Sri Lanka tipped to raise defence spending

Agence France-Presse (AFP)
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Sri Lanka's president is expected to raise defence spending when he unveils his 2012 budget Monday, officials said, even though the country's bloody civil war came to an end two-and-a-half years ago.

As the island nation's export-dependent economy is hit by a downturn in key US and European markets, Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also finance minister, is expected to outline plans to cut the country's deficit and raise new revenues.

Finance ministry officials said the budget will forecast a growth rate of 8.0 percent for 2012, down from an earlier projection of 9.0 percent, and estimated 8.5 percent growth in 2011, unchanged from previous estimates.

The slower growth outlook was tied to economic woes in Europe and the United States, where leaders are struggling to overcome spiralling debt problems that have resulted in lower spending on exports, officials said.

As a result, Sri Lanka's budget deficit is projected to hit 6.2 percent of gross domestic product next year, compared with a previous forecast of 5.2 percent, officials said.

The new estimate is still lower than the 6.8 percent tipped for 2011.

Official figures tabled in parliament showed 230 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) would be spent on defence in 2012, up from 215 billion rupees this year.

Security authorities say they need to keep defence spending high to repay loans on military hardware purchased to fight the Tamil Tigers during nearly four decades of ethnic conflict that ended in May 2009.

Sri Lanka's military is also recruiting, despite claiming victory over the rebel group and declaring an end to a civil war which claimed the lives of up to 100,000 people.

Rajapakse was also expected to raise new taxes, including higher cigarette and alcohol duties, although few details were available.

The country's total spending in 2012 is estimated at 2.22 trillion rupees while total revenue is estimated at 1.12 trillion rupees, figures showed.

© AFP

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Sri Lanka war probe report delivered to president

By Ranga Sirilal | Reuters
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The Sri Lankan panel investigating the end of a quarter-century war with Tamil Tiger separatists delivered its report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday (20), a step awaited by Western nations urging investigations into war crimes allegations.

Rajapaksa has said he will make public the findings of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), Sri Lanka's answer to calls from some Western governments, overseas Tamil Tiger supporters and rights groups for an independent investigation.

"The final report was handed over to the president by its chairman. The president will now study the report," Bandula Jayasekara, the president's director general of media, said.

It is expected to be presented to parliament in December, officials have said, but the government has yet to give a date.

Many Western nations, India and others have said a credible report by the LLRC would, in conjunction with political concessions to minority Tamils, obviate the need for an outside inquiry.

The report says there appears to be enough evidence to warrant the government investigating incidents that may have occurred in the last months of the war, which ended in May 2009, the Sri Lankan weekly Sunday Times reported.

"However, the Commission has neither named the specific incidents nor identified the persons responsible for them," the newspaper said.

The U.N.-sponsored report on Sri Lanka says there is "credible evidence" the military killed thousands of civilians at the climax of the war, which ended in Sri Lankan victory.

The government has said civilians were killed but rejects the bulk of the U.N. report as a regurgitation of allegations "fabricated" by the Tamil Tigers' overseas propaganda network, and says its soldiers acted in accordance with international law.

© Reuters

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Sri Lanka: Student union office sealed

By Dasun Edirisinghe | The Island
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Undergraduates of Sri Jayewardenepura University Saturday (19) night claimed that the university administration has sealed the Student Union office and damaged the photographs of the fallen student leaders in that room.

"The university administration threatened they would remove the statue of student hero opposite the university’s Sumangala building," IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara told The Island.

According to the Mirihana Police five improvised explosive devices known by criminals as ‘duppi’ were founded at inside the university premises on Friday.

The bombs were found while some workers were repairing the new art gallery building of the university and police believe students may have hidden them to be used in a clash.

"Students never use bombs when battles," Bandara said, adding that the explosive devices had been introduced by the security personnel of the ‘Rakna Lanka’ firm attached to the Defence Ministry.

Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. N. L. A. Karunaratne was not available for immediate comments.

© The Island

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Tissainayagam denies former Attorney General's claims

By Raisa Wickrematunge | The Sunday Leader
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Senior Tamil journalist J. S Tissainayagam denied allegations that he “admitted his complicity” to an offence in order to gain a Presidential pardon.

The allegation was made on November 9, when a delegation led by Presidential Counsel and Senior Legal Adviser to the Cabinet Mohan Pieris answered questions raised by the Committee Against Torture on whether the Convention Against Torture was being properly implemented.

A delegate who said he was “personally involved” in Tissainayagam’s case claimed that the journalist had written to the President saying he was remorseful for his actions. “He had been convicted and sentenced, but his complicity in what he did was confirmed by his letter, which was sent through his lawyers. He did receive a pardon,” a UN press release said.

However, Tissainayagam denied this statement. “I wish to state that any allusion to my admitting complicity is completely false,” he said. He added that he did write to the President to receive pardon, but only to apologize in the event his writing had caused personal embarrassment to anyone. “I am unaware that embarrassing the President or the Government of Sri Lanka is a crime and that was not the crime I was accused of,” he pointed out.

As such Tissainayagam categorically denied that he was complicit in or remorseful about a crime.

Tissainayagam was convicted by the Colombo High Court in September 2008 for “causing communal disharmony”. They also found him guilty of funding his publication with LTTE money. He was sentenced for 20 years, but was later released following a Presidential pardon.

Pieris was not available when The Sunday Leader attempted to contact him.
Below is Tissainayagam’s full response to the delegation:

It was brought to my notice that [a delegation led by] the former Attorney General and now Senior Advisor to the Cabinet on Legal Affairs, Mohan Peiris, had made reference to me in an official reply to the Committee Against Torture (CAT) in Geneva this month.

This is what was said, “Concerning specific cases raised by the Committee, a delegate said he had been personally involved in the case of J. S. Tissainayagam. Mr. Tissainayagam personally wrote to the President asking for a pardon, saying he was remorseful for what he did. He had been convicted and sentenced, but his complicity in what he did was confirmed by his letter, which was sent through his lawyers. He did receive a pardon.”

I wish to state that any allusion to my admitting complicity is completely false. I did write to the President. Working as a journalist for over 20 years I never wrote to cause anyone personal embarrassment. I only wrote to highlight issues of public interest and in the hope the president and the government would take action to rectify the problems. If any of my writings had caused embarrassment to anyone (whether the president or anyone else) I had no qualms in apologizing as causing embarrassment has never been my intention.

I am unaware that embarrassing the president or the government of Sri Lanka is a crime and that was not the crime I was accused of in the High Court of Sri Lanka in September 2008. I wish to state that I have never committed any crime. Therefore, admitting remorse or complicity to any crime, in this letter to the president or otherwise, does not arise.

© The Sunday Leader

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The Indian Ocean, maritime security and regional undercurrents

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya | The Sunday Times
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The past week saw a number of discussions, in different forums, that turned the spotlight on the Indian Ocean and its strategic importance for countries in the region as well as outside. Coincidentally, it appears. Here in Sri Lanka there was the 'Galle Dialogue,' a two-day international conference on maritime security organised by the Ministry of Defence and the Sri Lanka Navy.

A talk held in Colombo on Thursday at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies as part of the India-Sri Lanka Foundation's inaugural lecture series, also dealt with related issues. On the topic of "India and Sri Lanka and the Asian resurgence," the speaker, former Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran drew attention to the shift in the centre of gravity in the global economy towards India and the Pacific.

In his presentation at the Galle Dialog, the US delegate Robert M. Scher, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asian Affairs, remarked on the increased importance that US policymakers assigned to the Indian Ocean.

He said it "now surpassed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as the "world's busiest and most critical trade corridor." Parts of the speech seemed to reflect the influence of Robert D. Kaplan's eye-opening book "Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power" (Random House, 2010). He was clearly referring to Kaplan's statistics when he said that "By some measures over fifty (50) percent of the world's container traffic and seventy (70) percent of global energy trade transits through the Indian Ocean. These numbers are only expected to grow over the next decade, fuelled by the Asian economic expansion and the growing need for raw materials and energy resources from Africa and the Middle East."

Was it coincidental that just two days later US President Barack Obama announced the decision to deploy 2500 marines in northern Australia, with a view to asserting its military presence in the region? A day after announcing that agreement with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in a speech to the Australian parliament Obama asserted the US's intention to play a decisive role in shaping the future of the Asia Pacific region. The move has irked China. "It may not be quite appropriate to intensify and expand military alliances and may not be in the interest of countries within this region," Liu Weidman, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said" the New York Time reported.

The northern tip of Australia where the new American base is to be set up would represent the eastern edge of the swathe of oceanic territory that comes within Kaplan's analysis. He defines this Greater Indian Ocean area as encompassing the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Java and South China seas.

Referring to the U.S. Marine Corps "Vision and Strategy" statement covering the years to 2025 Kaplan observes that "Along with its continued dominance in the Pacific, the U.S. clearly seeks to be the preeminent South Asian power. This signals a momentous historical shift away from the North Atlantic and Europe."

It would appear that Sri Lanka is aware of the importance newly assigned to the seas around it. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his opening remarks noted that "the energy security of many nations also depends on the Indian Ocean, as the fuel requirements of many industrialising nations are met through the energy resources transported through it. For all these reasons and more, the Indian Ocean's importance in the global context is very great."

He went on to flag some of the external threats to maritime security in the region. These included piracy originating in Somalia, arms smuggling and human and drug trafficking. Rajapaksa appealed for greater international cooperation to address the threats while acknowledging the responsibility of coastal nations in particular, saying "we must not shirk our duty."

While Sri Lanka is eager to showcase the capabilities of its battle-fresh, well trained armed forces -- including the navy that played a vital role in the defeat of the LTTE -- Sri Lanka would also need to be wise to the underlying power-play amongst the big powers when it responds to overtures that may be made as a result of shifting global priorities. The new emphasis placed on the Indian Ocean region relates to the rise of two emerging economic powers, India and China, both friendly nations as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. The anxieties of the US in relation to China are not those of Sri Lanka.

It is interesting that while the US delegate's presentation, by his own admission, mainly sought to look at how the Indian Ocean region affected the US and how the US could best address its own interests, the tail end of it included a reference to human rights. "The Obama administration has made it clear that it will pursue policies that include both engagement with those with whom we share interests AND on behalf of improvements in human rights," he said, following it up with the now familiar refrain on "accountability for serious violations of human rights during the war" in Sri Lanka.

President Barack Obama in his speech to the Australian parliament also referred to China in similar manner. Asserting that the US welcomed the rise of "a peaceful and prosperous China" and sought greater cooperation, he also referred to China's "poor record on human rights," according to Doordarshan. "We will do this even as we continue to speak candidly to Beijing about the importance of upholding international norms and respecting the universal human rights of the Chinese people," he was quoted as saying.

For analysts a question of interest is whether human rights have become the west's new weapon for control and domination of regions that are of strategic importance, in their calculations. China's economic expansion and outward thrust has typically been peaceful and non-confrontational. But the same cannot be said of the US, whose record has shown it will not hesitate to launch military operations that violate sovereignty of other states in pursuit of its 'high-value targets' such as Osama bin Laden (killed in Pakistan) and the al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki, (killed in an air raid in Yemen).

Robert Kaplan in a talk on his book at the Carnegie Council last year referring to China's projects in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Burma, observed that while China provides "significant military and economic assistance" to countries where it is building or helping to build ports, China does not intend to have naval bases in these places. "To have permanent naval bases in any of these ports would be too provocative to India. China is at pains to convince people that its military and economic rise is benevolent and non-hegemonic." His reference to Sri Lanka at that talk would seem to explain the current swirl of activity and discussion relating to the Indian Ocean in general and Sri Lanka in particular:

"Why is Sri Lanka important? Because it is right at the crux of the great international sea lines of communication. It's where tens of thousands of ships and merchant vessels pass each year. In this new geographic I'm detailing, Sri Lanka is going to be a very important major player."

© The Sunday Times

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