Halalization!

There is an interesting article by Udaya Gamanpila in today’s Ceylon Today. I too have experience, similar to his, of the fundamental closeness we in Sri Lanka have with all the different communities, especially in Urban Areas where we come into close contact with all races and religions, as part of our neighborhood, and school. I do not agree with Udaya on most issues but in this I agree for the most part on his sentiments, though he pushes it too far, signaling a breakdown in this comity due to the halalization in a formal sense of everything by Muslim fundamentalism. This can give rise to a permanent loss of this great togetherness that we share. I believe all is not lost and can be salvaged, and our relationship will return to one of mutual trust and respect.

See Link: http://www.ceylontoday.lk/76-25154-news-detail-halalization-and-end-of-sri-lankan-food-culture.html

It is true that most of the recent trends in Islam brought about by the rising consciousness of their economic power, both as Middle East oil producers and the faith that encourages proselytizing, had created fear amongst Non- Muslims in those countries,  of a force that uses its wealth to firstly tighten the noose on their own faith, by emphasizing a radical path espoused by some such as the Wahabbis of Saudi Arabia or the Ayatollahs of Iran ( a degree of fundamentalism with Jihad as the standard) and later on others, as a means to spread their ideals and beliefs. The discrimination of those minorities has increased.

This has spread all over the world and Al Quaida is just one offspring of this attempt. Steps have been taken in different countries on different aspects that run counter to their own traditions and so the Burqa has been banned in France.

I know of Many Muslims who are horrified at the turn of events in their faith, and completely disagree with their tenets, but within their community prefer not to raise their voice, as the more Fundamentalist mullahs may castigate them for being heretical! It is this sense of fear that has overcome the usually very passive Buddhist to form an extreme section to counter the Fundamentalism of Islam.

I completely denounce the spread of the extremism within Islam as being the true Islam, and that which was practiced by Muslims for the past 1000 years in SL as not. Halalization is one of those extremes. Only doing things that are prescribed by their religious laws is Halal and if not it automatically is Haram. So it is forcing adherence in a strict sense to this format, whilst in the past 1000 years Muslims were 99% halal but unknowingly may have partaken in the occasional Haram. Are you telling me that their God is going to damn them in hell for so doing? 

Not at all. I would therefore plead with the fundamentalists to back off, and allow the Muslims to enjoy their lives in Sri Lanka with all communities, without isolating them due to edicts from afar, backed by money. I feel for the majority in the Muslim faith, who do not subscribe to this, but after years of indoctrination are forced to adhere to a stricter form of Islam, that is not going to take them in a faster route to heaven.

In the end we will all suffer and just as I damn the BBS for their racist lies, I request the Muslim community to also balance their outlook firstly for the sake of their own community, by the moderates taking control over madrassas and taming their extremist flank. I hope the BBS realizes that there is a silent majority in the Muslim community who are just as horrified by the new turn of events, as they have no intention of following this extreme, but who may be forced to do so by the hardliners, citing the BBS as the rationale.

It is religious fundamentalism of the misuse of the religion to suit personal objectives that is at the heart of irrational behavior, and all religions are culpable. In situations such as this atheism sounds like a good idea!

A moderate religious forum is the call of the hour to diffuse the bad blood created by the trouble makers.

HRW – latest report of the post conflict HR abuses – timed for Geneva!

The 140 page report published today, by the HRW about post conflict sexual torture against Tamils is timed to coincide with the UNHRC sessions this week that will consider the SL implementation of the LLRC report.

This is willfully timed to add urgency to the previous ultimatum, that the SL Govt. has no intention of looking into abuses then, pre May 2009 or post when it comes to crimes against Tamils. There is no question that the Tamil lobby against the SL govt. is a very strong one, with a lot of support and pressuring of the host countries where the Tamil Diaspora reside.

One can read the whole document in the link below, or download and save to read anytime. If all is true then they are very serious. They are taken from people who live outside, who most definitely have claimed asylum due to the torture, and in many cases they are of people who have returned to SL from the UK and undergone the torture, and presumably managed to make their way back to the UK. If these are the cases overseas and they are true then they will only be a fraction of the ones that remain here with no chance to find refuge in the UK. Am I correct in that assumption?

Either way it will be shown to be one sided, and GOSL will state categorically that it is Diaspora propaganda. I don't know either way to make an educated guess, and would like to believe HRW as one having no agenda but to bring worldwide HR abuses to the forefront. So I must act with the conviction that if I suffer HR abuse also I would be able through them to find an international audience, but dare say it will be of no use, as they will not be able to save my bacon, as I am firmly in SL with no desire or inclination of seeking refuge abroad, and so my goose is right royally cooked!!

It would be nice to find someone living in SL who is credible and not frightened who has also undergone recent torture to surface, which is the only way Mahinda will have his royally cooked! SO HRW how about putting an ad in all the papers in Sri Lanka seeking a recently tortured victim, who is still alive and living in SL.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/26/sri-lanka-rape-tamil-detainees

The 70 or so documented cases are far too many with living witnesses available to corroborate that this violence continues. The problem I believe is by only concentrating on the violence against Tamils, in this report, it will not get any serious consideration within the MR administration and be dismissed as another pack of lies concoted the Tamil lobby. It will receive much anger from the MR support base, further strengthening the right wing support base of the President instead of tackling the real issues which are NOT JUST LTTE, and more the complete breakdown in the rule of law and order in Sri Lanka, where there is no freedom of expression, no freedom of any sort from abuse of the law by the Security Forces.

Put simply anyone can be abducted, irrespective of race, caste creed or disability to be tortured by the State. It is this that MUST be addressed by the UNHRC, not LLRC or empty promises by the SL Govt. It is the today, that is important even more than the yesterdays. Whilst the yesterdays are not to be forgotten, if we spend our energies on yesterdays, whilst todays are worse, and fear and recrimination against dissidents continuing, why make an academic exercise on past crimes.

The first duty of the UNHRC if it is to mean anything to people on Earth is their sense of justice, that if a crime against humanity is committed the perpetrators have an immediate chance of being brought to book. That is the ONLY way we can remotely ensure that HR violations are reduced dramatically all over the world.

In the Sri Lankan case the assurance that people can commit HR violations daily as they have state patronage from prosecution is what gives criminals carte blanche to engage in their daily pleasure of killings and tortures of people they just dislike.

With too many of the world’s policemen engaged in HR violations, there is NO mechanism at present for the oppressed of this world to find justice.

Remember when MR went to Geneva to complain about the HR abuses of the SL Govt.

It is very interesting to note how tables have been turned on the President in a way that I am sure he in his wildest dreams would not have imagined. It is also ironic that as a forceful defender of Human Rights with knowledge of the Law he (MR) was caught at BIA trying to take evidence to Geneva about abuses by the then SL govt. is now himself accused of even more heinous crimes.

I am also very sad that the world community did not come out against the Human Rights abuse then, of mass killings, a reminder of which we now have in the Matale 200 skeletons episode. The Tamil Diaspora lead pressure on the UNHCR should not detract from the SL history of HR abuses, not restricted to a short episode during the LTTE violence. Further SL’s HR violation history must be weighed against other HR violations by Govt.s developed and developing against their citizens and also against others, in war in determining how to proceed.

Of course laws get updated, and practices solidified with time, and so only laws pertaining to the crimes at the time; the crimes committed subsequently are generally prosecuted. Otherwise the gross abuses by the Slave owning British and Americans will take pride of place amongst crimes against humanity.

Let us then view in perspective the delegation from the TNA to Geneva that is being labeled as being traitorous to the motherland. They are accusing the elected Govt. in SL over HR violations against the people they represent. If they are traitors so was Mahinda Rajapakse then and so either you put the same moniker on MR or you drop the allegation. You cannot have a finger pointed one way for one and the other for same crime of treachery.

I have persisted in this blog of damning our President for wasting the peace dividend, neigh squandering it completely as the biggest act of treachery in Sri Lanka in the21st Century. I know I am right, and only history will be the judge as people today do not have the education and the comprehension until the resultant consequences of this action come to pass. When it comes to pass, it will be as obvious as day follows night, and the whole nation will be scratching its collective head as to why they were unable or blind to the crimes against the country taking place right in front of them and they being fooled into impotence.

There is a diplomatic and natural way to Counter the TNA delegation to Geneva so they gain NO traction, and it is laid bare here. Let us own up and move forward.

The Practice of elimination of all no matter how innocent is as old as time

The Conscious order to kill 12yr Balachandran Prabarkaran is NOT a surprise as his age or demeanor was never a factor. Even if there was evidence that VP had a 6 month infant he or she would ALSO have been killed. So it is surprising that there is so much surprise as to the age of the child. Mercifully he did not appear to be tortured. If he was the son of a nobody then HE WOULD NOT have been killed.

I am in no way justifying murder as it was cold blooded as it gets. It was also premeditated as inevitable, as the thinking in the higher echelons was that to eliminate the LTTE once and for all, anyone that could in future take up the standard was fair game, and so was this boy. In the same way Wijeweera and anyone who could remotely have been considered by the regime of the time who could have taken up the mantle, was killed. It is as commons as day follows night.

If one goes back in time, the massacre of the whole family of the Czar by the Bolsheviks including women and children shot execution style by firing squad comes to mind. It is how a conqueror ensures that there is NO threat to their new found power, when all potential and future competition is deemed eliminated.

Those who want to extract blood, are bent on taking this challenge of the killing all the way to the UNHRC, and there is enough proof to do so, but it will never result in the person issuing the order being charged, let alone sent to the gallows or do time. It is the way international terrorist groups are dealt with and so the regime in SL is safe from whatever is thrown at them.

The Sri Lankan opposition does not wish to go the path of the Challengers because they can clearly see NO political advantage in so doing, if the intention was to get rid of the LTTE. They do not condone the killing, but neither will they gather a crowd to march against this atrocity, as there are far more pressing issues today, that need to be solved to remove the tyrant in power, with provable crimes.

It is therefore worthless and I believe harmful for the LTTE Diaspora to hang their hat on this event and try and get the Regime blacklisted. The killing of this one child pales into insignificance when one looks at the pictures of the LTTE massacres of innocents in churches, temples and mosques over the years so it is quite disingenuous of them to prey on this. It is best for them to concentrate on the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and any discrimination that is real as then they will get credibility from the people they purport to defend and represent. I appeal to the Diaspora to prioritize their demands and not just try and earn political points.

This blog post read in conjunction with the previous entry may seem to contradict each other, but do not mis-interpret what I am saying. I am saying a crime has been committed and we know who is guilty. I am  merely saying that there is no way he would have been spared if captured, and Praba if he had any sense would have sent him overseas. I am also saying further that this issue alone will not be used by the International Community to prosecute the accused, and therefore it would be best to concentrate on the more immediate and more important issues, by prioritizing.

Crimes of one does not justify the crimes of another

It is simply for this reason that GOSL is held accountable for the war crimes, whilst the LTTE terror group, as it has ceased to exist is not absolved, but cannot be prosecuted for their crimes. The remaining criminals of the LTTE are hiding under the sarong of Mahinda Rajapakse in seeking protection from their unpardonable crimes, with the most notable being Karuna, an MR minister, and KP an MR acolyte having paid billions in cash for his survival.

It is time those responsible are brought to book, and so absolve the Country of the same guilt. When leaders hide behind the Country, by not facing accusations head on without fear, then they lower the credibility of the Country and are traitors to the Country. If one is not guilty of crimes, one must be able to face any allegation without reservation, and that is how people of character and true leaders must act.

Dragging Sri Lanka for the 4^th Consecutive year has proffered pariah status on Sri Lanka and the traitorous leaders of Sri Lanka MUST share the blame and face an internal court into the allegation of treachery. Only then will this nonsense stop. There is no smoke without fire, and we cannot go on blaming the Tamil Diaspora for internally generated problems. Further using the canard of “territorial integrity” that means absolutely nothing in 2013, where we have no territorial integrity, due to the actions of our leaders, when 2M of our citizens slave abroad to fund this country’s survival and that of the Regime, is a meaningless cloak to hide behind.

Now like-minded Countries that also wish to hide under the same cloak like Uganda, and Kenya are called upon to support a treacherous regime further highlighting the common criminality of our leaders. We in Sri Lanka should be ashamed of our leaders, not proud of them in the wake of everything that has been done diplomatically since the end of the conflict to perpetuate the pariah status they have bestowed on Sri Lanka. There is NO point saying the Tamil Diaspora are to blame for every international political snafu this govt. has committed. All the leaders have done is to give them ammunition, further enhancing their treachery. This fact blinds our people to a lie, as they do not understand what treachery is!

We are a proud nation that can stand on its own feet with no interference or help from anyone else. However the actions of its elected leaders casts a pall over the competence of our electorate to see right from wrong and therefore plunge the whole nation into the abyss of a failed state due to a few calculated acts of vengeance, that has no place in human decency. Eventually it will be the people of this country that will rise up and teach our traitors a lesson they will never forget!

Responsibility to Protect (R2P) – An opinion on Dayan Jayatilleka’s words

In a recent article Dayan Jayatilleka, most recently our envoy in Paris see link:

http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/ethno-religious-fascism-and-the-r2p-trap-the-scenario/

The gist of his article was the rise of the BBS the ethno religious group, which is bent on showing the rest of the world what a fundamentalist view of the rights of Buddhists in Sri Lanka is. That further cements (unfairly) world opinion on the supposed racist undercurrents of the Sinhala Buddhists, which with an alliance of Tamil and Muslim factions, encouraged by world opinions will eventually rise against it, and be the death knell of the Sinhala people courtesy of the Rajapakse regime, which by its current inaction is in fact condoning its spread (by default). I request a correction if my assumption here is wrong.

While I would not at present go so far as saying that the BBS is anything more than a fundamentalist minority view, I do agree it has the potential of directing moderates to their view depending on the world and local minority reaction, and further cementing the strength of the BBS movement and also the strength amassed against it by a radical opposition of Tamils and Muslims.

It is therefore of the utmost importance for the Govt. to suppress this movement forthwith, and the moderate elders in the Sangha disassociate themselves from this movement, explaining clearly how dangerous such extreme views are firstly, due to their gross distortion of the facts, and then of manipulating small grievances into ones that seems to snowball due to the inaction of the Govt. and the moderate forces, lending it tacit support.

So if the security of minorities in Sri Lanka is threatened, then external forces will use the R2P doctrine to directly interfere in the internal affairs of SL, further resulting in the conflagration getting out of control with the resulting destruction of Sri Lanka as we know it. That is far-fetched at the moment, but nevertheless the outcome if it is not disbanded and need I say it, brutally repressed as there is no way of putting these traitorous priests, both traitorous to the Country, and to Buddhism.

India will be the net gainer taking pleasure at our misfortune!!

It puts the Govt. in a tight spot of their own creation, and serves them right for believing they will have an electoral benefit from so doing. In fact it will heavily backfire and looks like the beginning of the end of their rule. What do we the lesser mortals do on this? We simply must try and explain to our constituency that the end result of this is a blow up and we must resolve small issues in a considerate manner, not allowing them to get to a seemingly insoluble problem. Therein lies my request in the earlier entry for the case for halal needing a review that is sensible, and not permit one set of idiots to allow another set of idiots to raise hell.  

With regards to minority communities, my appeal is NOT to go after your ethnic political parties for succor as all it does is pit these forces one against the other, and to have a nationalist view and teach this Govt. and its traitorous backers by a lesson by replacing them with the one force that can unite all factions under the flag.

THE BBS clearly said we elected you (UPFA) with our Sinhala Buddhist vote so we expect you to protect us and agree with our plan. So it is direct appeal by them to the UPFA voters, and if there is no effective counter to this it is only the minority parties to blame for the resulting explosion.

There is NO third or sundry force. The choice is clear as daylight. A country represented by a party committed to the UNITED country or to a DIVIDED country. Choose the one you wish to live in!

ACJU - Oh Please! you gotta be kidding

ACJU after much discussion has put out a press statement that I could have done. They are asking shops to sell Halal cert stuff separately to Muslims. Are they kidding?

Why do they have to even insult the Muslims by making such an asinine statement. Why transfer the whole burden to the shops. Isn't it easier to say that they have withdrawn the certification and have asked the Muslim clientele to use the same practice they have used since the inception of Islam, by asking them to satisfy themselves as to the Halal nature of their purchases.

I have said it earlier and repeat it here, the certification is no guarantee of accuracy or authenticity, so do not insult the intelligence of the Muslim community by continuing to provoke blame with idiotic statements.

If a gathering of the elders can only come up with this non- solution to a serious issue, it further points at this institutions credibility that has been further weakened.

So before this press statement gets to the general public and be at the butt end of jokes, they had better call another meeting and come up with a far more practical solution. Look at how this issue is resolved in other non Muslim developed countries and take a leaf from their practice in recommending a compromise that satisfies all parties.

I agree the BBS is using the HALAL issue to incite racial divisiveness and we MUST not permit that to gather momentum as only Sri Lanka will suffer from such uttering of people whose vision is the antithesis of Buddhism. They are in fact misusing the name of Buddhism to spread hatred and ACJU by their action is contributing to this.

SO time for sense, certification has nothing to do with following Halal precepts, dunk this certificate and start again. Exporters can use another route to achieve the same goal, by getting some more reliable, less controversial organization involved in giving export certification.

Winning the LTTE war with the HR abuses permitted GOSL a free hand

NOW EVEN THE UN CANNOT TOUCH THEM!

The world is focused on bringing to book the GOSL violations during the LTTE war. This has permitted the GOSL to commit gross violations of HR on a daily basis, which are now under the radar, as the Tamil Diaspora have made every effort to keep the atrocities at the end of the war on the front burner.

I noted in my previous blog entry that doing so permits all of the current abuses to be swept under the carpet. For a future dictator this is a great lesson in committing no limit of violations in as short a space of time. These will not be prosecuted and one can use the example of Sri Lanka to figure out why.

There is NO mechanism for a serving dictator to be brought to justice for his violations of HR. That is why it is very dangerous to have a dictator who is not able to be magnanimous in victory. Only such a person will take the victory in his stride and develop the nation with the vanquished as an integral part of the team.

One unsure of himself, will always see “reds under the bed” and continue their previous persona to a different set of enemies. History is replete with such people. True to form, with Hitler the most recent example of this type of behavior will mesmerize their constituency to a degree, that the faults of the person are not apparent by the level of disinformation through the very clever use of media.

This is a good example for historians to remind a grateful public in the 21^st Century that people are not always what they are perceived to be, especially those whom their country revere as great war time leaders. Even the indefatigable Winston Churchill lost the General Election soon after the end of the War, and through that example is remembered as a National Hero.

Mahinda Rajapakse got an insufferable mandate after the war which turned him into a person who did not care for the laws, behavioral norms, and attitude to plunder his country’s resources. When he realized he could borrow as much as he wanted to do what he wanted, he took that route of least resistance as he had no one within his administration with the backbone to show him how much damage it will do to the future finances of his country once he has done plundering, borrowing and defaulting, due to the unproductive and profligate use of borrowed funds. Then he misused the media, knowing the intellectual capacity of his electorate into fooling them that all was well under his stewardship, and he further bought and kept under tight reign his band of ministers and MPs to pay obeisance at the point of a gun. The gun being the threat of all their perks being removed.

We are now bequeathed a sycophantic populace whose sole reason for this behavior is the hope that by such action, they will rise above their neighbor who abhors such. In a short time when one set of tricks fail to keep the populace enthralled another will be resorted to.

The latest in the line of alternatives is the encouragement of fringe fundamentalist religious groupings like the Bodu Bala Sena to set their own agenda as long as in the end it will be a card that the GOSL can use in case of emergency. A sort of contingency plan of fear. If they sense a loss in the popular perception, an appeal to the baser instincts of our people using religion as a prop, and the defender of the religion as the GOSL, they will try to take the focus from the daily crises in life to an imagined and manufactured crisis, that will eventually engulf the country in a series of unimaginable events of chaos, race and religious riots in short.

This short lesson in history is so that we can predict the outcome of expected events in advance and therefore take action before they happen. It is also an appeal to the sane amongst the readership to think about what has been written. If they believe that this is a likely scenario, then they should spread this information to those who will listen and go from mouth to mouth and convince the people that this steady progression into the abyss of history has to be checked.

In short a too powerful head of state is not what our forefathers intended, and worse not one who will misuse the power to suppress dissent. Without checks and balances as safeguards, the Regime runs the country like a “tea kade” with little planning, coordination, example, and foresight. They are incompetent managers unable to get the best out of their men, but in fact get the worst from their hands. This will eventually lead to the breakdown of this society, and disappearance of a great country.

It is not too late to make a change, with the help of the people who can see where we are heading. That is most of us who are not getting anything for free from this regime. IT is our duty to change the order of priorities and then act in the best interests of Sri Lanka, putting our personal desires on the back burner for a while and instead work as patriots to change the system of Govt. So spread the word, explain the irony, call in the reserves and put the nation first. Determine the most effective communication means to get the message across and counter the misinformation network that spews out lies and now has added hate to the list.

Go forward without fear, as what you are doing is the correct path. It will save the country from further plunder, be it earth, sand, water, rock, trees, forests, animal life, that has desecrated the sacred ground of our forefathers these past few years.

I challenge HRW – Because of your stance, GOSL has worsened the HR record in SL

Human Rights Watch in its latest salvo has reiterated their past demands see link

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/19/sri-lanka-un-rights-council-should-launch-inquiry

This makes them an easy target for the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) as they play right into the trap set for them. With daily atrocities being carried out around the world, by countries of much higher standing and democratic values engaged in sinister HR violations, where is the censure? One series of incidents focusing on a small time period in history, when after considerable HR violations by an elected Govt. they were in fact able to defeat the world’s most feared and abusive terror group once and for all sounds like a hill of beans to me as one of concern to the rest of the world except for the Tamil Diaspora.

These allegations are like water off a ducks back to the GOSL. Worse they use it as foreign and LTTE infiltrated evidence, that there is an INGO and Diaspora conspiracy against GOSL that they want the public to be aware of and that the GOSL will protect the territorial integrity of SL from being violated.

This kind of allegation is what the GOSL has made a business of thriving on for domestic consumption. GOSL only fears India due to their proximity, well entrenched Secret Service penetration in SL and their power to destabilize. It appears that India has enough problems of their own to contain, and look on the SL issue as one in which the GOSL is doing their bidding, by keeping the international community engaged in a war of attrition, leaving India all the freedom to penetrate, destabilize, and arouse racial and religious fervor within SL by RAW.

Skin HRW and what do you get? An INGO drawing funds from various lobbies, countries or sundry groups. The Tamil lobby provides enough direct and indirect support that makes it easy for the Asia director of HRW to do his work. Even the statements made to the Geneva HRC may be done via the Diaspora, and issued by HRW. It is important to appreciate that the organization’s paid employees are just NGO types, not tasked with a proper productivity evaluation, just a performance one. SO they can show their bosses they have issued statements often by rote.

To be effective HRW must take up a relevant case today, that will stand scrutiny in an international court, where SL breaks international law, and brought to the notice of an international body that can action a special censure branding the culprits. There are plenty of cases in Sri Lanka to choose from so why is there no action? Simply put it involves too much work for the staff, and there is no one pushing it with funds and influence, unlike the Tamil issue by the Diaspora.  

It is time that HRW look inwards, and consider productivity and performance. A few pointers will show those people on the Governing Board that they have appointed well paid PR agents, and people NOT effective in holding HR violators to account. When there is so much going on in the world that requires their immediate action, to prevent, they keep harping on an issue that will be played on the world stage for many years, but which will never get resolved satisfactorily as the facts are stubbornly refuted and the evidence NOT sufficiently convincing to convict.

We are not disputing that the HR violations happened. However we are quite clear that there is little intention of anyone to prosecute as there are people with more blood on their hands in the countries that have a vote to convict. 

The most effective way to reduce the HR violations in SL or anywhere else is to catch someone in the act and prosecute immediately before it becomes time barred! This will also act as a deterrent. If this had been in place earlier none of the atrocities attributed to GOSL would have occurred. Those horrendous atrocities attributed to the LTTE however would have happened irrespective of censure or threat.

With respect Faraz you had no other choice than to write what you did!

If you were shot and injured and by God’s good grace survived an attempted assassination in Sri Lanka in 2013, you have NO OPTION, if you feared for your life to heap praise on the ONE AND ONLY person who can both guarantee your safety or ensure you don’t live another second!!

So it with a sense of angst that I read the statement put out by the victim in this case Faraz Shauketaly – see link http://colombogazette.com/faraz-hails-mr-in-statement-issued-to-the-media/

It basically tells you NOT to come to any conclusion until the case is completed and the mystery of the attempted assassins solved. If this was said by all the prior victims we will be waiting for GODOT. So read this with a pinch of salt as a statement forced on him by his own judgment as the best course of action, and the best chance he may have for the mystery to be solved.

In truth it may not be the work of Govt. goon, but someone who had a grudge due to some journalistic expose. However the brazen nature of the incident in full view of foreign guests or at least with them being in the adjoining rooms in his guest house, meant that they were emboldened by some form of security guarantee against arrest or identification.

Further as Sri Lanka is now top of the list of world’s least safe for journalists, another attempt such as this is bound to give rise to a furtherance of that belief and not a lessening of it. Additionally the confidence of the general public on the ability of the Police to fully and impartially investigate the whole series of misdeeds against this profession in the past few years, is zero, and until and unless concrete results turn up to solve this and many of the previous crimes, all attributed to the Government, no matter what the victims say, will dissuade rational people from coming to any other conclusion than, the fact that the State has a hand in harming journalists to keep them under their control, and by these actions prevent them from speaking their minds. Journalistic freedom is non-existent in Sri Lanka no matter what anti govt. piece is written in the English media which the Govt. uses to show an international audience that Journalists are in fact free.

In the end what is fed to the majority is what is important. If the Govt. directly or indirectly controls what is written, the people of this country will never except by deduction work out what is going on in paradise. All is not well here in Paradise and it is up to people who understand to explain what coming to your own conclusion is all about.

Oh no not again! We have the whole story regurgitated – War Crimes

The Daily News today is exaggerating a little when it uses the word ‘Swamp’ to describe descent of the Tamil pressure groups stacked against the GOSL in Geneva

See link: http://www.dailynews.lk/2013/02/19/news01.asp

This is not going to detract from the work at hand, where the GOSL has failed to implement the LLRC recommendations and are ready to weasel themselves out of it especially after the Army Court of Enquiry ruled that it was not Forces fire that was to be blamed for the deaths, and by implication was the LTTE’s. In this way it is clear the direction the GOSL wishes to take on the LLRC recommendations implying either that they have been fulfilled already or that they are not relevant!

So the latest series of pictures of the killing of Prabarkaran’s son is bound to inflame emotions further and not further the interests of promoting harmony and reconciliation. It is because the general consensus is that unless GOSL is actually willing to accept complicity there will never be closure and until there is closure there will never be a resolution of the past before we rebuild on the future.

Coupled to the new Channel 4 expose, the fact that the UK govt authorized the sale of 2Mill pounds worth of armaments to Sri Lanka, which have been seized upon by the sanctimonious British press, as being against all that has been professed about selling to rogue regimes, the irons have got hotter!

International players must stop being influenced by the Tamil lobby and go about their business in a clinical manner, purely looking into the commitments that Sri Lanka agreed to and review how that has been achieved. They should NOT go against this remit, as the whole process will then fall into disrepute, giving the GOSL the excuse it is looking for to extricate itself out of this thorny problem.

It is in the interests of the opposition in Sri Lanka that pressure is brought about by the international community on fair allegations, so it frees them to legitimately campaign for a change of leadership, de-legitimizing this regime to such an extent that they have no choice but to seek a fresh mandate.

Whilst all these shenanigans continue the Country its people and its Economy suffer. The loss of GSP has affected the poor person more than the better off, and the Govt. must share the blame for that, with the people realizing that whatever story was told them, their Govt. HAS NOT acted in their interests.

Channel 4 – the next installment timed for the next UN HRC sessions

We are about to be confronted with the latest version of Killing Fields to coincide with the UNHRC sessions in Geneva about to begin next week. In this the most poignant set of pictures along with convincing proof is of the cold blooded murder of Prabarkaran’s 12 yr son.

The Channel 4 is playing the same game as the Government. You tell the same story enough times and then people will finally believe it. That is how the Govt. has also operated telling the same lie sufficient times where people will finally give up and believe the Government which is trying to safeguard the people.

The citizens of Sri Lanka do not understand that they are merely attached - guilt by association, namely that of propping up a bunch of criminals. The Country Sri Lanka should not be criminalized because of a few criminals at the top of the rung of power. We are hardworking civilians who have had to undergo suffering due to the actions of few. We must understand that however much we try to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, we are part of the globalized world and the sins of our leaders leave an indelible patch on our quality of life, now or later.

My personal belief as a hard working local trying to bring to food to the table, is that our Govt. has let us down, and all the people of Sri Lanka by denying the incontrovertible, thinking sufficient people will believe the lies. In the end our education system has let local people down, in them believing lies. We are taught not to think, but accept what our leaders say. However the rest of the world knows different. They play a different game of their enlightened self interest, without a care for the people of Sri Lanka as their agenda is against the Leadership, but the fall out are the people of Sri Lanka who suffer.

Once this administration disappears the truth will come out and then the truth and reconciliation will begin, and only then can we come to terms with moving forward. When intellectuals and people who should know are in denial, they are actually letting down those less fortunate. In their race to justify their heroes they create a sense of justice that is patently unjust.

One pays a price for ones sins at some time, be it in this life or next, and therefore the Rajapakse legacy in history will be tainted forever, just as the Premadasa legacy is also. There is nothing they can do to alter the course of history not even rewriting the Mahawansa as someone else can rewrite it after their time. Remember nothing is permanent except the truth. Truth will eventually prevail.

UK – Independent Newspaper today– all about SL and arms deals!

The Independent a UK newspaper’s editorial on Sunday was about the UK hypocrisy with regards SL. See link

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/editorial-britains-hypocrisy-over-sri-lanka-8498812.html

Today’s issue shows the issue as a “Headline” in the paper. See link

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-uk-sells-arms-to-sri-lankas-brutal-regime-8498768.html

Under the independent voices section of the Sunday paper of 17^th February the issue is further discussed. See link

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/we-shouted-loudest-over-sri-lankas-abuses-three-years-on-and-were-arming-the-regime-8498771.html

What in summary is all the fuss about? Firstly it shows that there is nothing that comes in the way of business. Even the UK despite its lofty rhetoric with regards to HR abuses, will do business with a devil of a regime.

So there is no point looking to the UK or any of their patrons for relief, especially as the Tamil Diaspora are still intent on seeing the whole issue as a race based one when in fact we are dealing with a dictatorial regime, that really does not care who they massacre or threaten to achieve their ends. It is this Tamil centric viewpoint that is preventing the opposition within Sri Lanka from getting any traction to attack the Government action.

In short the UK is mired in the past and not in the present. The LTTE defeat is still foremost in the UK mindset without a proper appreciation of the huge challenge that faces all who oppose the Govt. especially the Sinhala people who speak both for their community and all other communities and not one in isolation.

It is time the UK Government at least realize that to help Sri Lanka win its battle for legitimacy they must stop playing the race card with the Govt. that only solidifies its support base. It must completely change direction in supporting the combines opposition campaign against oppression, repression, corruption, and manipulation towards a select few who hold an iron grip over everything!

A brain is in a human being’s head not on the bum!

When people do not know why they do something, and instead take orders from others that is called following commands, whilst keeping your brain comatose, as to why those edicts are followed. That is why there are minors and adults. It is OK for minors to follow the advice of Adults for their protection, and when they are of the age of reasoning for individual levels of logic, one explains why those particular rules are enforced.

IN SRI LANKA, adults also follow orders “leaving their brains behind” and by doing this, extremists, liars and people with personal agendas have a field day. This includes this Government of Mahinda Rajapakse, which is able to lie and steal their way without impunity, as the people at the receiving end are unable to think about what is happening to them, when lies are being spread by the Government. They instead are still drunk on a drug called a false sense of security.

The media also has a field day knowing that the adults of Sri Lanka do not know how how to use their power of reasoning, and so plug them with information that is grossly incorrect or at best misleading, giving themselves an undue level of control over people's minds.

In the current context the spread of race hate by the Bodu Bala Sena is a case in point. 

Let us take the issues of the BBS one at a time. Firstly with Halal. While it was correct of them to question the absurdity of Halal certification, for all and sundry foods, it would have been better first to request that the ACJU, the certifying body be stopped as they are not permitted to issue certificates and are unable to ensure compliance. The matter should have ended there and would not have inflamed religious intolerance. However as the BBS modus operandi was to create intolerance, as without it they DO NOT have a following. They are creating a problem and should be stopped, with the Maharagama rally which will reiterate their demands scheduled for today being one.

The next point of contention being the use of the Muslim God’s name or thanks before slaughtering, it has nothing to do with certification. All Muslim butchers in abattoirs all over the country have all throughout history invoked those blessings and prepared the meat for sale. So all Buddhists who bought meat from Muslim shops be it Chicken, Mutton or even Beef have eaten it and so banning certification will not change the procedure. So if they were true Buddhists they should say there are no Gods, so whatever God they appeal to makes not a figs worth of difference! It would be better then if they stopped eating flesh of animals rather than merely say they will not kill, and only eat that which others have killed, which to me is no different.

It is mischievous of the BBS to say that God’s blessing is used on all Halal certifications, as it is not so. Those sundry non meat items have the certification for dubious reasons to give satisfaction that the product is NOT TAINTED with some non legal edible ingredient, which is in any case a moot point in reality. How about the scandals of halal certification of products that contain pork!! as a case in point.

Then about “Muslim principles of lending being widespread”. To a rationalist it is all smoke and mirrors! Everything bears interest but here they cloak it in a way it does not use the word interest as that is prohibited! BBS are instead saying money is lent without interest and therefore Buddhists are deprived of such benefits and so this practice should be stopped. What a load of baloney! They should just appeal to the usurious village money lenders to be fair in lending money to the villagers and not charge 15% interest a month. However they make no friends with that but are able to make incorrect statements to fool their followers instead.

Then we come to the 5 wives syndrome, where they have actually said that we must change Buddhist law to permit 5 wives! As Muslims are permitted 4. What a load of jibberish! Do you need any religious rules to determine how many concubines you want. There are men who can afford it who keep more than one mistress and family already. In Islam it is only if they are able to maintain for families that up to 4 are permitted. I don’t wish to go into the reasons, as they are historic, as there was a severe shortage of males in the time of the Prophet and the rule was made as a practical requirement. I do not wish to get entangled in a fundamentalist argument here as all religions have people who take the word as gospel and not the intent at the time, and so suffer from religious bigotry. In any case marriage itself is a Western Concept which we have embraced into our laws. What about polyandry amongst Sinhala people in the past?

Then we come to the Burqa wearing syndrome, which of late has seen an increase in women wearing full Arab dress. That too is a most unnecessary thing as most Muslims in Sri Lanka history wore Sri Lankan traditional dress, and if need be used this same dress to cover body parts for religious purposes. There is no point causing the ire of Muslims by calling for a ban on this, as it would only inflame the fundamentalist into forcing all Muslims to follow this, thereby negating the effect and causing more religious intolerance. These types of Burqa wearing will gradually decline with Education, when people realize what it was that was mandated!

The fear mongering with regards to the rise in the Muslim population due to the recent census showing a substantial rise from the previous one is also not warranted as it is because of the war, reduction of Tamil, assertion of the Muslim pride, and the wholesale packaging of mostly Sinhala women to the Middle East that has created this aberration. Most Muslims I know will never send their wives or women to the Middle East to work, so it should be for Sinhala people to see the error of their ways in doing the same rather than use the growth card to stir racial hatred, fear and intolerance.

The answer is Education, with most religious leaders of all religions not wanting it. That is the answer to fundamentalism. People will see sense and make up their own minds on what they wish to believe as being in keeping with their particular religious beliefs. They do not want clerics determining how they should live and behave. I do accept that there are some highly educated and rational people too who are fundamentalist, but they are few and usually with psychological dysfunction at the bottom of their warped sense of logic. The reader of this sentence will realize if he or she falls into that category of intolerance!

History as part of education also must be learned so we will understand how Muslim men who came to Sri Lanka in the past took Sinhala wives and in many cases Muslims have more native blood of the nation than most Sinhala people, technically having more rights to this land. Whilst some Muslims converted to Buddhism, there were Buddhists who converted to Islam in history, and no one has any right to criticize people willingly taking on another religion. It goes along with one's own personal beliefs. I also believe if a person uses rational thinking to change one's belief of religion, then that person will adhere better to that religion than those merely born to it, who are more apt to abuse it instead.

Whilst I use the current raging debate and possibility of an explosion of intolerance, as the example for the thesis I put forward at the outset, It applies to life in general and I believe it should therefore be looked at in that light to come up with a satisfactory lifestyle  path for one's personal walk through the circle of life.

Let all people be unique following their own belief without pressure from others or false Gods!