which would count much more than any military victory. - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Human trafficking
“ Trafficking of women and children is a violation of basic human rights and labour rights. It is an offense punishable by international law as well as by Sri Lankan law. Penal Code (Amendment) Act no.16 of 2006 makes human trafficking, an offence punishable by a minimum imprisonment of two years and a maximum of twenty years and a fine. The minimum term is three years if the victim is a child, i.e. below 18 years of age.” _______________________
by Kanchanee Vithanage
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Padma lives with her mother in a remote village in the Monaragala District. One day their neighbour comes by with an interesting proposal to find employment for Padma in Colombo. Padma leaves for Colombo with her neighbour dreaming of her new job. The neighbour hands Padma over to a lady who then hands her to a brothel owner. As a prostitute, each day Padma has to satisfy several clients. She dreams of going back home but she earns very little and is trapped. Back in the village, Padma’s mother thinks her daughter is happy working in Colombo. What Padma underwent is the plight of many women and children who are taken to the city by a neighbour or a distant relative with promises of finding a good job and a better life. "Human trafficking", both at domestic and international level, is one of the worst social hazards Asia is experiencing at present. Trafficking of women and children has become one of the most serious social problems in Sri Lanka as well.
What is human trafficking?
The protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children defines trafficking as "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring and receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation". Here "exploitation" includes "at a minimum the exploitation of the prostitution and of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs." Victims do not agree to be trafficked but are trafficked, lured by false promises, deception, intimidation, isolation, debt bondage, physical force etc.
Trafficking of women and children is a violation of basic human rights and labour rights. It is an offense punishable by international law as well as by Sri Lankan law. Penal Code (Amendment) Act no.16 of 2006 makes human trafficking, an offence punishable by a minimum imprisonment of two years and a maximum of twenty years and a fine. The minimum term is three years if the victim is a child, i.e. below 18 years of age.
Transnational trafficking
Trafficking is no more an internal problem. Transnational human trafficking has gained serious dimensions during this decade. According to a 2003 US government report, 800,000-900,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year. This figure does not include those who are trafficked internally. However, due to the illicit nature of trafficking, the true figures always remain unknown.
Trafficking, which is one of the major social and economic problems in third world countries, is affecting the South Asian region in particular. Women and children are trafficked across the borders mainly among India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. India and Pakistan also act as transit countries to other regions such as Gulf States, South East Asia and Europe. According to Global Citizen Trust, approximately 5000 Nepalese girls are trafficked into India annually and 4,500 Bangladeshi girls and children are trafficked into Pakistan via India. According to Bangladesh government figures, 10,000 are trafficked annually, internally and across borders. Sri Lankans are mainly trafficked inland and to middle-eastern countries. It is believed that every year, approximately one million people are trafficked from Asia for purposes such as sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced marriage and bonded labour. Boys are trafficked to the UAE and Qatar as camel jockeys and beggars as well. Since trafficking in Asia is carried out in a systematic regional network, it is believed that eradicating the same should also be done at a regional level.
Trafficking and migrant workers
A clear nexus can be drawn between trafficking and unsafe migration. Trafficking in Asia has mainly evoked with the current trend among Asians to seek foreign employment in the Middle-East. The international migration of women from South Asia for employment in the formal sector has considerably increased during the past three decades. Migration, while financially empowering women, increases their vulnerability. Women’s decisions to migrate are often taken under conditions of disparity thus heightening their vulnerability to various forms of exploitation including trafficking. Lack of information and scarcity of opportunities for safe migration also contribute in ending up being trafficked. Therefore, ensuring safe labour migration and upgrading standards relating to migration can be considered as one of the main steps towards eradicating trafficking at the international level.
Towards eradication
Many steps have been taken around the world in order to eliminate the problem of human trafficking. Enforcing laws and ratifying international human rights instruments related to trafficking is the basic step. As for an example, Pakistan has promulgated the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002. Moreover, countries like Nepal have come up with novel features such as making private foreign employment agencies accountable through a deposit system. The agencies have to pay a high deposit to the government to obtain the agency and would lose the same whereupon an incident of trafficking of a migrant worker is proved.
Memorandums of understanding and bilateral agreements are signed between some countries for the purpose of eliminating human trafficking. The MoU signed between Cambodia and Thailand in 2003 to eliminate trafficking in children and women and to assist victims of trafficking is an example for such bilateral agreement. By MoUs of this sort, countries agree to ensure that the local legal frameworks conform to the international human rights instruments, to raise awareness among women and children, to work in cooperation for the suppression of trafficking etc. However, due to the unequal bargaining power sustained by third world countries like Sri Lanka, entering into a bilateral agreement or an MoU with a wealthy Middle-Eastern country has proven to be easier said than done.
Support services
Strengthening the care of victims of trafficking is another positive step. Many countries have taken steps to develop support services such as medical care, treatment, rehabilitation, repatriation, shelter, safety, psychological support, legal aid, reintegration to society, repatriation of human remains, etc. Moreover, developing preparatory services such as imparting of information, language training, and awareness programmes vis-`E0-vis the potential migrant workers is one successful method towards preventing human trafficking. Community based sensitisation and education need to be ensured. Attracting the potential migrant workers to these services already rendered especially by government institutions such as the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau is one of the responsibilities of the media as well. Effective legislation and bringing the perpetrators of trafficking before the law and protecting victims are other steps that should be taken.
The existing emigration policy in India not to allow women below 30 years to migrate for any unskilled labour gets easily hoodwinked from the step of the passport application itself. Then even a protector of emigrants can hardly stop the migration of girls below 30 years of age. This is just one example to explain the gravity of the problem of internal as well as transnational human trafficking. Therefore, it is believed that development of support services; especially with regard to public awareness in par with law enforcement is the key to success in eliminating human trafficking. In addition, the governments of South Asian countries have a responsibility towards establishing a regional network in order to eliminate human trafficking. - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
LTTE and drugs smuggling
" It can be stated that the LTTE, IRA, FARC, Al Qaeda, Sendoro Luminosa are typical of the terrorist organisations involved in the heroin trade. The LTTE’s involvement in drug trafficking began from the inception of the organisation. Even as early as 1984 LTTE linked arrests involving heroin have been recorded in Italy, France, UK etc."
__________________________
by Lakshman Hulugalle
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Heroin traffickers and the heroin trade is not advertised in the media like other products. This is not surprising. The heroin industry and trade from the primary stages of growing "poppy" in the best known poppy growing areas of the "Golden Triangle" in the jungles of Myanmar and the "Golden Crescent" of Afghanistan, Central Asia and other countries through the various stages of purification to the end product. From the beginning of the "poppy" to the end the entire process is illegal. In some countries the possession of the most minute quantity of heroin will mean the death penalty with no appeal or mercy from any anti-death penalty or human rights organisation. Understandably this penalty is because of the dangerous hazards of using heroin which results in the destabilisation of individuals and society involving entire nations. The very nature of the trade, especially huge financial benefits derived from small quantities which can even be concealed in the human body results in violence with dangerous implications. Most dangerous is the linkage of heroin to terrorists and terrorism and the innumerable forms of crime. From large scale criminal syndicates, world wide networks of distribution techniques and down to the street vendor of heroin, huge sums of illegal money are involved, finally ending with money laundering.
The link between terrorism and drug trafficking is inseparable and is the reason why drug trafficking is dangerous. First, both terrorists and drug organisations are extremely secretive as their existence and "success" depend on it. The statement that there is "no entrance fee to join the organization but the only exit is through the cemetery" explains the nature of both organisations. Secondly, they are closely knit, tyrannical and autocratic. The "Capo" is supreme and his word is law. This makes infiltration into these organisations very difficult, almost impossible unless well trained and intelligent. These organisations such as the LTTE, IRA, the Columbian drug "cartels", the Mafia are "empires". But even these have been infiltrated. Ethnic or racial outfits such as the LTTE, religious terrorist groups as the IRA, Al-Qaeda and the Sicilian "Mafiosi" or "family" are most difficult to infiltrate. Their anti-social activities, business and trade requirements make violence mandatory with its own code of conduct based on revenge, reprisals, cruelty, torture and death decided arbitrarily.
Violence involves weapons and these are obtained sometimes legally but used for illegal purposes. Thirdly, these organisations have international links made possible by a sympathetic "Disapora". The Mafia is "Italian"’ in language, culture and religion (Roman Catholic) and has a concentrated "Diaspora" in the USA. The Columbian "Cartels" are Spanish in culture, language and religion (Roman Catholic) and are concentrated mainly in Southern USA and California. The LTTE is Tamil in culture, language, race and religion (Hindu) with its "Diaspora" in the USA, Canada, UK, Norway, Western Europe, Australia. Referring to the heroin involvement of the entire Tamil heroin syndicate in Italy an Italian police official states: "...it is exceedingly difficult for the police to penetrate the fluctuating, homogenous culture with its different language and customs". The LTTE has another critical advantage over the other organisations of having over 60 million Tamil Hindus with the same culture, language and religion separated by just 22 miles of sea known as the Palk Strait. This distance can be covered in an hour in a Fibre Glass Dinghy powered by two 75 horse power outboard engines into the mangrove swamps and rivulets running inland providing more than sufficient cover and access for any illegal activities used to its maximum by the LTTE.
During investigations in Rome of Tamil LTTE supporters, the "Police in Rome trailing as Italian drug addicts were led to a deserted farmhouse. Inside were six Tamils with 200 grams of heroin which laboratory tests indicated that the heroin came from the Pakistan-Afghan border. One of those arrested had admitted that the heroin had entered Italy from India on a flight routed through Warsaw." This shows the ramifications of the LTTE heroin trade which by now would have developed into larger and more better organised outfits.
It can be stated that the LTTE, IRA, FARC, Al Qaeda, Sendoro Luminosa are typical of the terrorist organisations involved in the heroin trade. The LTTE’s involvement in drug trafficking began from the inception of the organisation. Even as early as 1984 LTTE linked arrests involving heroin have been recorded in Italy, France, UK etc.
This is not the best of times for the LTTE just now as it is listed as a terrorist organisation in India, USA, UK, Canada, Malaysia and the EU countries numbering 25. LTTE involvement in drug smuggling has got little media attention and many countries seem to have turned a blind eye to this most destabilising, criminal and anti-social of inhuman activities. On 22nd August 2006 events in Canada showed the involment of the LTTE hierarchy in the conspiracy with their members in USA and Canada. It is significant that this could well be the first instance when 14 LTTE supporters and sympathizersbe much more soonbeen named for illegal activities especially in light of the LTTE being listed as a foreign terrorist organisation in the USA and Canada besides the EU’s 25 countries, India and Malaysia. Reports indicate that the LTTE organisers in Canada and the US have "heavily" lobbied both the judiciary and Congress to annul this ban. This demonstrates that although the LTTE outfit and lobbyists have made every possible effort to give the impression to the international community and especially the Tamil diaspora that all is well they do realise the gravity and the repercussion of the ban. The procurement of sophisticated illegal weapons "sufficient to equip a moving guerilla force" was torpedoed with the arrests of the Tamil "ring" of procurers. Had the deal gone through it would have had serious implications.
The LTTE is a multi-facetted organisation including armed conflict and has been funded for over 25 years by individuals, donations, foreign governments, and extortion mainly from the Tamil diaspora and Tamils in Sri Lanka, trafficking of refugees, forging currency, credit card racketeering, forging illegal passports, human smuggling, smuggling of narcotics and weapons and innumerable business ventures including shipping and training foreign terrorist organisations. The LTTE is in fact a financial "empire" with a budget and expenses unaccountable except to the LTTE "supremo" and his close "associates". The latest arms deal to procure Russian made SA-18 missiles to be used against Sri Lankan Air Force jets was reported to be a staggering US$ 900,000 to US$ 937,000. Reliable sources report US $ 2 million is the total finding for "refugees" of which US $ 730,000 is collected from the Canadian Tamils. The LTTE boasts of having 4000- 5000 regular "fighters" in the field. Tamil youth numbering another 2000-4000 including their families according to a good guess have to be supported. There are over 20,000 killed in battle and about the same number injured, with over half seriously injured and unable to earn a living. They too need support. The families of the dead have to be maintained and the wounded in battle have to be provided with medical care.
With the cost of ammunition, weapons, and maintenance of Sea Tigers and their craft, the LTTE need money, and plenty of it. The families of the LTTE hierarchy are also in the west. Indiscriminate taxes collected in rupees from every conceivable source such as trucks and vehicles in the transport services at checkpoints in the northern and eastern provinces, extortion etc. amounts to another’ rupees 2 million a day. These financial sources cannot in any way meet the expensive business of running an outfit of that strength geared with sophisticated weapons. Drug trafficking is thus a major LTTE "funder" made easier with a Tamil diaspora similar to the Spanish speaking population of USA living in the Southern states. There were reports of LTTE connections with the major South American drug cartels but there is no commitment yet in rooting out this evil. Drug trafficking is common amongst all terrorist groups for the obvious reason that the LTTE has a world wide reach for collection and distribution of drugs, mainly heroin.
The LTTE drug business is a many faceted trade and is a well organised outfit. LTTE supporters provide the "mules", peddlers, traffickers, bulk distributors to the "street" and secrecy. Secrecy is critical for the drug trade and the LTTE will hunt anyone suspected of divulging information. They also fund sources at the point of controlling its heroin trade. Originally, the drug business began as a small enterprise limited to the Tamil Nadu state but has today extended its tentacles and links with the underworld of the trade. The earlier drug routes still exists from the North via Afghanistan, Pakistan down to Tamil Nadu, with over 60 million sympathetic, culturally and linguistically linked Tamil Hindus. In the ideally smuggling-friendly Vedaraniyam coast of Tamil Nadu, local agents make use of the Tamil Nadu fishermen to transport drugs including high and low quality heroin. The risk is minimal as a friendly individual in the police, customs guarantees success. The home of the LTTE leader as well as its "core" group are "natives" from the historically notorious smuggling port of Velvettithurai, better known as VVT in the northern peninsula. The LTTE has cultivated individuals of all levels in the business, politicians, law enforcement officials, agencies, lawyers, transporters etc. for the successful smuggling of not only drugs but also weapons, injured cadres, medicine, expertise and all that is required to wage armed combat against the democratic state of Sri Lanka. The LTTE according to reports also has links with the Asian drug business. The LTTE reportedly has links to the Golden Triangle and the Golden crescent via the state of Tamil Nadu down to Sri Lanka and again distributed.
The LTTE has now been listed as a terrorist organisation by the USA, UK, India, EU, Canada and Malaysia. The Republic of China has not listed the LTTE but there is no chance of the LTTE even trying to spread its tentacles of terrorism in China. Many Tamils with LTTE links have been arrested since mid-1984. Italy was one of the earliest countries to take action against LTTE drug traffickers. "The nexus between international arms, and narcotics trafficking is well established," according to Davis. Sri Lankan Tamils linked to drugs trafficking arrested in the west since from 1984 to 1990 was 1642. Over 200 Tamils were arrested from Italian cities such as Rome, Naples, Acilia, Syracuse and Sicily. The LTTE has also links with Asia, Thailand etc. The Bangkok Post in October stated that the LTTE is directly involved with the Burmese regime in making and distributing heroin. The investigation uncovered direct proof of close collaboration between Burma and the Tamil Tigers. In 1997 the Indian Express of 10th February 1997 in an article titled "The Drug Lagoon" stated that the Sri Lankan Police seized 375kg of heroin smuggled from South India to a locality off Negombo, for eventual shipment to Europe. The smugglers were suspected to have links with the LTTE.
The LTTE depends much on drug smuggling and distribution. Almost all terrorist groups without exception have links with the lucrative trade of drug trafficking. It is easy to carry out and distribute as the Tamils have a widespread diaspora internationally. Especially after the unfortunate 1983 disturbances and riots there was widespread sympathy for the Tamils internationally which they used to develop the trade. Reports show that these smugglers when apprehended by customs and the police always mentioned that the finances were required for their "freedom" struggle. However today the tide has turned against them and the LTTE is listed as a terrorist organisation by many countries as in India, USA, UK, Canada, Malaysia and the EU. Like any terrorist organisation, the LTTE is no exception in that it requires finances for its activities. Although they generate finances from taxes, sympathetic supporters and other pursuits, heroin remains one of the most lucrative avenues for generating finances with their involvement in the heroin trade.
A few arrests of Sri Lankan Tamils with LTTE links are given below:
* Uthayakumar, Amil Athmajothy, and Ramachandran Iyah of Rue Vinaig-eiers, Paris: French drug authorities say gang allegedly finances arms transactions for Tamil terrorist activities. 1984.
* Moses Rajendra, Kumara Rajaratnam (Malaysian) and Ravindra Kumar Perumal: 1gm heroin, 16,000,000 pesetas and magazines, bulletins, stickers and posters found inside flat they occupied in Madrid. 1985.
* Mano Krishna (female) of Madras, Arumai Sinnathamby, Selladorai Felix Anton: Seizure of 3kg of heroin. Pakistan drug authority stated they are smuggling heroin to finance the Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka. 1985.
* Ponnadurai Sivayogarajah (British passport), Kumaraswamy Pathmanathan (British passport): Brussels police stated involvement with a militant Tamil organisation in Bombay dealing with trafficking illicit drugs, arms. They possessed 1.975 kg of heroin. 1985.
* 95 suspects belonging to a Tamil militant group: This Tamil group was composed and directed by a Tamil militant group, all belonging to a Tamil ethnic group. The proceeds from narcotics served to finance some revolutionary movements in India, Sri Lanka and Europe. Traces of some kind of link between leaders of this group and guerilla leaders in Asia, especially of training camps in Palestine and Lebanon have been found.
* Mampullai Iyappan Kochu Ramakrishnan of Montreal: 1310 gm of heroin concealed in the false bottom of suitcase. According to his statement one Bala raised funds for a Tamil separatist movement and the suitcase allegedly contained important documents of the separatist movement. 1986.
* Parameswary Tambiayah (female) of Madras.
* Sritharan Subramanium, Thanapalan Paramanathan and Siyama Rhanapalaam of Montreal: Seizure of 950gm of herion. The French Drugs Authority stated these traffickers are said to have belonged to the Tamil Tiger group which is believed to collect funds in this way. 1986.
* Sinnadurai Selvanayagam, Ponniah Baskaran, Muthusamy Jeevandra: Seizure of 49 gm of heroin. Police stated Somasuntheram is a leader of an organisation set up in Italy. Drug trafficking is the main source of funds for this Tamil militant organisation. 1987.
* Kandasamy Indran, Jaffna: Possession of 351 gm of heroin. The subject told police that the profits from drug traffickers were intended for the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. 1988.
* Maheswaran Kirubendra Moorthy, Eswaraailam, Atchuveli, Sembumali Ravindrajah, Irupala, East Kopay: Possession of 507 gm of herion. Arrested at Mattakuliya, Modera. Maheswaran is a member of a Tamil drug syndicate. When he was arrested he was in possession of a card which carried the insignia of the LTTE militants displaying their sophisticate weapons. 1990.
* Muthuvel Sripathy, Ponnathurai Srikaran: Seizure of 3kg and 500gm of heroin. They were reported to have admitted that they were supporters of the Tamil Tiger terrorist group. 1991.
* S. Ganeshalngam, Koraiyur, Jaffna: Possession of 1.150kg of heroin. Was arrested by Tamil Nadu police at Trichy in March 1993. His name figures in the interrogation report of Karan alias Kanna, an LTTE cadre arrested on 20/2/93. He said he paid amounts of Rs. 5000 thrice to the LTTE cadres/sympathisers till 1991 April at Trichy. 1993.
* Mohamed Samsudeen Passagerie, Joseph David, David Michael, Reginold Asservatham, Vesgaratnam Nadarajah Kurrukkal, Kanageswary Vallipuram, Sivaramalingam Chandrakumaran: Seizure of 6kgs of heroin. French Drug Authority stated that all monies were used to finance the movement of the Tigers who migrated to India. 1986.
"project-affected communities":Two dam projects as case studies
by Asitha Jayawardena
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A key issue related to development projects is the communities they affect. A classic example in this respect is dam projects. Although dam projects usually achieve their main objectives they sometimes cause severe socio-economic hardships for the resettled communities. Broad agreement has now emerged among the stakeholders of dam projects that the living standards of the displaced should be raised by locally empowering them to reap the benefits the new economic opportunities offer. Proper planning is a must in order to prevent the devastation of the local socio-economic systems. TWO DAM PROJECTS AS CASE STUDIES
In a research study undertaken by Dr. Jagath Manatunge, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, two dam projects are discussed as case studies: Saguling dam project in West Java, Indonesia, and Kotmale dam project in Sri Lanka. The following article is based on a paper he presented at the Asia Pacific Association of Hydrology and Water Resources (APHW) Conference in Bangkok, Thailand in October 2006. Its title is "Livelihood rebuilding of dam-affected communities: Case studies from Sri Lanka and Indonesia". The study was funded by the Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) of the Japan Science and Technology Corporation.
In Saguling dam project, the reservoir inundated over 5,600 hectares of highly fertile farmland in this densely populated region, displacing over 3000 families. Although the resettlement scheme had been planned with an emphasis on transmigration, only 450 families opted the option of resettling in other Indonesian islands.
The rest received compensation for their lost assets and were resettled in the reservoir’s riparian areas. Alternative farmland was not available from the same area, but the new aquatic resource offered new opportunities. So the resettlers changed their livelihood from agriculture to aquaculture. The Kotmale reservoir submerged over 4000 hectares of fertile land, including 600 ha of paddy fields. Over 3400 displaced families, including 900 on earth slip prone areas, were offered two options: resettle in dry zone with dry land and/ or paddy fields with irrigation water, or resettle in the reservoir’s riparian areas with ‘productive’ tea plots. Over 60% selected the second option.
During the review conducted after two decades since the resettlement, the resettled communities in general expressed satisfaction. However, questions remain whether they were really able to reap the benefits offered by the dam project. This research study investigated the two cases with a view of finding further improvements possible, which will be helpful in planning resettlement of the displaced in future dam projects. For simplicity, focus in both cases is only on those who resettled in the riparian areas of respective reservoirs.
OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS
Observations and findings are presented under four areas:
* Social marginalization and equity
* Consequences of lack of access to credit
* Overexploitation of resources & resources degradation
* Social equity
Social marginalization and inequality was evident both between the resettlers and the host communities and within resettled families themselves. In both cases, the displaced lost their skilled livelihood source together with their identity and social status. As a result, they experienced social marginalization at the hand of the host communities. Social marginalization and inequality was evident among resettlers, too, partly due to the productivity differences of the property they received. Moreover, success of the newly established livelihood was dependent on a variety of factors, such as access to capital and markets and the influence of middlemen, leading to widening income differences among the resettled families.
Lack of access to credit significantly hindered the resettlers’ progress in their new livelihood. Since the main income source of over 70% of the Saguling resettlers was not fishing, they had to invest in fishing gear. The compensation they received was inadequate to invest in a complete set of fishing gear and they lacked access to credit.
At Kotmale, over 60% of the resettlers received marginal tea plots badly in need of replanting to be productive and about 55% received no cash compensation but land only. Being unable to bear the capital cost and income interruption during replanting, the majority continued to rely on marginal land at subsistence level, eventually encountering failing income.
In both cases, lack of capital and lack of access to credit made resettlers vulnerable to outsiders exploiting new opportunities and the legal framework was not strong enough to protect the resettlers’ rights. As a result, they failed to enjoy the new economic benefits offered by the project.
In both projects, resettlers resorted to exploitation of resources as a means to raise their income in a short period. As a result, they caused resources degradation that threatens their livelihood itself. In Saguling, haphazard and rapid development of aquaculture has continued to lower the water quality levels and causing mass fish kills, threatening the future of the reservoir-based fisheries industry. In Kotmale, the most of the resettlers blessed with productive tea plots practiced over-picking of tea-leaves, in order to maximize profits in a short period.
Their ignorance of maintenance and management of these plots has led to a drop in productivity, opening the way for unreliable and declining income patterns. In the meantime, most of the resettlers who received marginal tea plots cleared the land of tea and started growing vegetables. However, unsuitability of sloping land for vegetable growing has created new problems, including low productivity, soil erosion and resources degradation.
Middlemen’s dominance in both projects prevented the resettlers from reaping the project’s benefits. Although the legal framework and organization protect the rights of the resettlers to a certain extent (e.g., fishing permit system in Saguling and definition of property rights in Kotmale), the measures were not strong enough and the middlemen enjoyed the benefits targeted at the resettlers.
LESSONS
Lessons learnt from this study with respect to the resettlement of the communities displaced by dam projects include:
* Resettlement alternatives should address the dynamism of local socio-economic conditions and be designed with local collaboration * Consider ways to resettle the displaced near their original settlements, providing them with alternative livelihood if necessary * Provide additional financial assistance of the resettled communities (e.g. access to credit) until they stabilize in their new livelihood * Emphasize the long term sustainability of production capacity and economic viability during planning * Strengthen the resettlers against the influence of the outsiders and middlemen
* Address social concerns and provide opportunities for the resettlers to rebuild social networks - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Suicide Blast: Over 10 Killed, More than 90 Wounded
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A bomb exploded near Lake House at around 12 noon, today (May 16). According to the available information, three-wheel scooter taxi loaded with explosives rammed into a bus carrying Police personnel at the Ceramic Junction, near Lake House. Around 70 people injured and over 10 people were killed due to the bomb blast.(Picture From Defence Ministry) - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Suicide Bomb Blast in Colombo-Fort
Three people where seriously wonded in a Suicide bomb balst targeted Police bus at near the Lake Houe , the State own Print Media institute around 12.00 noon, source in the area told the Sri Lanka Guardian.
More Detauls Will Follow...... - Sri Lanka Guardian
(May 16, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The debate on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline has generated more heat than light. There has been a wide chasm between rhetoric and reality, with little informed public debate. It is indisputable that the booming but energy-starved Indian economy needs to tap every possible source of power that is economically viable, with its security and continuity suitably guaranteed. By 2020, India's demand for natural gas is expected to rise threefold to 270 million cubic meters daily, with 200 million cubic meters coming from the existing sources — domestic and foreign. India currently has only one significant contract with Qatar for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is at present for five million tonnes per year, with an additional two million tonnes annually being available from 2009.
In June 2005, India signed a $22 billion deal with Iran for the supply of five million tonnes of LNG annually, with Iran agreeing to consider the supply of an additional 2.5 million tonnes annually. Iran unilaterally repudiated this agreement and demanded higher prices, calling into question its credibility as a reliable energy supplier. Talks are on to renegotiate this agreement. But India should have no doubt that despite sentimental rhetoric about "civilizational ties" with Iran, the Iranians are not given to sentimentalism, merely because our officials claim that we have a large population of Shias in India.
In today's global scenario, three countries — Russia, Iran and Qatar — account for 58 per cent of the global gas reserves. Japan imports LNG primarily from Australia and its neighbours. With natural gas meeting 20 per cent of its power needs, the growing US demand is being met largely from Canada and to a lesser extent from West Asia. Russian strategic analysts would like to use their energy resources to make Europe extensively dependent on Russia, to counter NATO's inroads into Russian strategic space in former the Soviet republics like Ukraine and Georgia.
Russia would, therefore, support Iran's quest for markets towards its East in countries like China and India. China's state-owned Sinopec signed a $60 billion agreement in 2004 to buy 250 million tonnes of LNG for over 30 years from Iran and develop the giant Yadavaran gas field. Iran is also committed to exporting 150,000 barrels per day of oil to China for 25 years.
Given Russian strategic interest in dominating the energy markets of the European Union, Russia has a substantial interest in Iranian gas being sold increasingly to Asian economies rather than European markets.
Should India worry about US pressures over the IPI pipeline? In August 2006 the US Congress unanimously passed the Iran, Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA), which provides for the imposition of US sanctions on companies, irrespective of their "corporate nationality" that invest more than $20 million annually in the Iranian oil and gas sector. Despite this legislation, Iran has attracted more than $30 billion of foreign investment in its energy sector since the sanctions were imposed.
The European Union has opposed the ILSA sanctions and passed a resolution on November 22, 1996, directing its companies not to comply with the sanctions. A number of European companies, including TOTAL of France and Italy's ENI, have ignored the sanctions as have Petronas from Malaysia and the Russian energy giant GAZPROM. In these circumstances, there is no reason for India to hesitate to proceed with the IPI pipeline, merely because of apprehensions of the adverse impact of possible American sanctions.
If Washington expresses displeasure, it can be politely told that given our need for environmentally friendly sources of energy, we have no option but to seek access to natural gas to meet our energy requirements.
According to Russian estimates, the 2700-km IPI pipeline will have a capacity of 54 billion cubic metres of gas per annum, with 32 billion cubic metres supplied to India and 22 billion cubic metres to Pakistan. The project is estimated to cost $7.6 billion. China has not yet expressed its interest in extending the IPI pipeline to its Xingjian province. Despite Pakistani advocacy, the economic viability of such a pipeline through the high Himalayas is questionable.
President Ahmedinejad exuded optimism that negotiations on the ISI pipeline could be finalised in a matter of months. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, however, noted that much work needed to be done to ensure that the IPI project was commercially viable and financially acceptable, and India's security concerns were addressed.
In 1996, the then Pakistan President Farooq Leghari told Indian High Commissioner Satish Chandra that it was entirely conceivable that Pakistan could cut off supplies at times of tensions, nonchalantly adding that as conflicts between India and Pakistan seldom lasted more than a few weeks, India should not be unduly concerned about temporary dislocations in gas supplies!
Moreover, the pipeline will traverse through both Iranian and Pakistan’s Baluchistan. Over the past three years Pakistani pipelines have been systematically blown up by Baluch separatists. In Iranian Baluchistan, a shadowy Sunni organisation (believed to be US-backed) called Jundullah has been attacking Iranian government targets.
The new government in Pakistan appears to be more realistic in dealing with Baluch aspirations than General Musharraf. But would it be prudent for New Delhi to become heavily dependent on a pipeline through Baluchistan till it is clear that issues like royalty payable to the province are sorted out and Baluch aspirations addressed? Financially, given the spiralling costs of oil and given that gas prices are linked to the prices of oil, at what stage will gas-based energy plants become uneconomical for India? Finally, any agreement has to provide penalty clauses for non-delivery and for gas reserves to cater for disruptions in supply.
These are issues that need to be sorted out in discussions with Iran and Pakistan. At the same time, India's interests require that a major power like Russia is involved in investment in and construction of the pipeline as a guarantor of the continuity of supplies. GAZPROM would be an ideal partner to play such a role.
GAZPROM could probably be persuaded to agree to undertake an undersea pipeline from Iran bypassing Pakistan, which would substantially meet concerns of energy security. Moreover, New Delhi should show caution in proceeding with the proposed pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan for the supply of gas to India. The situation in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban controls vast tracts of the countryside, is far too turbulent for the requirements of energy security to be met.
The Manmohan Singh government has been less than transparent and forthcoming in explaining such issues to the public in India. In the absence of informed public debate, demagogues voicing the empty rhetoric of the Cold War inevitably dominate the public discourse. - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Rethinking Israel After 60 Years
“The transformation of the Occupation into a permanent political fact now shifts the question of co-existence, peace and reconciliation from the West Bank and Gaza to the entire country, to an indivisible Israel/Palestine. This is the true significance of the 60 Years. For if a viable Palestinian state cannot be detached from Israel, then the conflict becomes one which encompasses the entire country from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. The focus on 1948 raises issues we’d rather leave untouched, events and policies we have suppressed these past six decades.” ____________________________
by Jeff Halper
(May 16, Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian) Israeli Independence Day 2008, marking the sixtieth anniversary of the rise of the Jewish State, should be cause for sober reflection and reevaluation as well as celebration. Indeed, we Israeli Jews have much to celebrate. But something, it appears, is amiss. Israel’s 60 Year gala appeared exaggerated, the joy expressed through the blaring loudspeakers somewhat artificial and forced. The celebrations were certainly more militaristic and triumphalist than usual. Neither the Palestinians nor the Occupation were allowed to penetrate the close narrative encasing Independence Day, of course, but military themes and displays, plus the presence of thousands of soldiers and police in every public place, conveyed an underlying disquiet. Something else was present, an unsettling but unspoken element. I call it the Palestinian poltergeist. Perhaps our loud triumphalism had to do less with celebration than with the disturbing realization that the two-state solution, which even Olmert claims is Israel‘s only hope of remaining a Jewish state, is disappearing before our eyes. Anyone familiar with Israel’s massive settlements blocs, its fragmentation of the Palestinian territories and their irreversible incorporation into Israel proper through a maze of Israeli-only highways and other “facts on the ground,” anyone who has spent an hour in the West Bank, can plainly see that this is the case. The expansion of Israel’s Matrix of Control throughout the Occupied Territories, coupled with American protection from any international pressures for meaningfully withdrawal, have rendered a viable Palestinian state, and thus a genuine two-state solution, unattainable.
The transformation of the Occupation into a permanent political fact now shifts the question of co-existence, peace and reconciliation from the West Bank and Gaza to the entire country, to an indivisible Israel/Palestine. This is the true significance of the 60 Years. For if a viable Palestinian state cannot be detached from Israel, then the conflict becomes one which encompasses the entire country from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. The focus on 1948 raises issues we’d rather leave untouched, events and policies we have suppressed these past six decades.
Did the Palestinians really flee or did we Israeli Jews drive them out? If almost half the inhabitants of that part of Palestine apportioned by the UN to the Jews in 1947 were Arabs, how could we have turned even that small bit of land into a “Jewish state”? Is Zionism, then, truly free of war crimes or did we in fact conduct a deliberate and cruel campaign of ethnic cleansing that went far beyond the borders of partition? In that context, was the occupation of the entire land of Palestine the result of Jordanian miscalculation or, from a perspective of forty years later, was in actually an inevitable “completion” of 1948, as Rabin and many others have said? How can we reconcile our professed desire for peace with a steady annexation of the Occupied Territories, including almost 250 settlements? Can we really expect to “win,” to frustrate Palestinian aspirations for freedom in their homeland forever, and if we do, what kind of society will we have, what will our children inherit? Indeed, while we presume to speak in the name of world Jewry, can we expect our Diaspora – fundamentally liberal and not tribal as is Judaism in Israel – to support war crimes that only undermine the moral basis of their community, convictions and faith?
And then comes the hardest question of all: If it was we who eliminated a viable two-state solution – the creation of a truncated Palestinian prison-state on 15% of historic Palestine a la South Africa’s Bantustans will not solve the conflict – then how will we end our century-old conflict? How will we deal with the bi-national entity that is Israel/Palestine, largely our own creation?
In order to avoid these questions, we have developed a number of mechanisms, delaying forever a political solution being only one of them. It is enough for us to merely assert our support for a two-state solution in order that we be considered peace-minded and reasonable. Two-state supporters require only the notion of a Palestinian state, a never-ending process towards it, to escape confronting the reality we created. As long as a Palestinian state can be held out as a possibility, the pressure’s off. Thus many Israelis, Diaspora Jews and others – including such searching and otherwise radical figures as Noam Chomsky and Uri Avnery, together with the Peace Now, Brit Tzedek, Rabbis Michael Lerner and Arthur Waskow and members of Rabbis for Human Rights – cling tenaciously to the two-state solution, all refusing to admit it is no longer viable.
The 40th anniversary of 1967 had to do with occupation. Had we dealt with that issue wisely and justly, Israel today could have been a Jewish state living at peace with its neighbors on 78% of the Land of Israel, a true cause for celebration. This year’s focus on 60 Years, on 1948, is a different matter entirely. If we want to salvage a national Jewish presence in Palestine/Israel, nothing remains but to courageously confront what we did in 1948 and the bi-national reality we have fostered since 1967. No longer can we blame the Palestinians for our dilemmas; they accepted the two-state solution way back in 1988. No, it is us, the triumphant, those who believed (and still believe) that military power combined with Jewish victimhood can defeat a people’s will to freedom, who carry the burden of responsibility for this most anti-Zionist, yet wholly predicable, situation.
Only a reconciling of our celebration with Palestinian loss will we finally begin to deal with the presence “in our country” of another people with equal claims and rights, paving the way to a just peace, reconciliation and the securing of a Jewish national presence in the Land of Israel – whatever political form that might take. Difficult as it may be, such a reassessment may in fact allow us to achieve Zionism’s original and ultimate aspiration: a genuine homecoming of the Jewish nation to the hearth of its civilization. Our dybbuks and the Palestinian poltergeist will be finally put to rest. Now that will be cause for genuine, unfettered celebration.
( Jeff Halper is the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He can be reached at jeff@icahd.org. ) - Sri Lanka Guardian Read more!
Where does Sri Lanka’s Left go from here?
"The Left should re-assert a Left, democratic, progressive, political agenda’, says Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Colombo.’ "The space for Left progressive intervention in local politics is not totally erased. Unfortunately, the Left is subservient to the ideological agenda of the Lankan state. For instance, the state is giving preference to a military solution over a political solution or thinking that a political solution should follow a military solution. A narrowly nationalist agenda seems to have taken over now. This is a direct challenge to the position of the Left’. _________________________
by Lynn Ockersz
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) By entering a capitalist government that year and compromising on our non-racist policy we lost the support of the minorities as well as the respect of intellectuals. We lost our standing in the country’s politics as well as our identity. Having entered a capitalist government, we could not dissociate ourselves from its activities. Thus, we had to march in the government’s May Day rallies when government supporters vociferously yelled, racist slogans. Consequently, we could not draw back the social forces which left us after thus having made compromises with a capitalist government, particularly after making compromises with communalism. After having played a notable and effective role in Sri Lanka’s politics since the early decades of the last century, and after having ‘starred’ brilliantly in many a mass campaign for the resolving of public issues and needs, the ‘traditional’ Left political parties of this country –LSSP and CP- today give the impression of being spent forces. They are no longer widely viewed as making a substantial contribution to local politics. Should the Left be written off as being both ‘down and out’ or should the hope be entertained that the Left could come into its own once again and prove an independent, dynamic force of positive change? This is the question students of local politics need to grapple with.
Veteran trade unionist and Ceylon Mercantile Union Secretary General P. Bala Thampoe did not mince his words when called on by this journalist to comment on the effectiveness of the Left or the lack of it. ‘The Left now has been eliminated by huge cross-overs to the Right…..There is no substantial organization which could be identified as the Left. All that we have now is a huge reactionary Right. The working class, however, exists but there is no political party which could be said to represent it." The immediate focus and backdrop to these comments is the gradual diminishing of the Left as a result of it opting to enter into coalitions with Rightist governments and in serving these governments compliantly, as seems to be happening at present. Today, both the LSSP and CP are coalition partners of the ruling UPFA, which could be described as a hotch-potch of centrist, narrowly nationalistic and Rightist political parties. This tendency has intensified since 1994, although the Left had never been hesitant to form what could be described as compromising alliances with the political Right even prior to the PA electoral triumph of that year.
Leader of the Nawa Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), Dr Wickremabahu Karunaratne., who we would be quoting more extensively later, had this to say of the ‘traditional’ Left: ‘Those Left parties which collaborate with the government we do not take into account and consider important. They are there as a nominal force. They are used by the government. The APRC, for example, in which some Left parties have some representation, is a kind of rubber stamp body. If the government wants it to accept a document, it has to only send it to the APRC and it would be accepted. The more important elements in these Left parties have left these organizations and only the pro-government elements are remaining in them. So, I don’t think these parties can play an important role in the current political situation.’
But what are the root causes of the decline of the ‘Old Left ’in the politics of this country, how has it come to lose its voice and its independence? Senior LSSPer and politburo member Lal Wijenayake was forthright in his comments: "Degeneration could be said to have spread in the traditional Left most markedly from 1964. By entering a capitalist government that year and compromising on our non-racist policy we lost the support of the minorities as well as the respect of intellectuals. We lost our standing in the country’s politics as well as our identity. Having entered a capitalist government, we could not dissociate ourselves from its activities. Thus, we had to march in the government’s May Day rallies when government supporters vociferously yelled, racist slogans. Consequently, we could not draw back the social forces which left us after thus having made compromises with a capitalist government, particularly after making compromises with communalism.
"Today, as a result of aligning with the government we are forced to work with parties like the JHU and JVP. Consequently, although the LSSP is for federalism or something close to it, we are not in a position to put forward our views openly. Nevertheless, even now, there are sections within the LSSP and CP which say we have to maintain our identity and not be part of the government. Some space remains for the Left to act independently in the present situation. We should be independent and retain our identity.
What, then, is preventing the Left from taking an independent path? ‘We have been reluctant to come out with certain things about our parties but we now feel the time’s right to enlighten the people on these matters’, Wijenayake said.’ The truth is that more than half the number of LSSP and CP politburo members are paid employees of the government. Some of these persons are advisers and consultants to the state. As a result they have a vested interest in not leaving the government. Consequently, the independence of our parties is affected.
‘This never happened in 1964 or 1970. In those times our members never enlisted in state service, unless essential. Today, things have changed to our detriment. This is in complete contrast to the policy of the Communist Party of India which does not have its members being obliged in any way to the Indian government, although it backs the government. This enables the Indian CP to remain independent and influence state policy but not be influenced in turn in any way by the central government’.
‘The extent to which the LSSP and CP have lost their independence was brought out in the run-up to the recent Eastern Provincial Council poll. Although the Left was to contest the Ampara district in alliance with certain moderate Tamil parties, this arrangement was called off at the last minute as a result of pressure being brought on us by a powerful government politician’, Wijenayake explained.
However, what may seem to be a different point of view of the Left teaming-up with the UPFA, was outlined by veteran Left politician, Secretary, Democratic Left Front and Vice President of the Socialist Alliance, Vasudeva Nanayakkara. He said although his party was in alliance with the UPFA, his party opposed the SLFP’s alliance with the JHU and the JVP. ‘Nevertheless’, he said, ‘we are still there’. This is because he believes ‘the progressive forces are with the UPFA". He said his party’s rationale to be with the government was to ‘remain with these progressive democratic forces as against right wing political and reactionary forces led by the UNP".
However, while ‘addressing this thick layer of Left progressive political forces within the UPFA’, Nanayakkara said his party was for consolidating ties with Left political forces everywhere including those in the Tamil and Muslim communities. ‘Uniting forces of the common people spread across the communities’ is their aim.
Although the Left opinions surveyed thus far reveal a diversity of views on the ineffectiveness or otherwise of the Left and the strategies, tactics that need to be adopted to take the Left agenda forward, there is near agreement that there is an abundance of work waiting to be done by the Left; that is, there is yet ‘space’ for the Left in local politics. The Left still has opportunities to bounce back into contention as a progressive force.
"The Left should re-assert a Left, democratic, progressive, political agenda’, says Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Colombo.’ "The space for Left progressive intervention in local politics is not totally erased. Unfortunately, the Left is subservient to the ideological agenda of the Lankan state. For instance, the state is giving preference to a military solution over a political solution or thinking that a political solution should follow a military solution. A narrowly nationalist agenda seems to have taken over now. This is a direct challenge to the position of the Left’.
Outlining an agenda for the Left, Uyangoda said that the principle of peace by political means should be advocated. Besides, the state reform agenda must be taken forward as part of a democratization programme. Lanka’s democratization process has been incomplete and part of that incompleteness is the ethnic conflict.
The Left should also put forward a political programme for all communities. In the country’s political discourse, the ‘Left can still command respect and intellectual leadership. The Left is not claiming that leadership. It should be remembered, that a socialist discourse provides a language which all communities could share’ Uyangoda said.
This optimism that the Left still has some ‘space’ to operate in was shared by others too. Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne, for instance, referred to the possibilities in joint trade union action for the furtherance worker rights. ‘There are some like-minded smaller political parties ,Bala Thampoe, bank unions etc, with whom we are teaming up for joint trade union action. For some time now, the NSSP has been working with the trade union movement for the furtherance of common goals.
"Our’s is a two-pronged approach. Internally, we are waiting for the masses to break away from the state and get into our campaigns on issues, such as, rising prices, the war, global capitalist intervention and MNC thinking. On that basis we expect strikes and other forms of agitation. Some media organizations, which are really a powerful section, are prepared to fight with us. We have developed links with trade unions in the estate and fisheries sectors too.
"In addition we have launched an international campaign’, the NSSP leader said .’We have already got in touch with some socialist parties in other parts of the world. In most European countries they command more than five percent of the vote. In the French election , for instance, our organization won more than 10 percent. In some countries, the major parti
