Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka .............................................................................................................................................................................................
ALondon based Tamil journalist who was arrested on Wednesday (17) at the Colombo Airport while he was on his way to visit his family, has now been reportedly seen at a government function in the Eastern Batticaloa district, a Tamil website reported.
However, neither his colleagues nor the concerned organisations have been able to establish contacts with Karthigesu Thirulogasundar (37) , since the day he was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo.
A British passport holder, Thirulogasundar , was arrested by the officers attached to Sri Lankan state intelligence agency and was reportedly held in an undisclosed location.
Thirulogasundar was previously attached to London based popular TV channels Deepam TV and GTV. He is currently working as a full time journalist for London based radio station, IBC.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will inaugurate Indian consulates in Sri Lankan port cities Jaffna and Hambantota during his visit to the island nation beginning next Thursday.
Though Krishna’s visit to Sri Lanka coincides with the birth-anniversary (November 26) of the slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief V Prabhakaran, New Delhi seems keen to take its ties with Colombo out of the shadow of the conflict that the tiny country on the Indian Ocean witnessed for over 25 years.
“Our defence and security dialogue with Sri Lanka, now that the conflict within the country is behind us, requires special focus,” said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao. The new Indian Consulate in Jaffna is intended to strengthen the cultural links between the northern province of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu and is expected to make it easier for people in the peninsula to obtain visa to travel to India. Tamil-dominated Jaffna has once been a stronghold of the LTTE.
However, India’s new consulate in Hambantota in Sinhalese-dominated south not only indicates New Delhi’s desire to maintain the much-needed balance while boosting its ties with Colombo, but also signals that it has woken up to the growing Chinese presence in Sri Lanka. Hambantota, a town on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka, has been turned into a major port, which President Mahinda Rajapaksa formally opened on his birthday last Thursday. Colombo had an agreement with Beijing for Chinese companies’ involvement in developing facilities in the port, which has now been named after Rajapaksa.
The Hambantota Port, like Gwadar in Pakistan and Sittwe in Myanmar, is perceived as a part of the “string of pearls” – the strategic assets that China had been developing in the Indian Ocean region. It has since long been a cause of serious concern for India. China’s aid to Sri Lanka since 2006 too crossed $ 3000 million, prompting India to announce a slew of sops for the island nation when Rajapaksa visited New Delhi last June.
The External Affairs Minister and his Sri Lankan counterpart G L Peiris will preside over the meeting of the Joint Commission in Colombo. Krishna will review the projects funded and carried out by India for rehabilitation of the Tamil civilians displaced by the Sri Lankan Army’s conflict with the LTTE. India has committed $ 1.5 billion for rehabilitation projects in Sri Lanka.
“The challenge is to convert the cessation of hostilities in Sri Lanka into a durable peace where there would be genuine reconciliation between all the communities in Sri Lanka inclusive of the Tamil-speaking minority,” said Rao, indicating that Krishna would once again ask the island nation to speed up the process of devolution of power in accordance with the 13th Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution.
Lanka Business Online .............................................................................................................................................................................................
Sri Lanka is planning to run a budget deficit of 433.7 billion rupees or 6.8 percent of gross domestic product, down from a revised 446.7 billion rupees or 8.0 percent gap in 2010, a budget presented to parliament said.
In 2011 the government is planning to increase tax revenues by 151 billion rupees to 963.5 billion rupees from 828.2 billion rupees in 2010.
In 2010 the government extracted 128.7 billion more taxes from the people compared to 2009.
The government said it will raise state salaries by 5.0 percent and clear anomalies.
The estimated salary bill for 2011 will go up to 344 billion rupees from 295 billion rupees indicating that 49 billion rupees out of the extra 151 billion rupees in taxes collected from the people will go for state salaries.
The state will also recruit 10,000 graduates to an already bloated sector of 1.3 million people. But each year about 20,000 people retire.
Tax Changes
The government said it will raise taxes on raw material but cut duties on machinery and vehicles and cut taxes on the financial sector.
A debit tax charged on bank withdrawals has been removed, a financial VAT cut to 12 percent from 20 and corporate tax cut to 28 from 35 percent to allow banks to build up capital for higher lending. The financial sector has been growing and profits have been rising. A levy on share trading has also been raised to 0.3 percent from the currency 0.2 percent.
Total current expenditure will go up to 1,017 billion rupees from 926.0 billion rupees, leaving a current account deficit of 53.4 billion rupees or 0.8 percent of GDP.
The deficit of 433.7 billion rupees (without grants) will be financed with 94.5 billion rupees in foreign financing (down from 205.5 billion in 2010).
Domestic Borrowings
Domestic borrowings will go up to 339.2 billion rupees from 241.2 billion rupees.
The government said a new pension fund will be set up cutting 2.0 percent from private sector wages and employees will have to contribute 2.0 percent, which will give more access for deficit financing.
Private sector workers forced savings scheme, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), is the key source of financing of the deficit.
The interest bill for 2011 is estimated at 353 billion rupees, hardly changed from the 350.3 billion rupees a year earlier. Sri Lanka's interest rates fell after inflation fell with better monetary policy in 2009 and lower domestic borrowing in 2010.
By B. Muralidhar Reddy | The Hindu .............................................................................................................................................................................................
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday unveiled a 90-member Cabinet. All Ministers, including Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, in the outgoing government have been retained and 18 new faces added.
Sri Lanka follows the system of Executive Presidency. Prime Minister and Ministers are nominated by the President.
The strength of the Cabinet is one of the highest and among the new faces are representatives of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) that recently extended support to the President.
Basil Rajapaksa, brother of Mr. Rajapaksa, who is considered the key political strategist of his administration, has been reappointed as a Minister for Economic Development.
Mr. Rajapaksa has kept the crucial portfolios of Defence and Finance. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, another brother, continues to hold the position of Defence Secretary. Yet another brother, Chamal Rajapaksa, is the Speaker.
Hours after naming the government, the President presented the 2011 budget to Parliament. It aims at giving a boost to the economy in the post-conflict situation.
Mr. Rajapaksa proposed giving a major impetus to value addition of local industrial products, improving export earnings and also a wide range of concessions increasing outsourcing facilities for foreign business enterprises.
Appreciating the offer of India to build 50,000 houses for war displaced Tamil civilians in the North and East, Mr. Rajapaksa announced that his government would build 80,000 more houses for the nearly three lakh Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the next three years.
One million housing units will also be constructed within the next six years to meet the housing demand.
A statement by the government said the President in his budget unveiled plans for major investments in making Sri Lanka a trilingual country, increasing computer literacy by 75 per cent by 2016, improving educational research and educational facilities in universities, and expanding the tourism industry.
Felicitated
Separately, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh extended felicitations and good wishes to Mr. Rajapaksa on his assumption of office for a second term.
In a letter addressed to the President, the Prime Minister said he was confident that his second term in office would usher in a new era of peace, reconciliation and development for the people of Sri Lanka.
According to a statement by the Indian mission here, the Prime Minister also said he looked forward to working with Mr. Rajapaksa to further strengthen the multifaceted relations between the countries to the mutual good.
The Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe has been nominated to receive the prestigious Gusi International Peace prize of Philippines on November 24, 2010. Gusi International Peace prize, which is awarded in memory of Captain Geminino Javier Gusi, a Philippino guerilla who resisted the Japanese invasion and later in his life campaigned for human rights as a politician.
Maj.General Hathurusinghe is the only serving military officer in South Asia to receive the Gusi Peace Prize, given to distinguished individuals or groups worldwide with exemplary contributions to Peace and Human Rights.
Hathurusinghe, received his basic military education from Officers’ Training Academy in India and Military Academy in Sri Lanka in 1980-1981. And, continued advanced military training in various countries in India, Pakistan, China and Philippines including courses on Advance Gunnery course, Young Officers’ Course, Long Officers’ Gunnery Staff Course, Senior Command course and Radar Training Course and attended National Defense College in the Philippines.
He received Post Graduate qualification -Master in National Security Administration (MNSA) from the National Defense College of the Philippines during 2008-2009. Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe received the Gold Medal for the best dissertation in MNSA 44.
By Matthew Russell Lee | Inner City Press .............................................................................................................................................................................................
Will the Sri Lanka accountability panel of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon even ask to interview General Shavendra Silva, now posted in New York as the country's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN?
“The deputy permanent representative is an employee of the government of Sri Lanka, I would refer those questions to the government of Sri Lanka,” Haq replied. Video here, from Minute 46:08. The government of Sri Lanka, of course, has arrested and barred entry by journalists covering war crimes. Haq and the UN have referred those questions to UNESCO, which has of late said nothing.
Inner City Press asked, since Ban's panel chief Marzuki Darusman is this whole week in South Korea, how much time the panel members are putting into their review of Sri Lanka. Haq replied “they are putting in considerable time,” adding that “a secretariat putting together information.”
But will Ban's panel even ask to interview Shavendra Silva, who was in charge during the alleged murder of those exiting with white flags, a process in which Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar was involved, having only even purported to explain his role once, to a media now barred by Sri Lanka?
“As you are well aware we have not been putting out a day by day summary of the people from whom the panel gets information,” Haq replied. He said the panel will submit a report to Ban, “then we'll have information.”
But will the report even be public?
Haq said that Ban Ki-moon will decide. So the UN cannot even say it will ask to interview Shavendra Silva, and will in all probability never even make clear if it asked to interview him. Some panel.
Footnote: that a sitting General like Silva would come in the Deputy and not Permanent Representative spot has been marveled at by other diplomats at the UN. Another DPR has even asked Silva about it.
Monday at the UN Security Council, Silva was not seen. Rather, Perm Rep Palitha Kohona handed Inner City Press his statement on "Protection of Civilians," saying "quote from it." Okay: "the Government policy of zero civilian casualties had a deep impact [on] the country's professional armed services." Just ask Shavendra Silva -- if you can.
Agence France Presse .............................................................................................................................................................................................
Sri Lanka's government has ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to close its offices in the island's former war zone, the Geneva-based humanitarian agency said Sunday.
The government told the ICRC to move out of two northern towns after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in May last year brought about the end of decades of civil war, spokeswomen Sarasi Wijeratne said.
"The government has asked the ICRC to close the Jaffna and Vavuniya offices and operate only from Colombo," she told AFP, adding that no reason had been given for the move.
Wijeratne said the Jaffna office provided artificial limbs to war victims while the office in Vavuniya helped families visiting detained relatives.
There was no immediate confirmation from the government, but Sri Lankan authorities earlier this month tightened control over local and international non-governmental organisations.
The government information department said there were 250 international and 1,000 domestic aid agencies working in Sri Lanka, which would now have to register with the defence ministry following a change in the law.
Sri Lankan authorities have long been suspicious of aid agencies, which were often seen as sympathising with the Tamil Tigers during the country's civil war.
The conflict ended when the rebels were wiped out in a military offensive that has since triggered allegations of war crimes.
The Sri Lanka Garment Buying Officers Association (SLGBOA) recently revealed that, since the country lost its GSP plus concession facility earlier this year, a steady fall has been witnessed in its apparel shipments to the US and EU.
As stated by Hiran Bandaranaike, Secretary SLGBOA, initially though Sri Lanka enjoyed GSP plus concession from EU, but now loss of this concession has had a dribbling effect on its apparel exporters even to US, which is the second largest importer of Sri Lankan apparels.
The psychological effect that one market lays on other is also a reason for the underlying drop in demand in the US markets. Around 94.5 percent of the Sri Lanka’s overall apparel export is towards two importers, US and EU, Bandaranaike said.
Sri Lanka’s apparel shipments to US during January to August 2010 registered a fall of 4.6 percent and were recorded at US $833 million, as against US$873 million during corresponding period last year, he said. Though, Srilanka positioned itself as the eighth largest supplier of apparels to the 27 EU nations, but then it was certain to lose this position with withdrawal of the GSP plus concession on August 15, this year.
It is a well accepted fact that, loss of the GSP plus concession would have many adverse impacts on the Sri Lankan apparel sector. It is apprehended that, as more and more number of European buyers feel that the country’s apparels are not being able to retain their competitiveness, may thus, move to producers in other countries, he added.
Sri Lanka may continue losing a major chunk of its apparel exports to EU, which is also expected to claim thousands of jobs in the sector in the short term.
As per the estimates of the Joint Apparel Association Forum, apparels exports which constituted as the country’s main industrial export, may drop by some 10 to 15 percent, this year, Bandaranaike said and added that, the Sri Lankan government needs to carry out a dialogue with the EU and strike a mutually beneficial deal, while ensuring to regain the GSP plus facility as soon as possible.
Tamil Net .............................................................................................................................................................................................
"Asuspected war criminal who allegedly played a key role in the slaughter of 40,000 civilians in Sri Lanka has landed a cushy job at the United Nations -- with full diplomatic immunity," said New York Post in the Sunday Edition, adding "Human-rights groups are outraged that Shavendra Silva, 46, a top ex-military commander, was named Sri Lanka's deputy permanent UN representative in August, after which he moved to New York." Innercity Press, referring to NY Post's story, pointed out to ICP's August 25th report where ICP asked the UN spokesperson that if the alleged killings by Mr Silva during the final stages of the war was true, whether the UN Secretary General has the discretion to reject Mr Silva. ICP said the question is no longer a hypothetical and that Ban Ki Moon did nothing.
"Silva also stands accused of mowing down a group of separatist political leaders who agreed to surrender and were waving white flags when they were shot," the article said, and quoted an investigator familiar with Silva, who last year oversaw the final months of a brutal 26-year civil war, as saying "It's a slap in the face."
"Thousands were killed or starved. There were massive human-rights violations and he's the No. 1 suspect," said the investigator, a human-rights group expert who asked not to be identified.
Silva claims 11,000 friends on Facebook. The barrel-chested former major general also maintains his own site, shavendrasilva.com, filled with photos of himself in combat garb and a list of his battlefield successes, according to NYP.
He works from an office at the Sri Lankan mission on Third Avenue,th NYP article said.
Shavendra Silva's 58th division was one of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) divisions that had been the longest embedded division in prosecuting the final war. Starting in September 2007 in Silavaturai in the western coast, Silva's division was instrumental in displacing civilians from the western shores to the eastern killing fields in Mullaitivu in Jan 2009, according timeline published in Sri Lanka Government controlled Daily News.
Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in International Law, commenting on the reported UN job said earlier, "the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is trying to sanitize and immunize their genocidaires/war criminals and thus regularize it all."
Shavendra Silva's appointment follows two similar appointments of alleged war-criminals, Major General Jagath Dias as a diplomat to Germany, and the Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka’s forces during the war, Donald Perera, as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Israel.
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