Wife's plea for Prageeth's release

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The wife of a Sri Lankan journalist who disappeared mysteriously almost a month ago has appealed to the authorities to do more to find him.

The journalist, Prageeth Eknaligoda, who writes for Lankaenews website that carries dissenting views, went missing two days before the presidential election last month.

The fresh appeal on behalf of the journalist comes at a time when media rights groups say Sri Lanka has become one of the most dangerous places for journalists to carry out their work.

His colleagues say during the presidential election campaign Mr Eknaligoda wrote articles in favour of the defeated opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka.

State media allegations

The wife of the journalist, Sandhya Eknaligoda says her family is now really worried about his safety as an investigation into his disappearance hasn't made any headway.

A few days ago, she also filed a petition in a court seeking judicial intervention to find her husband's whereabouts.

Mrs Eknaligoda denied reports in state media that her husband has been hiding somewhere.

“I also saw these reports and informed the police and the officials at the human rights commission,” she told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.

“I told them that the information may be useful for their investigations.”

Mr Eknaligoda's colleagues believe that the pro-government supporters may be responsible for his disappearance. The government denies the allegations.

A police spokesman told BBC correspondent in Colombo, Anbarasan Ethirajan, that there had been some progress in the investigation.

Irida Lanka

Earlier this week an editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper was released after eighteen days in detention under the country's emergency regulations.

The editor Chandana Sirimalwatte, who's supportive of the opposition JVP, says he was released without any charges.

Media rights groups accuse the authorities of intimidating and harassing journalists critical of the government's policies.

Official figures show that nine journalists have been killed and more than twenty-five assaulted in the past four years in Sri Lanka.

The government says it has nothing to do with either the killings or the attacks on journalists.

© BBC Sinhala

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• Ekneligoda's wife, children file Habeas Corpus (News First)

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Sri Lanka Govt reveals plans to censor the Internet: Implications of an Information Dark Age

Kumar David - The Chinese tried it, at first it didn’t work; any smart kid at a terminal will crack the walls and surf the world through a proxy server. More important, ways can always be found to upload content, which is what the government is really afraid of; governments are more afraid of what you reveal about them, than what you find out about them or the outside world. Information censorship paid dividends in China only when it was backed up by brute force; police squads swooping on nerds who cracked the system, beating-up cyber protesters and dragging dissidents to prison. After that you need to supplement brutality with draconian legislation; otherwise the guys will walk away free and do it again. If we too go the way of a Lanka Information Dark Age (LIDA) the authorities will have to back it up with generalised political repression; LIDA cannot work otherwise.

We are entering election season. Every opposition party must festoon on its masthead that it (a) repudiates Internet censorship and will repeal all LIDA rules and regulations introduced by this government, (b) that it will uphold freedom of information and will enact meaningful freedom of information regulations styled on Western (not Stalinist) practices, (c) that there will be zero political censorship, and (d) essential censorship (outlawing child pornography for example) will be enacted only upon the recommendations of a council of eminent civilians including women, certainly not on the prescriptions of state functionaries.

The problem is this, the government will get draconian measures ready but will not reveal them till after the elections - why give the opposition another handle to beat it with - then will come the LIDA communication straight-jacket and legislation to smother dissent.

What’s in the works?

A headline in the front page of a Sunday newspaper declares “Chinese here for cyber censorship”, cofirming a news story first broken in Lakbimanews, and the report quotes the new TRC Director General Anusha Pelpita as saying “he did not rule out the possibility of imposing sanctions and censorship”. The report adds, “In addition action will be taken to impose controls on the Google search engine”. State sponsored banana vendors in the most revolting banana republics are not quite so barefaced about their plans for thought control. This is a frightened regime, truth and transparency give it diarrhoea; this country has never before been threatened with despotic thought control replicating Chinese or any other Stalinism as the norm; no not ever before. The worst is that once this rotten lot start it, the next government and the ones thereafter, UNP, SF or whoever, will never roll it back; they too will exploit these despotic powers to the full, till one day the people throw out the whole putrid system.

An article bearing dateline 15 February in the World Socialist Website (wsws.com) titled Sri Lankan government prepares new Internet restrictions says “In a further violation of basic democratic rights, Sri Lankan authorities are preparing new measures to censor Internet sites critical of the government. Reports of the plan emerged on several web sites last night, amid a widening crackdown on the political opposition, including the arrest last Monday of opposition presidential candidate, General Sarath Fonseka”.

Dealing with specific issues the report went on that “Under regulations to be drafted by the Telecommunication Authority (TRC), it will be compulsory for all news websites to register with the authority to obtain Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The National Express Internet Service Advisory Service, which handles IP addresses, will also be involved in implementing the rules, a TRC official told the newspaper. Restrictions will also be imposed on the Google search engine”.

We can decry all this as the antithesis of democracy, detrimental to business, and injurious to scholarship and academia, but the authorities will take no notice, they will not be moved one jot. The only language the regime understands is the language of power. If powerful mass and political forces are galvanised against LIDA, it can be pushed pack, otherwise the regime will do as it wills.

There need be no doubt in our minds that the purpose of LIDA is political. Already numerous websites are blocked; I am aware of TamilNet, TamilCanadian, lankanewsweb, nidahasa and lankaenews, but this is an incomplete list. Now that the war is over there is no military motive. The purpose now is different; it is to block exposure of corruption, abuse of power at the top, revelations of the antics of the royal dynasty, and to hide state atrocities. An information blanket supplements restrictions on press freedom such as sealing papers, arresting editors and abducting journalists. These are tools to hold down the swell of anti-government feeling - don’t be misled by Rajapaksa’s large presidential vote.

The Chinese model

The New York Times of 15 February, referring to the ham-fisted cutting off of Internet facilities in Xinjiang Province after July 2009 ethnic disturbance, calls it “China’s Self-Defeating Censorship”. “The province remains without email, instant messaging and blogs . . . since July, 32 Internet activists have been held in jails”. This is not Timbuktu though it is in China’s far west. The population is the same as Sri Lanka but the land area is 25 times larger, it is barren and a large part dessert while we are lush and green. However the province contains mineral resources and is caught up in China’s exploding economic boom; its provincial GDP is about 50% larger than Sri Lanka’s national GDP.

The economic woes of Xinjiang cannot all be attributed to the Internet clamp down, but it is a factor. One must consider the decline in the Xinjiang economy relative to the decline in the Chinese economy as a whole as a result of the Global Capitalist Crisis. The numbers are: Xinjiang’s export-import trade volume fell by 39% while across China it fell by 21% in 2009; China’s GDP growth declined to 8.7% in 2009 while it declined to 8% in the Province. Now this is not all due to Internet disconnection, obviously the larger factor was the fall from the ethnic riots.
The New York Times is more likely than not to be a tendentious reporter on China, but the article does make a broad-brush statement that I believe is correct.

“In Xinjiang, Internet censorship has inconvenienced people, hurt the economy and increasingly dented the government’s standing. Although controls in Xinjiang are far more draconian than in the rest of China, the province can be viewed as a microcosm of China itself. In the long-term, China’s censorship regime will only work to destabilize the country and discredit the government”.

So what will our government say to all this? We will exploit the fruits of office for as long as we can squeeze out what juices we can, and then push off! You suckers can stew for all we care! Such is the nature of ideologically primitive regimes in third world states.

© Lakbima News

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Former Lanka president slams govt for holding General Fonseka without charges

Former Sri Lankan prime minister and opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe has slammed the government for detaining Gen Sarath Fonseka without charges, accusing it of trying to "concoct" evidence against the defeated presidential candidate.

Wickremasinghe, chief of the opposition United National Party, said a losing candidate was not imprisoned in any country, and demanded that his be shifted to a civil court.

"A candidate who has lost the election won't be imprisoned in any country. When Obama won he did not put John Mccain behind bars," he told a gathering here yesterday.

The opposition leader charged that the former military chief was being held without framing any charges against him, and demanded that he be tried in a civil court if at all he has to be tried.

"How can the military law be implemented against a retired military officer. What mistakes has he committed? "Sarath Fonseka is being held without any charges being put forward. He has not been arrested but is being held by the military," he said.

He said according to military law, chargesheet should be presented before a lapse of 24 hours after an arrest but it has not been done in Fonseka's case.

"The attorney general is saying investigations are being carried out. That means they are trying to concoct evidence. What is his evidence?" he asked.

"It is being said that the discovery of foreign currency is a violation of the country's Foreign Currency regulations. If that is the case Fonseka should be produced before a civil court," Wickremasinghe said. The Opposition leader said Fonseka should then be charged for violating foreign currency regulations.

"Military charges should be withdrawn. He (Fonseka) should be brought before a civil court. Why can't it be done," he asked.

Sri Lanka's opposition has come out in support of Fonseka, who was put behind bars after the presidential election that saw Mahinda Rajapaksa winning a second term. The government has claimed that Fonseka had plotted to assassinate Rajapaksa and topple his government.

© Daily News & Analysis

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Sri Lanka: Clueless IDPs and govt. resettlement plans

By Ranga Jayasuriya - The government pledged to resettle former residents of Wanni, in their former villages by the end of January 31. They were earlier herded into tightly guarded camps in Vavunia. On the surface, the government seems to have lived up to its undertaking —at least a part of it.

Civilians have been granted freedom of movement and many of the once teeming camps have now been emptied.

But, in the resettled villages, it is a different spectacle: Over hundred thousand civilians, former inmates in camps are virtually dumped on their former villages in the Wanni, and are left without any means to resume normal lives.

With their houses no longer intact, their property destroyed and vandalized, it is an uphill task for the resettled Tamils to restart their lives.

When this correspondent visited the resettled villages on the A 9 Road, it was a waste-land that awaited him. The majority of the houses had been reduced to rubble. A few skeletons of concrete buildings stood where former towns were located. No building was left with the roof intact. Kilinochchi is a ghost town of war wrecked buildings, except for the soldiers and pilgrims heading for Nagadeepa on the A 9 Road.

It is a land of shattered hopes and crumbled homes.

Sinnaiah Velu was released from the IDP camp in December last year along with his family. Originally from Nedunkerny, Olumadu, they were told that their land is still being demined. Hence, the family was left abandoned in Parissamkulam, near Kanagarayan kulam, where they now live in a makeshift hut and collect fire wood to make ends meet. “People from Jaffna come to buy firewood,” he says.

He said he was not given a plot of land to cultivate as he was not a resident from the area, which leaves him having to rely on the jungle to make living.

But, mines and booby traps in the jungle pose a mortal threat. Last week, two civilians lost their limbs from landmines.

The Sinnaiahs are one among 65 families from Nedunkerny living on the A 9 road in Parrisamkulam, awaiting green light to proceed to their villages.

Sinnaiah like most other IDPs have received 25,000 rupees start up allowance. But, the fact of the matter is that it is too little and it could hardly better the IDPs case, who is left with nothing but the cloth on his back. The only exceptions to groups with such a fate are those with access to foreign remittance.

Another 25,000 rupees is being paid to the IDPs for doing 50 days of social work, ten days of which could be utilized to rebuild and clean their own houses.

Additional Government Agent (Vavuniya North), K Paranthaman says that the government would provide a grant of 325,000 rupees each to rebuild houses, and that the evaluation report has already been sent to Colombo. Housing is the acid test for the government. The resettled former IDPs take shelter in tents and huts, but the monsoon would complicate the situation. A few could, of course, afford to build houses on their own, but the vast majority would be condemned to live in shacks. Many civilians, this correspondent spoke to were clueless about the government’s resettlement plans.

On the surface, it looks like the camp life had been shifted to Kanagarayan kulam. But, there is some work, though at its incipient age. There are 20 or so Grama Sevaka Divisions in the Vavuniya North AGA Division, only in nine of which, resettlement activities have commenced, owning to landmines. Resettlement had commenced only on the left side of the A 9 road and the demining activities are being carried out on the other side.

IDPs are given paddy land to cultivate. Every family is given 2 acres and the government provides seed free of charge. Farming has commenced in many places.

K. Ganesh (40), a resettled villager in Kanagarayankulam says that he has resumed farming.

Weidyalingam Nithyanathan (42) another resettled villager asks for a water pump to water his vegetable plot. But he and many other IDPs complain that they had not received food rations for past two weeks.

Many of the resettled villagers carry old scars of war; many were caught in shelling as they fled the Tiger controlled pocket.

K. Rathan (28) originally from Nedunkerny shows his still festering wounds in the legs. He says battle scars had prevented him from working in the paddy fields. Another villager says he was evacuated to safety by the ICRC relief ship at the height of war. But, he mourns for his son, who is still missing and feared to be killed in the final days of the battle.

In the face of scarce resources, there is competition. A middle aged couple -- residents of Nedunkerny --- complained to the AGA that locals didn’t allow them to use the well.

The AGA tells this correspondent that it was a sign of caste differences, a perennial trait of the Tamil polity, which the LTTE reined in to greater extend, but is showing up, even before people emerge from the wreckage of war.

The Assistant Government Agent vows that a resettlement package is in the offing and that he would commence a vocational training program for the resettled youth to find employment in the host of construction activities soon to take place in the war torn Wanni.

But, some IDPs are yet to make up their minds after the end of a vicious war and a wretched camp life. Some have lost their kith and kin to the war; some others are still unaccounted for, while others languish in detention.

© Lakbima News

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Rise of Sri Lankan President’s son Namal Rajapaksa sparks concern

Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent - Modesty is apparently not a strong point for Namal Rajapaksa, the 23-year-old son of the Sri Lankan President and scion of Asia’s newest political dynasty.

His website says: “A future leader with a friendly spirit and possessing good values is what comes to mind when meeting the dashing and smashing young Namal Rajapaksa."

The keen rugby player graduated from London’s City University in September with a third-class law degree. He now clearly plans to follow in the footsteps of his father, Mahinda, who was an MP at 24 and went on to defeat his former army chief, Sarath Fonseka, in a presidential election last month.

Last week, after General Fonseka’s arrest, Namal was accepted by his father’s party as a candidate in parliamentary elections on April 8, joining dozens of other relatives in government and politics. One rumour suggests that he could take over the politically powerful position of Custodian of the Temple of the Tooth, Sri Lanka’s holiest Buddhist shrine.

Namal’s meteoric rise was hailed last week in a eulogy on the official government news portal, entitled The Doctrine of Namal Rajapaksa — Activism and Positivism in Politics.

For most Sri Lankans it came as no surprise: Namal campaigned alongside his father and used an NGO that he runs to fund a lavish television advertising campaign promoting the incumbent. For many, however, his political debut, and the personality cult surrounding it, are worrying indications of the demise of South Asia’s oldest democracy.

Over the past fortnight international concern has focused on the arrest of General Fonseka — who led the army to victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels last year — on charges of plotting a coup. Equally troubling, however, is the Rajapaksa clan’s ever-tightening grip on power — especially if the ruling coalition wins a two-thirds majority in April, allowing it to change the Constitution.

Alan Keenan, of the International Crisis Group, said that the President had had reason to surround himself with family when he came to power in 2005, as he faced many political enemies and the threat of assassination by the Tigers.

“Up to a point, it was understandable. But now it does seem to have reached an extreme level, and with real dangers,” he said. “There’s always been corruption, but businessmen in Colombo now complain it’s got to the point where you have to know a Rajapaksa to get something done. That’s unprecedented.”

Now Namal is being touted as a potential successor to his father, whose second and final term will end in 2016. Supporters say that this is no different from the Gandhis in India, the Bhuttos in Pakistan or the Kennedys and the Bushes in the US.

T.C. Rajaratnam, who wrote last week’s official eulogy, said: “His style is unique and incomparable. If Sri Lanka has to develop at a rapid pace then Namal Rajapaksa should have the controlling authority.”

Critics say that such eulogies smack of the kind of personality cult surrounding Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader.

Sri Lanka's ruling dynasty

Mahinda - President, Minister of Finance, Media, Religious Affairs & Moral Upliftment, Highways and Road Development

Gotabaya (younger brother) - Secretary of ministries of Defence, Public Security, and Law and Order

Basil (older brother) - MP and senior presidential adviser on economic and international affairs

Chamal (older brother) - Minister of Ports and Aviation and Minister of Irrigation and Water Management

Shashindra (Chamal’s son) - MP and Chief Minister of Uva province

Jaliya Wickramasuriya (Mahinda’s first cousin) - Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States

Udayanga Weeratunga (Mahinda’s first cousin) - Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia

Kapila Dissanayake (Mahinda’s cousin) - councillor of Southern Province and President’s co-ordinating secretary in Hambantota

© Times Online

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Probe into Fonseka’s poll funds

Sri Lanka is investigating whether foreign sources funded the campaign of defeated opposition presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka, a newspaper report said yesterday.

The former Army commander is already in military custody facing charges of conspiracy against the government.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) began investigating after $527,000 in cash were found in the bank locker of a close relative of Fonseka last week, the Sunday Times in Colombo reported.

Sri Lankan law limits the possession of US bank notes to $2,000 without government permission, it said.

The report said the CID sought the help of Interpol headquarters in France to try to determine the source of the currency.
Detectives were also interviewing officials of the Central Bank and local banks, the news report said.

The money was found in one of safety deposit boxes under the name of Asoka Tillekeratne, whose son Danuna is married to a daughter of Fonseka, it said.

Detectives said Danuna Tillekeratne is wanted in connection with alleged fraudulent activity in supplying military items to the army, and is evading arrest. They were also investigating reports that he had fled Sri Lanka under a false name, the paper said.

© Gulf Times

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"India is my relation, the others are friends" : Sri Lanka's President speaks to "The Hindu"

Interviewed by N. Ram - Mahinda Rajapaksa, a powerful and popular head of government and state, has the way cleared for him for the next six years and more. In a recent conversation with N. Ram lasting three-and-a-half hours at Temple Trees in Colombo, he covered, and answered questions on, a range of subjects. Excerpts from his on-the-record comments and responses:

Huge victory in presidential election

I was not surprised [by the margin of victory, nearly 18 percentage points]. Because in the Provincial Councils, if you count the majority, it was 2.5 million. I knew that if you took 1 million out of that, I would have won with 1.5 million. And I knew what the pulse of the people in villages was. Even in Colombo district, outside the municipal area, they gave me a good majority. I knew from the start that my majority would be there.

And I am not surprised about the North-East results. I was encouraged by that. I had the election, I knew that people must vote, they must be given a chance to elect their own President. Twenty-six per cent, I am satisfied with it. In every village, I got some votes, didn't I?

Factors behind the decisive win

One thing is that people wanted experience – a politician to lead their country. I have been in politics for 40 years. Suddenly a military man coming in, I don't think people trusted him. They were frightened by the way that he talked, shouting at people, blackguarding people. He [Sarath Fonseka] showed his inexperience on economic affairs,

On mis-targeting

Actually, he never said anything about me other than a few words in the final days. Other than ‘I will take him and remand him.' ‘I will kick him out' – that was Somavansa [Amarasinghe, the JVP leader] and he endorsed it. ‘At 7 o'clock I will walk in there, take him into custody, put him into Bogambara [maximum security prison in Kandy] in a 2x2 cell.' He thought this was the Army! He was ill advised.

The whole campaign was against a family and it was all mud-throwing. Without politics, they were trying to personalise the campaign.

Rural Sri Lanka supported me in a big way. I feel that was because of the development in the villages. We had the village road development programme, the programme for the development of the whole village, the fertilizer subsidy, the ‘Grow More Food' campaign. Incomes for rural households rose sharply. From 1948 to 2005, the per capita income came up to $ 1000. During the period of my presidency, when the war was going on, it has gone up to $2200. With development, the lifestyle of the people had changed. They [the Fonseka camp] couldn't understand that.

If I had been in the Opposition, I would have addressed not anything else but the cost of living. Forget about everything else, just address that. When eventually they tried to address it, it was too late. We had the answers.

People in the villages didn't like the way they conducted the campaign: that they would try to take me into custody, kick me out, kill me. People don't like that. Villagers don't want that to happen. They [the Fonseka camp] miscalculated, failed to see the affection, the love people in the villages have for me.

In addition, suburban people voted heavily for me. Other than people in Colombo, and some people in Kandy and other cities, they voted for me. They wanted a peaceful life. They believed in democracy. I think our people are, in that way, very educated, very conscious about democracy. They didn't want a military man coming in.

Who got the credit for eliminating the LTTE?

People, by the way they voted, showed they gave the credit to me. Who built the Taj Mahal? Who is remembered by people as the builder of the Taj Mahal? Not the mason or the chief engineer, right?

On parliamentary election prospects

I think we will win the parliamentary elections very comfortably. The people will vote with us. Now they know the government is stable for seven years.

A two-thirds majority?

I think we will be able to get that, or at least close to that. Finally, Ranil Wickremasinghe's crowd is there to come back and join me, right [laughter]?

Cohabitation? Ranil as Prime Minister?

Oh, no problem but he won't do that [do well in the parliamentary election]! So the situation won't arise. You know that during the campaign, Ranil campaigned for me when he went to the Tamil areas.

He said, ‘Poda, Mahinda Rajapaksa poda, Gotabaya poda, Basil poda [laughter].' People were shocked. I was talking in Tamil; he wanted to show that he also knew Tamil. And the first word he said was ‘Poda, Mahinda poda [laughter].' He meant, ‘Don't vote for him, reject him.'

Role of opposition

The opposition must be able to contribute. They must criticise – constructive criticism but not mud-throwing all the time. Not opposing everything the government brings. This is the unfortunate thing in Sri Lanka. They oppose everything, whatever the government does. It's petty politics. The criticism is always personalised. The opposition must contribute to whatever solution we are going to bring to this North-East issue. Because what we want is permanent peace.

13th Amendment plus

The 13th Amendment was brought in a hurry, without studying the whole problem. There is a need to understand the geography of the country, the historical background of the whole problem. Without studying that, you can't bring a solution that is suitable for your country. It must be a practical solution.

The 13th Amendment is implementable at the moment other than the police powers. It is in the Constitution. I don't have to say I'm implementing it because it is implemented in the other areas. The land, everything is implementable. We had the [presidential] election [in the Northern Province] and we are going to have the Provincial Council election after this [parliamentary elections of April 8]. I thought I had to resettle the people [first]. Now there are fewer than 50,000 in the IDP camps; and many of them don't want to go.

The development-peace link

The west doesn't understand this. It doesn't know what's going in here. They're making statements. They ask about humanitarian assistance. I say I don't want humanitarian assistance! We will look after our people, provide them food. I can get down food from India any time. I said we want development assistance [for the North].

Without peace, there is no development; without development, there is no peace.

Tamils in the national police

Do you know we have taken about 500 Tamils from the Eastern Province and they are already in service? Now we are taking them from the Northern Province. In Jaffna, 7500 Tamils came for 450 places. They have been selected. [The President's Secretary, Lalith Weeratunga add: ‘The people selected have been security-screened and will be recruited [in the national police force] immediately after the election. This is an achievement, by any government.']

There was a campaign by the LTTE and the Muslim parties, Rauff Hakeem and some others, not to join the police forces and the Army. We had Tamil Army officers and even now we have Muslim [Army officers]. There was a campaign against joining. But now, after this [final victory over the LTTE], they have joined.

You should see their muscles! They have been trained well [laughs]. You don't have to train them again. The only thing is they must learn some police work. That's all, it's easy! We have good training institutes.

We can train adequate numbers. They will be in these [Tamil] areas mostly and we want to get them down to the South also. You've got to mix them.

Tamil-Muslim majority in Colombo

In Colombo, the majority is Tamil and Muslim. Twenty years ago, the Sinhalese were about 90 per cent; today, they're less than 30 [per cent]. The majority are Muslims and Tamils and there is no problem. The Mayor of Colombo is a Muslim [Uvais Mohamed Imitiyas].

Dialogue on devolution

Soon after these parliamentary elections, I will call all the leaders of the political parties and start talking to them. You know, I tried to get them down, the TNA [Tamil National Alliance], the Tamil parties, the Muslim parties. But they were not interested. They were not interested in solving this problem as long as [Velupillai] Prabakaran was there. Now they must understand that there is no option for them but to talk. I'm the President of the country, I'm the leader of the country, they must come and negotiate with me, have a dialogue with me. If they think they can't cope with me, new leaders will come up and I will have to deal with them.

On western antipathy to him

They don't like me. They don't like my independent views. My preference is for my country. Why should I be loyal to any other country? I'm not a green card holder, am I?

Close ties with Asian countries

They [India, China, Japan] were the countries that helped me to develop this country. As neighbours of the Asian group, they were very generous in offering us development assistance. This country needs development: infrastructure in the North-East and in the South. In the North and East, the conflict is over, we're one country. Now I want to develop the country. For development, these are the countries that helped me and I am ready to accept other countries to come and help me develop the country. We can look after the humanitarian… We give free food, free health care, subsidised fertilizer, transport assistance. We can afford that. But I want development assistance. I want roads, development of the power sector, hotels. And investment.

I have set new targets for tourism. I called the Tourism Board and said I was not satisfied with the present [rate of development]. I want to call the private sector. They're going to the Maldives and various other countries to invest their money. I am going to tell them to invest here. I want to get Indian companies, the Tatas and others, to invest in Sri Lanka.

On excellent ties with India

That's right. Because I'm very clear. When I say something, I stick to it. When I say ‘yes,' yes. When I say ‘no,' no. With India, I think I have been very clear in my policy. Consistent, never changed. They were a little worried about my connection with China. For development, China, Japan and all these [Asian] countries will come and invest. That is a different question. India is our close neighbour. I always say, ‘India is my relation. Others are my friends.'

On Sarath Fonseka's arrest

When I heard about all this earlier, when the intelligence agencies were reporting to me on all this, the Army would have taken him over [under military law]. They wanted to do that. But if at that time I had allowed that, they would have said that I was frightened of this man contesting.

I accepted his resignation as CDS [Chief of Defence Staff]. I could have declined to do that [under the special Act] and we could have charged him for what he had done, what the intelligence agencies were reporting on. But I didn't want to do that because the people would have said I blocked him from contesting.

I knew he was the best candidate I could get! It was very clear in the election. He couldn't get what Ranil Wickremasinghe got.

Even with the JVP, which supported me once and with all this alliance, he never got that vote. They had the biggest alliance against a contesting President. Ultimately, what happened?

Then [after the election] the Army came and said, ‘Sir, we have to take action for what he had done.' So I said, ‘All right, it's up to you. See if you have the evidence to arrest him. If you have evidence, certainly do it. But please consult the Attorney-General.' Gotabaya [Rajapaksa] was very cautious. He said ‘no,' otherwise they would have taken him [Fonseka] immediately [after the election results were announced]. Only after going through all the evidence was the Army given the green light to do what they wanted.

This is an enquiry [under military law] to see if there is a prima facie case against Fonseka. I don't want to get involved in the judicial process. One thing is that I am a lawyer myself, so I always respect the law. I never say anything against the courts, against the judges. [Except once when the last Chief Justice was trying to decide the price of petrol. I said that was the executive's, not the judiciary's, job.] My view is, ‘let the legal process go on.' I don't want to get involved in it. Discipline is an Army matter. If I get involved, Army discipline will go for a six. I don't want to do that. It is very important that democracy is restored.

Army law is very different from the general law. Now he has been taken by the Army. He is under the Army Commander. He is being given a luxury flat, the Navy Commander's chalet. If he had won, I would have been in Bogambara, in a 2x2 cell! He is allowed access to his lawyer, his wife is allowed to see him. She called my wife, who was at a banquet in Moscow; she was told, ‘ask for it and you will be allowed to see him' and she did. Doctors, everything possible is allowed. We don't want to harass him.

In Buddhism, they say, ‘for what you have done, there will be repercussions in this particular birth.' Good or bad, you don't have to wait till the next birth.

I always believe in God – Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, and God. There is somebody who looks after us. They say that when Vishnu looks after you, no one can do you any harm. That's why I went to Tirupati [and prayed]: ‘Look after this country.'

If Fonseka had won

Had there been a different election result, there would have been a bloodbath. There would have been dead bodies everywhere. Burning houses and all that. Just before the election, even government servants were getting threatening letters saying ‘on the 26th [of January] we will come for you.‘

N.Ram, is the Editor -in-Chief of "The Hindu" - the second-largest circulated daily English newspaper in India. He also heads the other publications of The Hindu Group such as Frontline, The Hindu Business Line and Sportstar. In 2005, Sri Lankan President conferred the "Sri Lanka Ratna" — the island-nation's highest honour for non-nationals — on N. Ram, for his "outstanding, professional contribution towards journalism." He is the first Indian recipient of the honour, which is conferred on a restrictive basis.

© The Hindu

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Wife of missing journalist moves Appeal Court

by Chitra Weerarathne - Mrs. K. M. S. P. Ekneligoda, wife of Prageeth Ranjan Bandara Ekneligoda, yesterday complained to the Court of Appeal about the disappearance of her husband since January 24, 2010.

The petition said that the missing person had been a cartoonist and a writer with Lanka-e-news website. He had actively campaigned for General Sarath Fonseka at the last Presidential poll.

The petition added that Eknaligoda had been previously abducted by persons who travelled in a white van on August 27, 2009.

He had complained about this abduction to the Officer-in-Charge of the Homagama police station.

The petition requested Court to direct the DIG of the CID, Nandana Munasinghe and other respondents to produce Eknaligoda before the Court of Appeal.

The petition would be supported by Chrishmal Warnasuriya, instructed by Sunil Watagala.

© The Island

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Sri Lanka’s debt crisis worsens

By Saman Gunadasa - Despite the efforts of the Sri Lankan government and Central Bank to paint a picture of a vibrant economy on the brink of an historic expansion, the island confronts a worsening economic crisis. Like a number of European countries, Sri Lanka is burdened with heavy foreign debts and a ballooning budget deficit, in large part due to the huge military spending needed to wage war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The Sri Lankan army defeated the LTTE last May, but the island’s economic problems have only deepened. Last week Central Bank governor Ajit Nivard Cabraal visited London to tout for foreign investment, saying Sri Lanka was ready to take off. Foreign reserves, he declared, had risen to around $US6 billion, equal to six months imports, and economic growth would increase dramatically to around 6.5 percent in 2010, up from 3.5 percent last year.

The truth is that the rise in foreign reserves has rested substantially on large commercial borrowings by the government, and the release of the first two instalments of a $US2.6 billion International Monetary Fund standby loan, which is spread out over two years. The IMF approved the loan last July when the country faced a major foreign exchange crisis and, potentially, a default.

The Sunday Times economic columnist warned last weekend: “Most of the [foreign currency] reserves are loans that have to be repaid rather than funds that have been earned through exports. These contingent liabilities have also increased the country’s public debt that is a serious burden on the economy…”

The columnist also noted that another reason for the favourable foreign exchange figures was a rise in remittances sent by workers employed overseas, particularly in the Middle East. He pointed out that while remittances increased 14.2 percent in US dollar terms over the first 11 months of 2009, exports were sharply down in all areas by an overall 14.7 percent. These included a fall of 12.3 percent in agricultural exports, including 10.2 percent for tea, and 15.1 percent for industrial exports.

Textile and garment exports fell by only 5.3 percent, but the sector will be hard hit by the EU’s decision to end its GSP+ trade preferences over the Sri Lankan military’s war crimes and human rights abuses. Like the US, the EU is using the human rights issue to pressure the Sri Lankan government, and undermine the influence of rivals such as China. But the decision to end GSP+, which will take effect in six months, will have a damaging effect on garment exports and jobs. More than half of the sector’s exports go to Europe.

The latest debt figures show continuing rapid rises. The country’s outstanding debt increased by 83.2 billion rupees ($728 million) from September to October last year, with the total rising to 4.1 trillion rupees ($35.6 billion). Of that, foreign debt amounted to 1.77 trillion rupees—a 29.6 percent increase from the previous month. Since then, the Central Bank has not published figures—in part to obscure the real economic situation in the lead-up to the January 26 presidential election.

During the first 10 months of last year, the budget deficit expanded by more than 50 percent, compared to the previous year and hit 8.4 percent of GDP. The estimated deficit for 2009 as a whole is a staggering 11.3 percent of GDP, which far exceeds the limit set by the IMF as a condition of its loan.

The IMF releases quarterly instalments of $330 million following a review to ensure that the government is on track to meet its targets. Over three years starting with 2009, the budget deficit must be successively reduced to 7, 6 and 5 percent of GDP. If the estimated 2009 budget figure is correct, the government has exceeded its limit by a massive 4.2 percentage points.

Last week the IMF residential representative Koshy Mathai warned that the Fund was concerned about the high fiscal deficit. While his tone was measured so as not to spook the markets, Mathai declared: “The fiscal situation is challenging… We want to see whether the underlying deficit reduction path will be maintained.”

This warning has only one meaning. The government will be compelled to slash the budget deficit by more than half by the end of 2011, which can be achieved only through a savage assault on public spending and the living conditions of working people. An IMF delegation is expected to visit the country at the end of this month to conduct a quarterly review.

In the lead-up to the presidential election, President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also the finance minister, postponed the budget with the tacit approval of the IMF. Now, amid a deepening political crisis in Colombo, Rajapakse has called a general parliamentary election for April 8. The budget will be presented only after the next government is formed.

The IMF, however, may well insist that Rajapakse start to spell out just what steps he will take to reduce the budget prior to April. The conditions of the loan require the government to make tax reforms and restructure key state-owned enterprises, including the Petroleum Corporation and Electricity Board. Any steps in that direction will compound the political crisis in the lead up to the general election.

A sovereign debt crisis is looming in Europe and elsewhere; it is a new stage in the global economic turmoil that erupted in 2008. Greece’s budget deficit is running at 13 percent. EU officials have put forward a plan to slash public service wages and jobs, increase the retirement age by two years, cut health care, and impose higher taxes, including a tax surcharge on fuel, with the aim of bringing the budget deficit down to 3 percent.

The impact will be no less in Sri Lanka. As soon as the general election is over, the Rajapakse government will be compelled to launch what he has termed an “economic war”. While the president uses the term to conjure up a glorious “victory” that will make Sri Lanka “the emerging miracle of Asia,” the reality is that working people will be forced to pay. Using the military analogy, Rajapakse has already made clear that workers will have to perform like soldiers and be prepared to make heavy sacrifices.

© World Socialist Web Site

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How many more people need to go missing in Sri Lanka?

Andrew Buncombe - Pattani Razeek is the head of an organisation called the Community Trust Fund, a non-profit organisastion in Sri Lanka that works to promote equality and protect human rights in a country where, to say the least, such niceties have been often overlooked as a result of a vicious civil war. Important work, you probably agree. But it appears that someone did not like what he was doing.

Two weeks ago, on February 11, Mr Razeek was travelling home from a project with some colleagues near the town of Polonnaruwa in the centre of Sri Lanka when their vehicle was intercepted by another - a white van. Mr Razeek reportedly got out, went to the van and spoke to the occupants in Arabic, a clear indication that the men were Muslim. After talking to them for a few minutes, Mr. Razeek went back to his colleagues and told them that he will be joining the group in the white van that, according to him, was heading to the eastern provincial town of Valaichchenai. He assured his colleagues that he will be meeting up with them later. The next day, 12 February, the CTF was informed by Mr Razeek's family that he had not arrived home. His relatives and colleagues have been looking for him ever since.

Anyone who has followed the history of the region and Sri Lanka in particular, will be all too aware of the phenomenon of "white vans". Indeed, the situation in regard to so-called disappearances of journalists and human rights campaigners is such that people crack dark jokes about these vehicles and their feared occupants. The government adamantly denies any involvement in such incidents. Yet dozens of journalists and activists have fled the country in fear for their lives.

Human rights campaigners have seized on Mr Razeek's case and called on the government to investigate this incident. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, said it "strongly condemns Mr. Pattani Razeek’s enforced disappearance and fears for his physical and psychological integrity". It added: "These events illustrate once more the situation of extreme insecurity faced by human rights defenders in Sri Lanka."

The Independent's Asia Correspondent Andrew Buncombe is based in Delhi. His dominion ranges over India, Pakistan, Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, occasionally parts of South East Asia and - or at least he is hoping - The Maldives.

© Independent Minds

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