The sins of the present and of the past

Photo courtesy of Darshana Thilakawardana

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene - There are people who question from me as to why the individual anger on the part of some and the collective fury of many others is directed in good conscience against the rights violations of the current administration when surely, there have been comparable (or as some would argue, even worse) sinners in the past.

This question is easy to answer. In the first instance, it is worth pointing out that previous regimes were subjected to equally harsh criticisms when writers, activists and innocents were killed. The case of Richard de Zoysa is one good example. This was one case in which bitter animadversions were directed against the Department of the Attorney General for its clear complicity in covering up the brutal killing of a man who dissented by his pen alone.

Harsh criticisms of the past

Foremost among these accusers was the Liberal Party which went so far as to say in one reflection as follows; 'An all too clear impression has been created of the obstructionism of the police. In addition, the suspicions of partisanship and lack of commitment to an impartial pursuit of justice by the Attorney General's Department gravely undermine the credibility of what should be, in a functioning democracy, impartial institutions of the State. The unhelpful attitude adopted in this case by the relevant agencies of the police and by the Attorney General's Department only serves to confirm the recent deplorable trend in Sri Lankan public affairs that the distinction between the armed forces and the administrators has all but disappeared (see Statement on the Murder of Richard de Zoysa,' in 'The Liberal Party Replies to the UNP' in The Liberal Review, February 1991, at p.30.)

Current realities and recurring deep stains

Let us take this criticism from that age and that time, to the present. Can we say that anything has changed except, of course, for the fact that the Liberal Party is not inclined in any way to make such damning criticisms any longer? This is a moot point. In 2006, two highly respected senior justices of the Supreme Court, (now retired), issued a legal opinion in which they affirmed that the involvement of a senior state lawyer of the Attorney General's Department as lead counsel for the 2006 Udalagama Commission of Inquiry led to a conflict of interest as that same state lawyer had been involved in the initial investigation or inquiry into the very same incident of gross human rights violation being looked into by the 2006 Commission on the basis that the initial investigations/inquiry were unsatisfactory.

This opinion cannot, in any way, be construed as partisan, not purely because of the stature of the judicial personalities involved but primarily due to the thorough examination of relevant legal principles and precedents applied to the factual context of the situation in issue.

Indeed, there may well be those (including in the media) who would unpleasantly, unwisely and hysterically if not slanderously defend this compromised Commission of Inquiry against its critics. Yet its deeply flawed functioning which culminated in the Commission being ignominiously wound up with several cases still remaining to be inquired into is apparent for all the world to see. Unpalatable truths in this context cannot be bypassed as much as the truth could not be ignored in the Richard de Zoysa assassination.

As history recorded later, what occurred during that time became a deep stain on the independent functioning of the country's state law office. Similarly, what happened in relation to the 2006 Commission of Inquiry will also be reflected upon in the years to come. This will certainly not be to the credit of those involved in that farcical exercise as well as those springing to equally farcical defences. Let us not fight shy of saying that in all honesty.

Difference in the context of the past and of the present

But to return to our original question, there is a pertinent issue at hand which is relevant even more than our initial premise that the sins of the past attracted as much ferocious criticisms as the sins of the present. This is precisely that, the sins of the past were committed during times in which the State itself was under threat from tremendously effective subversive attacks whether originating from the North or from the South (broadly speaking).

This is not to say at all that the context justified the responses of successive governments of different political colours but who were one in using brutal counter terror tactics to quell these threats. I hasten to add that, (lest hysterical abuse may be again leveled on the basis that I am trying to whitewash the past), this is also not to say that governments of the past were less sinful in some way than the government of the present. However, it is without dispute that the context in which violations occurred in the past and the context of current violations hold out a very different flavour.

'Normalisation' of state terror?

In the aftermath of quelling one of the most bloody terrorist threats known in the modern world, we are now in a situation where there is deep public suspicion regarding the subversion of the electoral processes, a presidential candidate remains incarcerated under military law without proper charges still being brought, emergency law continues, a journalist remains 'disappeared', peaceful protestors are set upon by thugs with the connivance of the police and the media remains cowed. In other words, have we now unquestioningly accepted the 'normalisation' of state terror?

So what pray is this truly schizophrenic environment where, on the one hand, websites that carry inconvenient news are being blocked and on the other side, we are supposed to believe that this country will soon have a right to information law? While a substantial critique of the present developments in this respect belongs to a different column space, it must be affirmed that the very basis of a right to information law is that information on financial dealings of the government must be open and transparent. Are we supposed to believe that this right, in the very minimum would be secured to us?

At a general level, the problem remains the same as one year back. In the face of a government that is progressing deeper and deeper into a morass of severe rule of law contradictions, (despite what learned professors of law try hard to tell us), what is the viable political alternative that is on offer for the people?

Heading for the abyss

Paradoxically perhaps, I know of many who voted for the now incarcerated common opposition candidate, not in expectation of elevating him to power given the uneasy mix of combative political parties and highly problematic legal personalities supposedly drafting his Constitution. Rather it was in the hope that, faced with a cogent threat to his rule, President Mahinda Rajapaksa will pull back from the abyss.

Yet as post election developments have shown us, this has become a most forlorn hope. We brace ourselves for what will come in the future.

© The Sunday Times

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From Richard De Zoysa to Ekneligoda: The Slide

Dr.Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu - The 24th of February marked the first month anniversary of the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda, the Lanka E-News journalist. Two special Police teams are said to be on the case. They have however, not come up with any information as to Ekneligoda’s whereabouts.

Ekneligoda’s disappearance is yet another statistic of shame in the long list of disappearances, abductions and extra-judicial killings that have targeted the media in particular over the last four years.

His disappearance, it should be noted, took place in the course of a presidential election campaign the first post –war island-wide electoral contest in this country for two decades.

The war – the one that is between the GOSL and the LTTE is over and cannot be cited as it has been in the past and continues to be cited, shamelessly and unthinkingly by some as an alibi, justification or explanation for human rights violations.

There appears to be another war, a persisting, menacing violence that perpetuates human rights abuses with impunity.

Should the Ekneligoda disappearance be treated as a clear sign along with others of a sure and steady slide into authoritarianism?

The arrest of Fonseka – no paragon of virtue for sure, its motivation and manner, indicates that either fear and paranoia or seething revenge have replaced respect for the rule of law and the norms and procedures of democratic governance. The charges to be framed against him notwithstanding, Fonseka’s fate, probably hinges on what he has, might or will reveal on the issue of war crimes.

Whilst the debate may rage about whether justice is being done and seen to be done, assurance will be made doubly sure to deny him any opportunity to make such allegations again or elaborate on those he has made already.

Add to the Fonseka arrest and impending court martial the attempt to seal the Lanka newspaper, the arrest and subsequent release of its editor Chandana Sirimalwatte, the allegations of moves afoot to block access to certain websites and the suspension of the Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha.

Most alarming in this series of events must surely be the convening and subsequent postponement of the meeting of the Sangha Council to discuss the state of governance in the land. That such an event was to take place was in itself an unprecedented and historic move by the clergy who have been conspicuous by their silence over the treatment of IDPs and the state of human rights in general. That the momentous event was postponed on the grounds of the security of the monks and of the Tooth Relic is nothing short of shocking.

Whose responsibility is it to provide security? How come if security could have been provided for the Independence Day celebrations in Kandy, it was not forthcoming for the Sangha Convention? We are in a post-war situation after all. According to our constitution Buddhism has the foremost place and there is a cabinet ministry to deal with these affairs. Is the state admitting, conceding that it cannot provide security to the venerable monks? Who would dare threaten them and even begin to hope that they could get away with it?

The answer is the regime itself as reported by some of the monks involved in convening the Council. It has been reported that monks supportive of the regime were dispatched to warn that if the Council went ahead the Sangha would be further divided and that bombs could even be exploded in the vicinity of the Temple of the Tooth!

A clear triumph of unfettered secular thuggery!

What is the regime after? – the steam rolling of all dissent and criticism? And what use will the two third’s majority sought be put to? Do we not have a right to know and what better occasion than the general election?

There is the danger as some have warned of further unrest, even violent unrest outside of the north and east if the regime persists with these tactics. It is time it took comfort and security from its electoral majorities and got on with the task of seizing upon the opportunity provided by its defeat of the LTTE to move the country from a post –war to a post conflict situation in which the challenges of peace, reconciliation and unity are addressed in earnest. This is essential for good governance and economic take off.

The 18th of February was the 20th anniversary of the murder of Richard de Zoysa. There was a theatrical tribute to mark the event comprising entirely of the work of Nobel Prize winning playwright, essayist and political activist Harold Pinter. This columnist took part in the proceedings as the Minister of Culture in Pinter’s short 2002 sketch entitled The Press Conference. At the press conference, the Minister has this to say:

“Let me make myself clear. We need critical dissent because it keeps us on our toes. We do not want to see it in the marketplace or on the avenues and piazzas of our great cities. We do not want to see it in the houses of our great institutions. We are happy for it to be kept at home so that we can drop in at any time, read what is under the bed, discuss it with the writer, pat him on the head and shake him by his hand. By this method we keep our society free of infection. There is always, however, room for confession, retraction and redemption.”

Have we come or are we coming to this?

The Bar Association election was a glimmer of hope. Not every professional association and civil society body will succumb to the dispensation of the day. The general election offers all of us an opportunity to play our part in ensuring that the bases for good governance and economic take off are firmly laid within a solid democratic framework of effective checks and balances on the exercise of executive power. It must not be yet another exercise of going back to the future.

© Daily Mirror

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Six military ‘suspects’ detained over Lasantha’s killing

By Shamindra Ferdinando - Police spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody yesterday (March 6) said that it was too early to say whether former Army Chief Gen. (retd) Sarath Fonseka would be questioned in connection with the ongoing investigation into the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga, the editor of The Sunday Leader.

He didn’t rule out the possibility of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) seeking a statement from Fonseka now held on conspiracy charges at navy headquarters.

He was responding to a Sunday Island query raised at a hastily called press conference at the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS),

Jayakody said that six army personnel had been detained in connection with the investigation. According to him, they were among 17 army personnel questioned by the CID recently regarding the killing. He stressed that the detained personnel were only suspects.

Wickremetunga was killed by an armed gang on January 8 last year as he drove to work. He died in hospital after nearly three hours of emergency surgery having suffered critical head wounds.

Gangs also attacked the then Rivira Editor, Upali Tennakoon and Keith Noyhar, Deputy Editor of The Nation as well as Namal Perera of the Sri Lanka Press Institute who was a freelance journalist.

The Opposition and the media rights groups had directly accused the UPFA government of targeting media personalities critical of the administration.

Asked whether the police could reveal whether those who had been so far questioned by the CID belonged to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), the police spokesman said that they belonged to different units. He declined to identify the six personnel held by investigators or reveal other details but expressed confidence that a breakthrough could be made.

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe denied reports that Maj. Gen. Amal Karunasekera, former head of the DMI, had been recalled from an overseas assignment and placed under house arrest. Samarasinghe said that a section of the media had reported that dozens of DMI personnel were held.

"Some said 30 and other 50 DMI personnel detained. They also reported that former DMI head was to be questioned," he said. Samarasinghe however acknowledged that Karunasekera was back in Colombo.

He said that during the war, the DMI played a vital role to eradicate the LTTE. Emphasizing the importance of the country’s premier intelligence gathering service, he said that the Army would cooperate with the investigators, though DMI could not be targeted as an institution.

Authoritative sources told The Sunday Island that Karunasekera had been asked to meet investigators to give them an opinion regarding ‘DMI activity.’ The bottom line is that he was here to assist the investigation not as a suspect, sources said.

They said that the government would not hesitate to take punitive action against security forces personnel found guilty of offences pointing out that during the war many officers and men, including some attached to intelligence services of the armed forces, were taken into custody over criminal offences.

MCNS Director General Lakshman Hulugalle urged the media to contact him or relevant spokesmen of the police and armed forces before they published any sensitive news item.

© The Island

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Sri Lanka rejects call for war crimes investigation by the U.N.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected a proposed U.N. war crimes advisory panel on Sri Lanka as "totally uncalled for and unwarranted," his office said Saturday.

Rajapaksa's press office said the president and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon discussed over the phone a Feb. 25 letter from Ban indicating his intention to set up a panel of experts to advise Ban on alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Rajapaksa was "emphatic" in his objections and said the appointment of the intended panel "would compel Sri Lanka to take necessary and appropriate action in that regard."

"Sri Lanka looked forward to treatment as per the U.N. Charter that provides equal treatment to all members of the U.N. while respecting the principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of states," Rajapaksa said.

"No such action has been taken about other states with continuing armed conflicts on a large scale, involving major human catastrophes and causing the deaths of large numbers of civilians due to military action," Rajapaksa added.

Senior officials in Colombo said on condition of anonymity that Rajapaksa hinted the United Nations had caved into pressure by some international nongovernmental organizations and the British government in considering setting up an advisory panel.

He alleged Britain's Labour government was looking for Tamil votes in the forthcoming British election, but a British High Commission official in Colombo said Britain has consistently supported the U.N. secretary general's call for an "accountability process" into allegations of violations of International Humanitarian Law during the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka's Vanni district last May.

"This has been our consistent position since May last year when the U.N. secretary general discussed the issue with the Sri Lankan government," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The United Nations, which has consistently accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of using civilians as a human shield during the final phase of the war, has estimated at least 7,000 civilians were killed in the last four months of the fighting.

The Sri Lanka government described the final phase of the 26-year war as a "humanitarian operation" to free civilian hostages held by the Tamil Tigers.

© Associated Press

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• Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa dismisses UN human rights panel (BBC News)
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'Govt. responsible' for Prageeth's abduction

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The Sri Lanka government is directly responsible for the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, his wife has claimed.

Sandhya Ekneligoda told BBC's Outlook programme that she could not think of anybody else, "especially because what happened before and after his disappearance".

Mr. Eknaligoda, a journalist, cartoonist and a film maker, who last worked for Lankaenews website is missing since 24th January.

Listen to the interview

Both Lankaenews and Mr. Ekneligoda supported Gen Sarath Fonseka at the 26 January presidential election.

Either the government is directly behind the abduction, Sandhya Ekneligoda said, or a group with government's blessing is responsible.

Meeting the president

"I have written to the president seeking his help to find my husband but I am yet to get a response," she said.

The mother of two sons says her attempts to meet Shiranthi Rajapaksa, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's wife, has been unsuccessful as her telephone calls were not directed to Mrs. Rajapaksa despite repeated attempts.

"I also tried to secure an appointment to meet President Rajapaksa through a person who works in the president's office," she told the BBC.

"Initially that person said he didn't know who Prageeth was but after my repeated persuasion, he has said that there is no point for the president to meet me as Prageeth has written so much against the president."

These reactions and the behaviour of media minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene only confirms her suspicions that the government is behind the disappearance, according to Sandhya Ekneligoda.

Malwatta Mahanayake thero

She said the minister made a public announcement after Malwatta Mahanayake thero strongly criticised the conduct of the politicians.

"Mahanayake thero said he wondered whether to allow politicians to come and meet him as a result of their public behaviour," she said.

Minister Yapa, according to Sandhya Eknaligoda, has said that Prageeth was hiding to seek publicity and would come home within a week.

"It has been more than three weeks since he made that statement and I'm still waiting for Prageeth," she said.

The government has previously rejected accusations that it is behind the disappearance of the journalist.

BBC Sandeshaya could not get the response from the minister despite repeated attempts.

© BBC Sinhala

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Ex-Army Inteligence Chief to be quizzed over Lasantha Wickramatunge 's murder

By Indika Ramanayake - The Terrorist Investigation Unit said the former Army Intelligence Chief would be quizzed in connection with the killing of Lasantha Wickramatunga, within the course of the coming week.

It is reported that the former Chief of Army Intelligence is to be quizzed in connection with the information gathered from the Army Intelligence Operatives quizzed so far. Already 15 members of the Army Intelligence have been taken into custody for questioning.

Meanwhile CID told Court yesterday it was trying to find out whether there were calls taken from the confiscated mobile phone number to the mobile phone of slain Sunday Leader editor-in-chief Lasantha Wickrematunga.

Detectives told the Mount Lavinia Magistrate that the suspect in police custody had made contradictory statements to the CID and to the Mirihana police.

The Counsel who appeared for the Wickrametunge family asked the detectives about media reports on the arrest of 15 people in connection with the killing of Mr. Wickremetunga but Inspector Chandraratne said he was not aware of any such arrests.

The suspect who is alleged to have stolen Mr. Wickremetunga’s mobile phone was remanded till March 18.

© Daily Mirror

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Sri Lanka's former war zone highlighted in travel guide

Two British travel writers have published a guide book on tourist attractions in Sri Lanka's former war zone in the north and east, now accessible to the visitors after 30 years of conflict.

Juliet Coombe, a photojournalist for the BBC Lonely Planet guide book, and her co-writer Daisy Perry spent six months roaming through areas which were once strongholds of Tamil Tiger separatist rebels.

The region became accessible after government forces crushed the Tigers in May 2009, ending three decades of war and resulting in a revival in travel to the island.

The guide book, which also covers the island's central hills, famous for its tea plantations, highlights the beaches, ruins and wildlife parks that for long were out of bounds for visitors.

Coombe says she traveled with her one month old baby as her 'chief negotiator' in gaining access to the north and the east where the security was still tight even after the end of the war.

Starting from the busy capital Colombo, and on to the ancient cities in central Sri Lanka and the former war zone the book covers a wide array of information with words and photographs by Coombe.

Dileep Mudadeniya, Managing Director of the Tourism Promotions Bureau, said the guide book has new content and a new approach to Sri Lankan tourism.

“After a 30-year conflict the entire country is open for tourism. When the country is open, it is very important for us to have material to know where to go and how to get there."

Coombe says her fascination with Sri Lanka’s North and East, began with an interest in the northern Jaffna library, which was destroyed during the war.

As seven-year-old child and an avid reader, she had read about the library and since then been fascinated with coming to Sri Lanka in order to immerse herself in the many books the library offered.

'Sri Lanka's other half; a guide to the Central, Eastern and Northern Provinces' is now available to the public from the Ministry of Tourism and bookshops in the country.

© Lanka Business Online

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• Sri Lankan civilians starving under heavy shelling (Antiwar.com)

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Sri Lanka, Britain spar again over Tigers

By Amantha Perera - Tensions between Sri Lanka and Britain may have calmed down somewhat after the civil conflict ended in this South Asian country last year, but are rising again after the government accused London of aiding the defeated Tamil Tigers to regroup internationally.

The latest tensions were sparked by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s attendance at the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), held on Feb. 24 in London.

The Sri Lankan government did not take lightly the fact that Miliband spoke to the forum, which is considered a grouping of support networks and sympathisers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the Tamil Tiger rebels are called.

For about two years before the Sri Lankan government militarily defeated the Tamil rebels in May 2009, ties had been strained between Britain and its former colony. The government had seen Britain as one of the staunchest critics of the conduct of the war, which had drawn international concern.

At one point, pro-nationalist groups supporting President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s drive against the separatist LTTE, which fought for decades for a homeland for minority Tamils in this majority Sinhalese nation, accused the British government of having a colonialist-era attitude and worse, of using diplomatic arm-twisting tactics.

On Mar. 1, protesters gathered near the British High Commission, located in one of Colombo’s most expensive neighbourhoods, to vent their anger on what they saw as continued meddling by the British on Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.

About 200 protesters aligned with the National Freedom Front (NFF) shouted anti-Miliband slogans and derided Prime Minister Brown. They were led by former member of parliament Wimal Weeravansha, a key supporter of Rajapaksa.

"What the British government is trying to do (by its support to the GTF) is to revive Tiger terrorism, and by extension, it is supporting the division of this nation," Weeravansha told the protesters.

He handed over a petition signed by the protesters to the High Commission. "This is not a democratic act, supporting the division of a country," Weeravansha said. "We ask the British public not to support such moves."

Hours before the GTF meeting, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama summoned Mark Gooding the Acting British High Commissioner in Colombo to the Foreign Ministry to convey the message that Miliband should not go ahead with attending the event.

"The Foreign Minister in this context emphasised that Foreign Secretary Miliband, by participating at today’s GTF Meeting in London, would unfortunately lend credibility to an organisation which is propagating the separatist agenda of the LTTE, and would be acting in a manner inimical to the national interest of Sri Lanka and its legitimate government," the Foreign Ministry later said of Bogollagama’s meeting with the British diplomat.

In his address to the GTF delegates, Miliband said that "the foundation of the Global Tamil Forum, the inauguration of its international work, is an important moment for politics and above all politics in Sri Lanka, because there is no substitute for political voice in asserting political rights."

The GTF delegates also met with British Prime Minister Brown.

The British government has tried to show that Miliband’s address was part of its wide-ranging efforts to foster national reconciliation in this South Asian island nation at the end of decades of a sectarian war that cost over 70,000 lives.

The British High Commission in Colombo said that Miliband emphasised the need for national unity in Sri Lanka in his speech. "It is for all Sri Lanka’s people to decide what that solution should look like. The United Kingdom firmly believes that the only way to achieve lasting and equitable peace in Sri Lanka is through genuine national reconciliation,’’ it said in a Feb. 24 statement.

But these have not gone far to allay fears that the British are moving behind the scenes to undermine the Rajapaksa government, which faces elections for the parliament on Apr. 8.

The NFF leader Weeravansha also warned that the protests would spread across the country. "If the British government wants to maintain cordial relations with Sri Lanka, it should respect our sovereignty and stop these kinds of vicious acts," he argued.

This week’s protests come during a politically charged atmosphere in Colombo. The island went through a bruising presidential election in January where Rajapaksa successfully staved off a challenge by his former army commander, Sarath Fonseka.

Two weeks after the Jan. 26 election, Fonseka was arrested by military police. The arrest initially sparked off protests by pro-Fonseka groups that later died down.

But the political climate is unlikely to stay calm as the country heads for a parliamentary election on Apr. 8.

Even before the allegations against Miliband and the British government, complaints have been rising against ‘foreign powers’ trying to influence national politics. The Fonseka campaign, for instance, was accused of receiving funds from foreign donors, although no substantive evidence has been presented.

Before the latest spat between Sri Lanka and Britain, the former reacted angrily in February when the European Union decided to suspend a concessionary tariff scheme that gave imports from Sri Lanka an annual tax break of over 100 million U.S. dollars.

The EU decided to suspend Generalised System of Preference (GSP) Plus scheme based on its findings that Sri Lanka was in contravention of human rights conventions. The Sri Lankan government’s response was that it appreciated the benefits derived from the concessions, but was not ready to compromise its sovereignty.

© Inter Press Service

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China's 'pearls' spook Indian observers

China is weaving a web of trade and maritime agreements around its old rival India, encircling the country with strategically placed construction projects and schemes to enlarge port facilities. In the days of the Bush administration, US analysts hatched a theory that has since become accepted wisdom: China is putting together a “string of pearls” in India’s home ­waters.

“The ‘string’ is part of an indirect strategy, which ... aims to trap India in a spider’s web, reducing its options in the event of crisis,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Beijing claims it is pursuing exclusively commercial goals, but the ­Indian Ocean is China’s main route for importing energy supplies, increasing the likelihood that these facilities could be used for military purposes should a regional conflict erupt, observers say.

The project giving India most cause for concern is a Chinese-funded port being built at Gwadar on the coast of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.

In Burma, another Chinese ally, Beijing is involved in the construction of ports at Sittwe, Mergui and Dawei. China is also extremely active in Sri Lanka, where it is busy developing the port of Hambantota. China Eximbank is funding 85% of the work on port facilities, worth an estimated $1bn. Beijing also helped fund part of the war effort against the Tamil separatist movement quelled last year.

In Bangladesh China is contributing to the modernisation of the deep-water port at Chittagong, slated to become a major container hub.

The last pearl on the string, Nepal, is a landlocked country but one that occupies a strategic position for Beijing. Since the unrest in Lhasa, the capital of neighbouring Tibet, in 2008, the Nepalese have come under pressure from China to tighten Tibetan border controls and suppress demonstrations by Buddhist monks in Kathmandu.

Last month the Nepalese prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, led a visit to Beijing that, according to the Chinese media, resulted in an agreement on Sino-Nepali border security.

But an editorial published last month on the Chinese Global Times website sought to reassure. “Worry about China competing for dominance of the Indian Ocean runs deep inside India,” it explained. “Such worries are unnecessary. China watches closely over the Indian Ocean because oil imported from the Middle East and Africa has to go through it.”

So is the military threat posed by an increasingly tight string of pearls exaggerated? “The ports could serve as logistical bases should China’s navy need to evacuate its nationals from an emergency somewhere in Africa or the Middle East. But things could be much more complicated if there was a war on,” Cabestan said

© The Guardian Weekly

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How Lankans pay for war against LTTE

Premier Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has attributed the high cost of living in Sri Lanka to large payments being made to other countries for weapons purchased to fight the recently-concluded war with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The final phase of the Eelam IV war had concluded in May last year, with the killing of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

"We are yet to complete payment of the bill on certain things that were provided to us by other countries as assistance for the humanitarian operations," Wickremanayake said, adding it is not proper to expect the government will have enough money immediately after such a protracted war.

"The people should be made aware of this. Some think that since this is now over, the money will be saved. They also think the prices of goods can be reduced and various other forms of relief can be granted," he said.

But we still have to pay many bills, the Prime Minister insisted.

"Therefore, we cannot reduce the prices of goods very drastically in line with world market prices. But we can provide concessions. We have even provided tax concessions on
certain goods," he told a recent meeting in Horana in Western Sri Lanka.

However, economists have argued that the government could have reduced prices of certain commodities
when prices remained weak in the international market last year.

Wickremanayake also stressed that the government hoped to implement a rapid development programme after the April 8 general election to fulfil the aspirations of the public.

Meanwhile, the state radio quoted the Prime Minister as saying that the argument that cost of living should come down soon after the war was over, was not correct.

He explained that it is not practical to reduce cost of living immediately as the government has to pay large amount of money for weapons that were bought during the war time, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Sri Lanka has exceeded the 2009 budget deficit target of 7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) provided for under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme as it rose to 9.7 per cent during the period, according to an official report.

"While the short term economic stabilisation aspect of the IMF programme has been achieved, the government continues to remain engaged with the Fund to address medium term economic recovery in the context of post-war economic prospects and global economic recovery," said the Sri Lankan Ministry of Finance and Planning in its 'Pre-Election Budgetary Position Report' released recently.

Accordingly, the release of the third tranche of IMF loan amounting to USD 326 million will be delayed till the review is completed, as at this stage there is no urgent requirement to further strengthen external finances, it said.

© NDTV

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