A new Sri Lanka report on the Judiciary, the Attorney General and State Immunities was released by the International Commission of Jurists on Thursday November 1st.
The 158-page report, Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka, documents how, and why, it has become nearly impossible for people who have suffered serious violations of their human rights to receive justice in Sri Lanka. Recent attacks on judicial officers and judges only highlight the systematic erosion of accountability mechanisms.The Crisis of Impunity describes how decades of Emergency rule and legal immunities granted to the President and other government officials weakened the checks and balances in the Sri Lankan government, while political interference—particularly in the conduct of the office of the Attorney-General—in practice led to a failure of justice in a number of key cases.
It is the first in a series of national studies in South Asia examining Authority without Accountability in South Asia.
It calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to respect its international obligations to investigate human rights violations; take appropriate measures in respect of perpetrators of such violations, bringing those responsible to justice for violations constituting crimes through prosecution and the imposition of penalties commensurate to the offence; provide victims with effective remedies and reparations for their injuries; ensure the inalienable right to know the truth; and take other necessary steps to prevent recurrence of violations.
read the full report here
gamini / November 2, 2012
I believe without beating about the Bush further, Action should be initiated to have an Inquiry and the Guilty punished. There is no other way for the Sri Lankans. The International Community should involve and hold a FREE AND FAIR elction to put a stop to all speculation. This is of paramount importance to every right thinking Sri Lankan. So let us get done with it. HANG THE BLOODY UN and their shadow supporters to perpetuate Villainy. WE want ACTION not mere assurances and Time buying exercises.
/
gamini / November 2, 2012
The US is the only Country that has commented on the attempted Impeachment of the CJ so far. Why what about the rets of the Democracies as Great Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, et al? Does one really believe that the Americans are concerned? Absolutely not. Rajapaksas have the full backing of the Americans to Impeach the CJ. This utterance of the US is just to mislead others and see whether the US will do anything more than this when the Rajapaksas finally remove the CJ and appoint a croney of theirs as CJ very soon who is currently in Geneva with the Sri Lankan delegation. Before this CJ was appointed there was wide speculation of the former AG Mohan Piris being appointed as CJ. Infact he was very upset when he was overlooked. Now it appears it is certain that he will be appointed. The public of this country can see to what lengths one will make oneself servile, merely to have Position in society. Oh! to be the CHEAP JUSTICE.
/
AMAR / January 16, 2013
@gamini..,I WISH TO BRING THE FOLLOWING FACTS AND QUESTION FOR YOUR ATTENTION.
{1}OUR FORMER CJ, SHIRANI BANDARANAYAKE’S HUSBAND WAS INVOLED IN SHAKY DEALS SINCE 2008 IN CORPORATE LEVEL.WHAT HE DID IN SRILANKA INSURANCE CORPORATION IN 2009 WAS TERRIBLE.HE CREATED A CONTROVERCIAL DEAL TO GAIN 72 MILLION BY USING GOVERNMENT MONEY, BUT EVENTUALLY HE WAS SACKED. LAST YEAR AS THE CHIRMAN OF NATIONAL SAVING BANK, HE DID REPEAT THE SAME SAGA, WANTED TO PURCHASE 12% SHARES OF THE FINANCE COMPANY THROUGH NSB.OPPOSITION UNP CALLED IT A “SOFISTICATED BANK ROBERY” AND THEY WANTED HIM TO BE SACKED, EVENTUALLY HE RESIGNED FROM THE POST AS WELL. PLEASE REFER TO{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pradeep_Kariyawasam} FOR FURTHER DETAILS. MY POINT IS VERY CLEAR. HE DID ALL THESE THINGS WHICH HIS WIFE WAS IN THE SUPREME COURT. FORMER CJ SHOULD HAVE WELL KNOWN THAT THESE EPISODES WOULD COMPROMISE HER DIGNITYAS THE HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY. SHE SHOULD HAVE NEVER ALLOWED HIM TO ACT IN THOSE MANNER, AT LEAST AFTER THE FIRST SHAKY SAGA IN 2009, HSHE SHOULD HAVE NEVER ALLOWED HIM TO TAKE THE GOVERNMENT JOB.
{2}WHY DID FORMER CJ, INSTRUMENTAL IN CHANGING THE JUGE IN THE COURT WHERE A BRIBERY CASE WAS LOGGED AGAINST HER HUSBAND PRADEEP KARIAWASAM..?
{3} CJ SHIRANI HAD STAKE IN CEYLINCO GROUP.WHY DID SHIRANI BANDARANAYAKE, OUR FORMER CJ, PERSONALLY GER THE GOLDEN KEY CREDIT CARD COMPANY{CEYLINCO GROUP}CASE UNDER HER WING? INSTEAD SHE SHOULD HAVE WITHDRAWN FROM IT AT THE FIRST..! ISN’T IT. AND NOW GOLDEN KEY CREDIT CARD SHAREHOLDERS AND CRYING AND WHAT IS THE JUSTICE THEY HAVE GOT FROM CJ? DIDNT SHE FAVOUR THE GOLDEN KEY..?
{4} WHY OUR FORMER CJ HAD AREOUND TWNTY OVER ACCOUNTS.? WHY SHE MADE THOSE “0”BALANCE WHEN THE TAX DATE ARRIVE..? IT IS VERY CLEAR THAT SHE HAD DONE IT INTENTIONAL ON EVERY ACCOUNT,WITHDRAWING MONEY FROM THE ACCOUNTS TO AVOIDE THE TAX? NEVER MIND..! BUT WHY SHE DIDN’T MENTION THE ACCOUNTS IN HER ANUAL LIABILITY REPORT..? DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWERS?
{5} WHY THEN CJ. SHIRANI APOOINTED THE MANJULA THILAKARATHNE AS THE SECRETARY OF THE JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISION WHILE THERE WERE THREE OTHER SENIOR JUDGES? IT IS SAID THAT SHE HAD A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM? IS IT NOT A FAVOURISM WHICH SHOULD HAVE AVOIDED BY AN HONEST CJ..?
{6} DID SHIRANI BANDARANAYAKE REVANGED FROM THE GOVERNMENT BY GIVING THE JUDGEMENT AGAINST THE DIVINEGUMA BILL FOR SACKING AND INITIATING A BRIBERY COMMISSION CASE AGAINST HER HUSBAND..? i CAN PROVIDE MORE DETAILS..?
{7} AS THE FORMER CJ, SARATH N DE SILVA STATES,{www.lankaweb.com} THE APEX COURT JUDGEMENT AGAINST THE PSC WAS FIXED BY THE CJ.HE SAYS, NORMALLY, THE CONSTITUTION CAN BE INTREPREATED ONLY BY THE SUPREME COURT FOR WHICH IT TAKES ABOUT TWO MONTHS TO PROVIDE SUCH INTREPREATATION TO THE APEX COURT BY THE SUPREME COURT. BUT HOW THE APEX COURT GET THE CONSTITUTIONAL INTREPRETATION BY ONE WEEK INCLUDING THE HOLIDAYS? IT SAID THAT THE INCIDENT WAS WELL PLANNED AND SHE FIXED THE JUDGEMENT AGAINST THE “STANDING ORDERS”OF THE SPEAKER IN ORDER TO TELL THE WORLD THAT THE PROCEEDING OF THE PSC IS ILLEGAL…! FOR YOUR ATTENTION, THERE WERE SEVRAL IMPEACHMENTS, WHERE THE SPEAKER APPOINTED PSC TO INVESTIGATE.FAMOUS ONE IS THAT UNP DID IN EIGHTEE AGAINST THEN CJ NEVIL SAMARAKOON USING THE SAME STANDING ORDERS. THE CURRUNT OPPOSITION LEADER, RANIL WICKRAMASINGHE WAS SITTING THERE BUT NOW HE SAYS SOMETHING ELSE IN THIS CASE.THEY ALL ARE POLITICAL OPOTUNISTICS..! ISN’T IT.? CAN WE ALLOW JUDICIARY TO INTERFERE THE PARLIAMENT AFFAIRS..? NOT AT ALL..!!! SHE BROUGHT THE JUDICIARY IN TO A DESPUTE IN THIS SAGA…!
THERE ARE MORE FINANCIAL IREEGULARITIES AGAINST HER.HAVING CONSIDERED ALL THESE, I WOULD NEVER SAY THAT SHE WAS A CLEAN AND HONEST JUDGE SO WE CAN NOT KEEP HER IN THE JUDICIARY. IT IS BETTER MR SACKED HER. IT IS FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE NATION.NO DOUBUT ABOUT IT..!!!
/
American Lanka Lover / November 3, 2012
Reading this article is a period of several hours I shall never forget for I have had a complete epiphany. I can no longer defend nor support the rogue Rajapaksa regime. While they did not create the culture of criminality and impunity, the article makes clear it has existed for more than 40 years starting with the crushing of the first JVP uprising in 1971, they have had more than 3.5 years since LTTE was defeated to correct it but have merely exacerbated it. While Mahinda is clearly the chief villain, I cannot exculpate Gota either as MOD he clearly has been complicit in these outrages against common decency. During the war era I believe they were entitled to great latitude in combating terrorism, but it is clear from this article that they have NOT taken any steps towards a return to a civil society but, instead, have created their own form of state terrorism.
This is no way means I revise nor rescind my condemnation of the terrorist diaspora who are subhuman savages as well. The net sum gain of this is that Lankans are simply incapable of self governance and, ideally, the island should become a protectorate administered by the UN. Given that the evil Beijing regime would veto any such resolution, annexation and direct rule by Delhi seems the only answer to establish at least a modicum of justice to this troubled and lawless island. Despite truly loving the place, and despite not wanting to return to the Maldives until the democratically elected government of president Nasheed is restored and the coup leaders indicted, I shall desist from returning. How I rue the day the UK relinquished its Indian Ocean colonies. Despite its myriad problems, India is a shining beacon of democracy in a sea of darkness caused by despots all around it.
/
gamini / November 3, 2012
American Lanka Lover, I am truely happy that at last WISDOM has dawned on you. I do not condone the brutal acts of the Meagalomaniac VP and their LTTE cadre that committed beastly inhuman acts, ably assisted by the World Powers allowing the war to drift for thirty years of Human Sufferng. Now as you see we are at the mercy of the State Terrorists the Rajapaksas. It is not that we have no decent, educated to take the reins to govern but the system has been corrupted to an extent none want to step in to the Political Domain. I believe the UN should get involved and conduct a Free and Fair Election that will result in keeping the Riff Raff out permanently. Forgive me if I have been too rough on you, as naturally I have to vent my pent up anger on any who speak in favour of this Corrupt Rajapaksa Family.
/
Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 3, 2012
Hi “American Lanka Lover”,
I, too, have had something of a change of mind about the Sri Lankan government in recent months. Partly from comments and articles in the Colombo Telegraph.
Part of my initial support of the Sri Lankan government was based on careful reading of the LLRC report and interviews and speeches on You Tube featuring Rajiva Wijesinha and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. They seemed more reasonable and rational than I had been led to expect from the little I had heard about them before (which was all bad). The same people who were most strident in denouncing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his brother the President, a succession of Foreign Ministers and the supposed “Tamil traitors” Karuna and Pillayan, seemed also to be busy minimizing or even denying the evils of the LTTE and its leadership. This made me more doubtful about some of the allegations made against the Rajapaksa government than I should have been.
So, it has been a sad experience for me to learn that I had grounds to be more skeptical about the morality and integrity of the Sri Lankan government. I have no such illusions about the government of Australia, of which I am a citizen. My research into Australian history has indicated that it has been a war-mongering and war-supporting nation since its inception, with institutionalized corruption in many areas, in additional to secret scientific collaborations with the British and Americans in the development of illegal chemical and biological weapons.
When Britain or the USA have asked for “military support” the Australian governments have always been keen to oblige. When Britain wanted to test its atomic bombs, the Australian Prime Minister, Menzies, was keen to offer Aboriginal Lands on the mainland, and Pacific Islands under Australian Mandate under the American-designed Marshall Plan.
For these reasons and many more, I strongly disagree with your extreme suggestion that Sri Lanka should be governed by India, the UN, or anywhere else. I do not share your regret that the land of my ancestors finally gained “independence” from British, Dutch and Portuguese Rule in 1948. I do not want it to come under American, Chinese or Russian rule in the future either.
Epiphanies are sometimes confusing, American who reckons he “loves Lanka”…the people of Sri Lanka are much more capable of deep thought, love, kindness, friendliness, generosity and profound morality than you give them credit for. These things are rarely “reported” in the media and this can give a false impression about the nature of a country and its people.
/
PB / November 4, 2012
Learnered Sir, do you think you could be wrong about the Sri Lankans? Do you honestly believe Sri Lankans are Capable of deep thought? Let alone deep thought do you think we are capable of any thought process? We actually voted for a guy who helped him self from the Tsunami Maloney. That in other words is steeling from the poorest of the poor. We voted a second time inspite of knowing he had about 568 most of the uneducated family members in high places, in spite of Mihin Lanka etc etc.
We are no longer a peaceful nation we are a blood thirsty. Lot. For money or position we have Sri Lankans , in all probability these killers are Sinhala Buddhists?,who actually kill children (university students) political thugs kill each other molest rape and kill even tourists.
Think about it just because some body tells you to and just because they give you money or protection can you just kill other people? We were always thought to think not to jump in the well because some one tells you to.
RW is a greedy self serving man and the others follow him with out any shame for their benefit . Us the far thinking smart kind generous Sri Lankans we , will say yes sir as long as there is some thing in it for us
I am angry at the way these rascals use religion
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Lester / November 4, 2012
PB,
I think you’re correct. S. Lanka is a lost cause. The amount of corruption is staggering, but even more importantly, such corruption fundamental to the Sinhala-Buddhist racist mindset that pervades the country from South to North. Nothing can change this mindset, other than letting the greater majority of ppl live in the midst of non-Sri Lankans, or non Sri lankans emigrating en masse to Sri Lanka – neither of which is likely to occur anytime soon. I do not think that technology, or raising the standard of living, or english-medium schools will change the racist attitude that is fundamental to the fascist Sinhala-Buddhist mindset. In light of which, the international community should forcibly seperate the country into a Tamil governed region (in the North and East) and a Sinhalese governmented region in the South, with foreign peacekeepers patrolling a demarcation zone. This is the optimum solution.
/
Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 4, 2012
Dear PB,
Many politicians are greedy and self-serving, all over the world. This is probably especially so in capitalist countries. More money brings more power, when votes can be bought, and people can be convinced to vote this way or that (usually given a choice of one of two crooked “major parties”) by massive advertising campaigns. These advertising campaigns are standard practice around the world, and they are part of what is dubiously understood to be “democracy in action”.
We are seeing such “democracy” at work in recent times, in the American Presidential Election. Every candidate is trying to “convince the public” to give them their vote. Millions of dollars are spent to try and hypnotize the public, using millions of TV screen throughout the country, into voting for them. They make promises that cannot keep even if they sincerely planned to keep them.
Anyone who aspires to become President of the USA needs to show themselves to be “Strong on National Security” and “Working to Improve the Economy”. A successful presidential candidate needs to get the support of the military, and is, as we are often reminded, the “Commander-In-Chief” of the American Armed Forces. In other words, the President of the USA is also the Military Leader of the USA. He is not, however, the leader of the American Church. There is an official separation between Church and State. However, successive American governments have provided tax benefits and other support for “faith-based initiatives” and “religions”. There are plenty of “rascals” as you call them making money out of religion…the West is full of such rascals and India is renowned for producing religious con-men. Perhaps Sri Lanka has its share.
If you are angry about the way rascals use religion, have a look at the history of the development of different denominations, sects and cults within Christianity…and Islam, and Judaism…and Hinduism, as well as Buddhism. Most recently, Sri Lanka has faced the evil Cult of Prabakaran/Tiger Cult armed with AK47s, cyanide and a killer mentality based on a uniquely violent version of the Cult of Marx (Marxism).
Some people aspire to controlling others, and religion is a powerful way of doing so (politics is another). Those with the greatest lust for power are the most persistent, if not ruthless, in climbing the hierarchy of the establishment to more powerful positions. This is nothing new, of course, nor is it confined to Sri Lanka.
/
Wuliangguobinjiu / November 5, 2012
Romesh down under.
You were born after M/s B destroyed (68 takeover of sterling companies licking Russian/Chinese A..) in total the beautiful infrastructure left by the Brits and her hubby taking over the public/private schools on behalf of the yellow robed terrorist that shot SWRD. We drove down flat in 4 hours to N.E. from Colombo and the estates looked simply poetry of green carpets and William W. beside the lake beneath the tree a host…..etc.
Emil V.P. (Dutch Burger) octogenarian is back (from Canada) in S.L and from Sunday Leader on this forum read him how his 1500 acres taken over by M/s B and now they are trying to kill him (your crowd) Spend some time with your dad who became a doctor thanks to the Brits as he can tell you more since he is same age as Emil.
He has 2 articles tody the continuation of the estate issue- they plan to finish him poor family.
/
Anti-Boru / November 5, 2012
Senewiratne:
Your bloody epiphany, coming from someone who believed Rajiva Wijesinha and Gotabhaya to be decent human beings, speaks for itself.
Go hide under the rock where you really should be residing and stop polluting CT with your apologies for the Rajapaksa regime and, now, for yourself.
/
Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 5, 2012
What’s your problem, you who calls yourself “anti-Boru” but do not have the honesty to identify yourself? I did not claim to have had an “epiphany”, it was the man who hides behind the name of “American Lanka Lover” who claimed to have had an “epiphany” about the evils of the Sri Lankan government after reading the recent report by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
I still believe that Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Rajiva Wijesinghe are “decent human beings”. That doesn’t mean that I think everything they have done is good, and neither have I the first idea what they have done, good or bad, other than the bits reported in the media. I think they should be praised for what they have done good, and condemned/punished for what they have done wrong. According to the laws of Sri Lanka and according to International Law. So should everyone else, including the judges of the ICJ themselves. That is, in my opinion, what justice means.
I did not know who either of these Sri Lankan political figures was until a couple of years ago. They don’t appear on Australian TV screens and are rarely mentioned in the Australian press. What I had heard, prior to my watching footage of them on You Tube, about every member of the Rajapaksa government (and every government before it) had been negative. For as long as I can remember…my parents were never admirers of any Sri Lankan government (to say the least). That’s why I defended Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Rajiva Wijesinghe. It was obvious to me that they were being actively targeted for demonisation by the same forces that were making maximum mileage out of the Channel 4 documentaries…
I found, when I researched the matter, that Professor Wijesinghe had argued convincingly against the Channel 4/LTTE propaganda film that had many Western politicians fooled. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was doubtless involved in the SL Government and Military film production that convincingly exposed the key falsehoods in the “Killing Fields” documentary made by British Channel 4. And both had played a part in the defeat of the LTTE, especially Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
If you want to truly be “anti-boru” – against lies – you’ll have to learn to listen, read and watch more carefully and more widely. Or maybe “boru” is just one of the few Singhalese words you know? And another word you don’t properly understand?
/
gamini / November 5, 2012
Romesh to quote you, ‘Many politicians are greedy and self-serving, all over the world. This is probably especially so in capitalist countries’. Why what about the Socialist China and the Communist Russia where the Politicians and their cohorts are the Richest in the world today?
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Wuliangguobinjiu / November 5, 2012
Anti Boru
He (R.S.) is just another canny creep with bogus qualification trying to establish himself with tyrants like pseudo Dr White who did the cricketer Malinga for good. Look him up the pic is deceptive(present age just about 50 according to him) as he has a tamil name in between- reminds me Douglas and his goons.
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AMAR / January 16, 2013
@Dr Romesh Senevirathne., A well written comment, sir.
/
Native Vedda / November 5, 2012
American Lanka Lover:
“While they did not create the culture of criminality and impunity, the article makes clear it has existed for more than 40 years starting with the crushing of the first JVP uprising in 1971,”
Welcome to planet of humanity albeit at this late stage.
It started precisely on 5th April 1971. As a consequence 18,000 Sinhala speaking youth lost their lives and many more were tortured and suffered all sorts of illness.
/
Silva / November 6, 2012
American Lanka Lover, Hay alien [Edited out], this is another bullshit that you add to your collection of concocts.
“..Reading this article is a period of several hours I shall never forget for I have had a complete epiphany..”
You stupid lunatic, do you mean to say your rusted short-circuited brain got rejuvenated and reformatted after reading the report of ICJ and hence you now have installed a harbinger from god and justice inside?
And what is your newly infected and acquired Trojan trying to commit and accomplish?
“..The net sum gain of this is that Lankans are simply incapable of self governance and, ideally, the island should become a protectorate administered by the UN..”
[Edited out]! For months upon months and for years you witnessed all these crimes and mayhem committed by your idol MARA regime and perverted exploitory selfish policies of your exotic land US but you could not or rather turned a blind eye towards that and now begin to sympathize with the dead gone and dying! Climb up a storied building and jump into a garbage carrier passing by which is where you really belong!
/
Lankawick / November 4, 2012
American Lanka Lover…. a personnel friend of many years….
sent an email to me…re his comments here….
Here is my answer to him…my comments within “…..”…
: It is with Great Regret that I must inform You That I Now Condemn the Rajapaksa Regime
“Dont have much time…here is a reply…
CT is another anti_GOSL publication…with its editor hiding in London UK,….paid by the LTTE rump…”
*************
The report that was just released by the International Commission of
Jurists
” biased bastards….can only attack small nations….unable to say anthing about…..
US – UK – EU – NATO….in Afghanistan & Iraq….etc….
because thats where their $$$ / funds come from….
the World is full of such biased organisations…funded by US & UK & Western Europe….
ie HRW – AI — etc…
this is the …New Colonialism …”
**************
has convinced me that their actions AFTER defeating LTTE in
May 2009 are those of a corrupt, rogue, regime .
“is this the USA….after 9/11….
both the USA & SL have done the right thing….”
*************
akin to that in
Beijing.
” whatever China did…seems to be working,,,,
China is now the 2nd largest economy in the world….
take another look at the USA economy….its in chaos….
according to Mitt Romney…who has 50% of the American citizens agreeing with him….
while UK & EU….is in economic crisis…unemployement over 25 %…”
*******************
If you read their report with an open mind,
” I have not / will not waste my time…reading this crap…”
*****************
I have zero
doubt that despite being a Sinhalese patriot, you too will realize the
inherent evil of this regime.
” this regime ….defeated the worst terrorist organisation in the world…
for this achievement….they are at liberty to rule SL….
SL needs a strong Benevolent Dictatorship like…..
Lee Kwan Yew (Singapore) & Mohammed Mathir (Malaysia)….
SL is thus proud to have President MR…
in a recent Gallop Poll…President MR…had absolute support….
thats why the regime controlls the Nation of SL….by Democratic Elections…
US / UK / EU…has left Iraq in a mess….
still bogged down in Afghanistan…
SL a Nation with a Culture / History of over 2600 years….
do not need advice …..from them….
NO bombs have exploded in SL….after the defeat of the LTTE….”
*****************************
Here is my comment on CT:
” I am posting there on CT….these same comments I am sending you…
hopefully they will publish..”
***********************
Reading this article is a period of several hours I shall never forget
for I have had a complete epiphany.
“too bad…you have fallen under the LTTE….
and the US State Dept….trying a regime change…”
*******************************
I can no longer defend nor support
the rogue Rajapaksa regime.
“President Rajapakse won Democratic Elections by a landslide….
the main point is that Citizens of SL…supports MR…”
******************************
While they did not create the culture of
criminality and impunity, the article makes clear it has existed for
more than 40 years starting with the crushing of the first JVP
uprising in 1971,
“terrorism needs to be crushed….
ask the FBI & CIA….about US security…”
**************************
they have had more than 3.5 years since LTTE was
defeated to correct it but have merely exacerbated it.
“USA has over 10 years in Afghanistan…..
look at the mess….
when the US leaves / runs away in 2013…..Taliban will take over….
LTTE will never come back in SL…”
*********************
While Mahinda
is clearly the chief villain, I cannot exculpate Gota either as MOD he
clearly has been complicit in these outrages against common decency.
“Compare the actions of President Bush & VP Chenny….
what they did to USA politics…”
**********************
During the war era I believe they were entitled to great latitude in
combating terrorism, but it is clear from this article that they have
NOT taken any steps towards a return to a civil society but, instead,
have created their own form of state terrorism.
“the article is written by the frustrated so-called Colombo-Elite..
unable to come back to political power…
there is civil soceity / Democracy in SL….
what democracy under 10 years of USA occupation in Afghanistan…”
*********************
.
This is no way means I revise nor rescind my condemnation of the
terrorist diaspora who are subhuman savages as well.
“agree on that…”
************************
The net sum gain
of this is that Lankans are simply incapable of self governance .
“SL has done a dam good job….
even compared to some US States….
check on the Civil Rights in the Southern US States….
start with Azizona….”
**********************
and,
ideally, the island should become a protectorate administered by the
UN.
“Ha – Ha – Ha….echo of the LTTE rump….
UNO is a corrupt body…
based in New York City, USA….
so maybe its ideal first protectorate should be the USA….”
******************************
Given that the evil Beijing regime would veto any such resolution,
“evil Beijing regime:…..
you are a joker…
every USA Leader…. from President Nixon….
has bowed down to Chairmen Mao…onwards….
US corporations earns Billions doing trade with… evil Beijing regime …
General Motors make / sell more cars in China than USA…
Boeing Aircraft to be built in China..
US banks making Billions in China Trade…
every major US Hotel Chain is in every City in China….
Macau, China…every US Casino group from Las Vegas…opens Casinos…
Walmart….everything they sell is Made in China….
if it good for the USA…
so why are YOU against the friendship with China that SL enjoys….
Remember that SL was a pro-Western / pro-USA nation…
untill SL was “back stabbed ” by the USA….
under Hillary Clinton in the US State Department…
forcing SL to turn to China…for her very survival…
******************************
annexation and direct rule by Delhi seems the only answer to establish
at least a modicum of justice to this troubled and lawless island.
“you are back again…repeating the pro-LTTE chorus…
India…is a Mess…Kashmir…and seperatist movements…
in all the North East States….
Go to India…see the filth….
SL has always been invaded by South India….
SL will defend herself against India & anyone else….
the rest of the World is not perfect either…
so why dont you also suggest that…
Drugs across the Border….USA annex Mexico…
Discrimination of Roma people….Russia annex Eastern Europe…
Injustice to Native people…Indonesia annex Australia…
etc…etc…
******************************
Despite truly loving the place, and despite not wanting to return to
the Maldives until the democratically elected government of president
Nasheed is restored and the coup leaders indicted, I shall desist from
returning.
“too bad that You do not intend to visit SL again as a tourist….
but a 1,000,000 (Million) tourists will enjoy SL hospitality this year…”
*********************
How I rue the day the UK relinquished its Indian Ocean
colonies.
“Why only the Indian Ocean Colonies…
why not suggest UK again take over the USA…..”
****************************
Despite its myriad problems, India is a shining beacon of democracy in a sea of darkness caused by despots all around it.
“You are a joker….
India a …. shining beacon of democracy ….
the land of the evil Caste system….
poverty with people shitting / sleeping on the road side….
this so called theorotical Democracy…you speak of….is not the only solution….
Check how Lee Kwan Yew….changed a poverty sticken nation…
to a World Class City…
it was under a benevolent Dictatorship…”
**********************************
Here is the link to the article:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SRI-LANKA-IMPUNITY-REPORT-NOV-12-FINAL.pdf
/
Wuliangguobinjiu / November 4, 2012
What a sleeping pill??
/
Justice / November 4, 2012
It is a very comprehensive report.But the suggestions therein,will never be implemented in toto,as the president and his cronies – elected under UPFA and the ‘cross-overs’, will lose all their perks,wealth and power.
Judiciary who contributed,have requested their names be not mentioned -this shows that they fesr ‘drastic consequences’.
/
American Lanka Lover / November 4, 2012
LW: my reply to your email was personal and I shall not post it here. You were the first Lankan I have ever known personally, the only I think, prior to visiting twice this year at which time I met MANY wonderful people including a few Tamils who were friendly (although on balance I found the Sinhalese friendlier).
While I understand your perception that the whole world is against your people creating distrust of foreign institutions like the ICJ, I reject attacks on its objectivity and, as a lawyer, I believe adherence to the rule of law is critical to any civil society. Of course there are failures of justice in any system as mankind is very flawed, unlike animals which only kill to eat and are therefore morally superior to we humans, but the commonwealth and Western system is infinitely superior to all others in my view. Cultural relativism is a bogus theory, anthropology was one on my undergraduate majors so I know of what I speak-political science my other major at the finest public university system in the World so I am not some ignorant hack as Donald claims.
Dr. : While Australia has made its fair share of mistakes, particularly its poor treatment of the aboriginals which has been much worse than my country’s treatment of the American Indians which is nonetheless deplorable, it, like America, is among the brightest democracies on this Earth, of which there are too few.
There is a reason so many people risk their lives to emigrate to countries like the US and Australia from places like Lanka, and I would suggest you should be more gracious and understanding of the country that is hosting you because if not for its benevolence you would be stuck in the lovely, but lawless, Lanka.
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 4, 2012
American Law Lover,
It does not require a paranoid view that “the whole world is against your people” to doubt the objectivity of International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). One has merely to look at the Wikipedia entry on the history of this organization and compare this with what the organization, itself, admits about its history.
I thought I would do this before I read the report carefully – which I haven’t finished doing, yet. I have already noticed, though, that one of the authors, and the man who introduces the ICJ report with glowing praise on the ICJ website, is none other than Sam Zarifi. You may remember him as the Amnesty International (AI) talking head in the notoriously biased Channel 4 “documentaries”. Zarifi is now the “ICJ Regional Director, Asia and Pacific”.
The links between the ICJ and AI go back many years. The organization’s Secretary-General in 1967, Sean McBride was a founder member of AI. He had previously been Chief of Staff and Intelligence Chief for the IRA, before going into politics. Since then several Irish politicians have headed the ICJ (including Mary Robinson).
One thing that the Wikipedia and ICJ Website agree on is that the organization was founded in 1952 in a Cold War environment. Wikipedia provides details. It was funded and controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a counter-propaganda organization against the rival “International Association of Democratic Lawyers” which was seen as “controlled by the Soviets”. The money was channeled by the CIA through the “American Fund for Free Jurists” and the propaganda exercise was directed towards exposing “human rights violations” behind the Iron Curtain. The main focus was “Soviet Abuses”. That the CIA was funding the ICJ became public in 1967, causing a stir at the time, and resulting in funding, instead, from the American Ford Foundation (which did not necessarily mean the end of CIA involvement, of course).
The official cover story was that the ICJ was formed in response to the abduction of a West German lawyer (Walter Linse) by East German secret police and his subsequent execution in the Soviet Union. The ICJ website mentions a brief account of this cover story, but nothing about the CIA or AI connections.
Then there is the involvement of that racist, old Australian Queen’s Counsel (QC) by the name of John Dowd. Dowd was a senior man at the ICJ for many years – coinciding with the worst atrocities by the LTTE. As the video link below shows, he was not supporting the the government of Sri Lanka back then. In fact, he was an honoured speaker at an event organized by “Dr Sam Pari” (Sampavi Paramalanathan) who’s connection with the LTTE and hatred of the Sri Lankan government is well known (and easily established if you look at her various You Tube appearances).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gwd15MqANY
By the way, American Law Lover…Australia is not “hosting me” so that I don’t need to be in “lovely, but lawless, Lanka”. I was brought here, with no choice in the matter, when I was a child. That was back in 1976…just after the Tiger gang killed the popular mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappa, declaring that he was a “traitor to the Tamil cause”. Later Prabakharan’s gang was given expert training in Tamil Nadu, financed by the so-called Tamil Diaspora in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia…Meanwhile American legal experts in “humanitarian law” such as Karen Parker were employed to provide the framework to justify the unjustifiable actions of the LTTE, which was reframed as the “Tamil Struggle” against “Tamil Genocide”. Have a look at the Tamils Against Genocide websites and you’ll see what I mean.
Your friend, A.L.L, who publicly responded to your response to the ICJ report knows what he is talking about. It is worth taking his opinion seriously, rather than insinuate that he is paranoid saying, condescendingly, that you “understand” his perception”, when you don’t. You obviously swallowed the ICJ propaganda hook, line and sinker, so much so that you thought you were having an “epiphany”!
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Wuliangguobinjiu / November 4, 2012
Ha ha So Wikipedia is bible? Anyone can edit it. Except for writing in the English language do you know another major European language and when you say doctor what is your specialty mate?
So you arrived in 79 with your pop Brian relative of Mrs B our neighbors and we were there centenaries before her and are still there.
BTW I am not for the Northerner or Southerner both are pricks of the worst order
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 5, 2012
A strangely articulated series of questions, Mr Wooly-hung-goo-or-binge-jew (have I pronounced your name correctly?). The phonetics of this name is unfamiliar to me, and I wonder what it means, since you assure us that you are not for “the Northerner or the Southerner” since, you declare, “both are pricks of the worst order”. So who ARE you for?
Your first question:
“So Wikipedia is bible?”: No, Wikipedia is an on-line encyclopedia, not a bible. You cannot find out much about the International Commission of Jurists in the bible.
“Anyone can edit it”: which is why it is more reliable than the bible, when it comes to truth and contemporary information. (Not that Wikipedia is infallible, just much more credible a source than is any bible). Also it shows considerably more accuracy than its detractors give it credit for. There is plenty of referencing.
I’m not sure why you want to know if I know “another major European language”. I am writing here in English, to people who read English. When I have time to study other languages I am presently focusing on learning Tamil and revising Sinhala, in addition to improving my Spanish and Italian. These four languages are the cultural inheritance of my youngest daughter, who I am hoping will become fluently multilingual – a skill I have never been able to achieve myself.
You have asked, “when you say doctor what is your specialty mate?”
I do not regard yourself as a “mate”, whoever you are, but my “specialty” was in Family Medicine, a specialty within general practice. I studied medicine at the University of Queensland (1978-83), and worked as junior hospital doctor before I went into general practice. I had my own general practice in Melbourne for many years.
Wuliangguobinjiu, if that is your name, I couldn’t care less about whether or not you or your ancestors were neighbours of Mrs Bandaranaike, or that my grandfather was a cousin of her husband.
Maybe you should have a friendly conversation with someone to the north or south of you, wherever you are. Before the next centenary (that would be the Queen’s hundredth birthday, wouldn’t it?).
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Native Vedda / November 5, 2012
Dr Romesh Senewiratne
Have you ever had the misfortune of meeting the Sinhala victims of 1971 & 1987 – 91 and Tamil Victims of the past 30 years?
For that matter have you ever met with my people who have been subjected to genocide by the Tamils and Sinhalese for the past 2,500 years?
If you haven’t then of course you are free to – believe that Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Rajiva Wijesinghe are “decent human beings”.
If you believe this you will believe anything.
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Wuliangguobinjiu / November 5, 2012
Native Veddha Beware of: He confirms on this forum that he was born in the UK thanks to pop who is the realdoctor Dr Brian on this forum too. When 2 years old migrated down under and has never read Sunday Leader but passes comments Similarly, never spent enough time in SL except for a couple of trips lasting a few weeks trying to get close to the racist Banda family(western tourist do better). There is something of a Pook in him, like in between has a Tamil name may be pop did the do. Pop says he cannot go to Geneve because there is no one to mind his surgery and patients and here we have pook for 24 hrs (he is around 50 or more as he has confirmed (photo is photoshop of earlier may be 30 yrs ago) and pop as you know is 80) Pathetic case love has gone wild and he like others want tamil blood. I hate this from the bottom of my heart Take him on mate I will be travelling for a couple of days cheers
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 5, 2012
Dear Native Vedda,
In 1971 I was a 10-year-old schoolboy in Kandy. I remember schools being closed, a variable curfew being in place and being warned not to go to Udawattakele to collect butterflies on my own. I later heard that it was a “Marxist Uprising” (as was, supposedly, the LTTE).
Of course, Native Vedda, this was during the Cold War, and the Americans and Australians were still fighting in Vietnam, with the dirty tricks department of the CIA behind the scenes. I remember “Vietnam War Comics” and “Korean War Comics” being distributed on the black market at Trinity College, and reading about the brave Yanks killing nameless “bad guys” they called “Gooks”. These, I later learned, were American military terms for Vietnamese, Koreans, Laotians and Cambodians.
Many years later I found out a little about the rich cultures that were laid waste by thugs with guns who called themselves “Marines” and “soldiers”. I’ve treated quite a few Vietnam veterans over the years, and know some of the atrocities they committed there.
Have you ever wondered where the JVP got their guns, Native Vedda, and who was really behind various examples of “limited warfare” during the 1970s? I really don’t think poor old Professor Rajiva Wijesinghe, who was busy studying Victorian literature in Oxford, was to blame. Neither was Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Henry Kissinger might have had something to do with it, though.
As for Tamil and Sinhalese victims of the war, yes, I have been fortunate enough to meet some. All of them thought that promoting tri-lingual education in an undivided country is a better idea than succumbing to neo-colonial divide and rule strategies.
Regarding “your people”, I take it you mean the Veddha people, who I have also heard referred to as “Wanniyala-Aeto”. I have never met any. That’s why I enjoy your input in this forum. I have always been under the impression that the Indigenous people of Sri Lanka WERE genocided by the people who became the Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese.
In support of such a genocide, I have read DNA studies suggesting that the DNA of Veddha volunteers is more different from Sinhalese and Tamil DNA than Sinhalese and Tamil DNA are to each other. However, I am also interested in the identity of the Naga and Yaksha people. It seems, from what I have read, that these were also Indigenous people from Sri Lanka, who integrated with successive waves of migration from all over India and as far as South-East Asia, Indonesia and Polynesia in the east, and Africa and the Middle East in the west.
The legend of Ramayana does suggest that wars against the indigenous cultures and kingdoms, waged by invading Hindu Indians, did occur at an early date. But were they “Veddhas” they were attacking? Who were the Yakshas and Nagas, do you think, Native Vedda?
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Wuliangguobinjiu / November 5, 2012
A politician is one who speaks the truth and sandwiches with lies like father like son who prefers to answer without answering the question. There are many vagabonds like you Pump up the music pook.
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Native Vedda / November 6, 2012
Dr Romesh Senewiratne:
“I later heard that it was a “Marxist Uprising” (as was, supposedly, the LTTE).”
Both JVP and LTTE might have claimed to be Marxists but in reality both were Polpotists, narrow Sinhala/Tamil chauvinistic nationalists. It was fashionable to claim being Marxist. It was nothing more than fashion statements. Unlike other Tamil armed groups LTTE never pretended to be Marxist.
You say:
“Professor Rajiva Wijesinghe, who was busy studying Victorian literature in Oxford, was to blame. Neither was Gotabaya Rajapaksa.”
Both are two faces of the same ugly Sri Lankan state.
GR was a member of 6 person army team which hunted down Sinhala youth between 1987 and 1991. This is the same man who on TV said he would hang SF.
You say:
” All of them thought that promoting tri-lingual education in an undivided country is a better idea than succumbing to neo-colonial divide and rule strategies.”
The victims don’t discuss about political solutions but their fear, recurring nightmares, their safety and security, their pain and suffering. This shows that you have met none of them.
You ask:
“Who were the Yakshas and Nagas, do you think, Native Vedda?”
I am still looking for the evidence.
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 7, 2012
Dear Native Veddha,
You have written
“Both JVP and LTTE might have claimed to be Marxists but in reality both were Polpotists, narrow Sinhala/Tamil chauvinistic nationalists. It was fashionable to claim being Marxist. It was nothing more than fashion statements. Unlike other Tamil armed groups LTTE never pretended to be Marxist.”
You are right and wrong, and contradicting yourself. If both the LTTE and JVP “claimed to be Marxists”, how can you say LTTE never “pretended to be Marxist”?
Several of the Sinhala and Tamil militant groups (Indian-armed gangs which grew into disorganized and then more organized armies) wore the still fashionable mantle of “Marxist like Che and Fidel”. They drew inspiration and “guerilla warfare” strategies from the successful Communist revolutions in Cuba and Vietnam, like many such “rebel fighters” in the Third World (during the Cold War, sometimes called World War III).
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (Red Khmer) was another regime that drew inspiration from Marx, Lenin and, later, Mao. But, like other “Marxist”/Communist/Socialist movements around the world, the socialism was infused with nationalism in Cambodia, under Pol Pot, Cuba under Castro and “Eelam” under the LTTE. With the LTTE it was Tamil, rather than Sri Lankan nationalism. With the JVP this was not initially the case…later the JVP, from what I have heard, became strongly opposed to the LTTE, and the idea of a separate Tamil state. I shared this opposition from afar, preferring the solution of promoting Sinhala-Tamil-English multilingualism throughout Sri Lanka, rather than falling for the old “divide and rule” trick.
But it is true, as you say, that the LTTE was never really a Marxist operation. “Marxism” was just a fashionable label. The “Marxist Struggle” could be used to draw a lexicon to describe the atrocities the Tigers were doing in more palatable terms – to whitewash their conduct with terms like “the militant arm of the liberators of the Tamil People”. The LTTE propagandists were able to use Marxist terminology to hide the fact that the war was always a capitalist-financed and run war for Land the Diaspora Tamils Owned in 1948. That’s where those who designed the map of the “Eelam Land War” placed the ambitious limits of their land claim. You can see these maps on the LTTE logos and miscellaneous propaganda.
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Pandukabaya de Silva / November 5, 2012
Dear Dr Senewiratne…please stop being so bitter in your entries and try to cultivate a litte rationality. Why are so near to hysterical when you write.
I saw your posts about the ICJ. I had a long tangle with John Dowd myself last year when I wrote to him about being a Tiger lover. That was posted in anther thread on this same website. Since then, I have come to know that the ICJ has severely restricted his movements and he is not allowed to speak on behalf of the organisation any more. I am not sure about this Zarifi character. Maybe he was at Amnesty earlier. But let us judge his actions now and see. The ICJ was once headed by Sri Lankans jurists of the eminence of CG Weeeramantry. It includes well respected judges. We must try and persuade them not abuse them. Sri Lanka was one known for the erudition of its people, not for thuggish histronics.
But the thing is – forget all this venomous spouting. Read the report carefully and see where it is so true on its substance. It does not target the Rajapaksa govt. It targets all goverments in Sri Lanka and appeals for a better system for the Sri lankan citizens.
Do not look at everything with an evil eye. Try to persuade the other person to your point of view without abusing. What is the point of abusing. I am a Sinhala Buddhist from the South and proud of it But I do not agree with what this government is doing in my name. I do not agree, as a lawyer, in what they are doing to the CJ. We, in the end, only destroy ouselves. No one else. Please remember that.
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 6, 2012
Dear Pandukabaya,
Thank you for your advice. I assure you that I do not have a uterus at all, let alone a “wandering uterus” (hys-teria).
I am glad to make the acquaintance of a Sri Lankan lawyer…you say you are from the South. Are you there still? Or are you, like me, commenting on the country’s affairs from afar?
Though I haven’t finished reading the ICJ report, I have noticed a few things about it, including its focus on “impunity”. I take this to mean the same thing as what used to be called “above the law”. I noticed considerable attention being paid to the problem of the “politicization” of the position of Attorney-General as an example of the “crisis affecting the Independence of the Judiciary”. I found this ironic, if not hypocritical, because in Australia, where the jurist John Dowd hails from, the Attorney-General has long been a political appointment.
What’s more, John Dowd, who is still listed as an ICJ Vice-President on the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) website, was previously Attorney-General of the Australian state of New South Wales. He was a Liberal Party MP and politician, who lost his seat in New South Wales, and then failed in his attempt to get into Federal Parliament (losing pre-selection to Tony Abbott, the current opposition leader and would-be Prime Minister). The position of Attorney-General is a political appointment, appointed by the Prime Minister/Premier in all the states of Australia and in our Federal Parliament.
Yet, when this becomes the case in Sri Lanka it becomes part of a “crisis of impunity?”
Pandukabaya, my alerting potential readers to the background and history, and predicable biases in the new ICJ report on Sri Lanka, is not “vitriolic” or “bitter”. It is commonsense to explore possible biases and the background of the authors and publishers before one spends hours reading and digesting, let alone believing, any such document.
I was surprised to find the involvement of Amnesty International’s Sam Zarifi and his new position in ICJ. That was before I realised the close relationship between ICJ, UN, ICC, AI and the CIA. Follow the leads I have given you, Pandukabaya, and you’ll find that the CIA was one of the agencies behind all the wars in which the ICJ and AI had “Human Rights NGO” status. “Human Rights” has long been a massive industry – selectively focusing on “human rights abuses” in “enemy countries”. This is why the ICJ was formed, if you study its background, funding and leadership since 1952. It doesn’t surprise me that the organization would also employ an eminent Sri Lankan judge or two (maybe more) to give it the “international face” it needs. It’s a matter of who pulls the strings – men like John Dowd.
If you watch him in this panel interview with Sampavi Parimalanathan (Sam Pari), John Whitehall and Bruce Haigh in Australia following the end of the war, you may get a better perspective on the mind-set of the Cold War white-supremacist faction of the ICJ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlYUX6y7_GU
As to your opposition to whatever is happening to the Chief Justice in Sri Lanka, I must admit to not having followed the matter in any depth…I’m sure I’ll get to read about it in the report. If not CT will no-doubt be drawing our attention to it.
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Pandukabaya de Silva / November 6, 2012
Dear Dr Senewiratne, yes, I am in the South still in Weligama to be specific. I do not believe in leaving the country and pontificating from the comforts of the West. Come and see me next time you are in SL for a great prawn curry.
Please stop engaging in abuse and going on this long litany of complaints. John Dowd does remain in the ICJ since I would think that they cannot easily kick him out. But his activities and tiger-supporting that he does is done privately which I know since I track his movements after my exposing him. He does not do it in the name of ICJ. And please stop seeing the CIA behind very bush! Its laugable.
As a lawyer, what I find ironic about the system here is not that the Attorney General is a political appointment – it has always been so but that the quality of the people appointed to it has been of so low level that they have reduced themselves to bootlickers of the gvt, specially Mohan Peiris who was caught lying in court on the Ekneligoda disappearance. Did the Attorneys General of Australia do everything that the govt asked? I have lived in Australia and practiced there myself and I do not think so. There is public respect there for justice. Do we have the same respect here? Please ask yourself that question.
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 6, 2012
Dear Pandukabaya,
I don’t know how much respect you have for the law, and my conduct is constrained, only partially, by laws passed by politicians in Australia. There are good and bad laws. Some of the laws are terrible. Including the laws that allowed young Australian men to be conscripted to “kill the gooks” in Vietnam, not so many years ago. I’m sure Sri Lanka has a combination of good and bad laws – with more to come in the future. Politicians live to pass laws and regulations, especially those that raise more revenue for the government to spend. This is the case in Australia and probably in Sri Lanka, too.
As for whether the Australian Attorneys-General are on the side of the government of the day, the answer is a resounding “yes”. The Attorney-General’s Department is PART of the executive government, not the judiciary, as far as I know (feel free to correct me).
Regarding your denigration of my comment that Wikipedia provides sources confirming that the CIA was involved in funding and organizing the ICJ as a propaganda operation during the Cold War…Pandukabaya, you do have some history to catch up with.
Look at the CIA’s role in fomenting wars in South-East Asia, South-America, Central America and Africa. Do you think Sri Lanka was an exceptional war that the CIA ignored completely? Did it not strike you as odd that the Eelam War began at the end of the Vietnam War? Ever wondered why the “militants”, convinced they were “Marxists” like “Fidel” and “Che”, were armed with Russian AK-47s?
I found out, recently, that the “47” on the gun that features so distinctively on the LTTE/Eelam flag is called an AK47 because it was the Russian assault rifle designed in 1947 by the Kalashnikov company. The same gun was sold to “revolutionary armies” and “rebel movements” around the Third World. Henry Kissinger and the Nixon Administration called them “theaters” of “Limited Warfare”.
Limited Warfare, as understood by Kissinger, meant fighting the Communists without provoking mutual destruction (The doctrine of MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction). To avoid a direct nuclear confrontation between the “two superpowers” (USA/USSR) theatres of “limited warfare” were established all over the Third World. The Russians, and their proxies, sold Russian-designed weapons to the “rebels”, and the British, Americans, French, Israelites, Germans, Scandinavians and Japanese competed to sell “counter-insurgency measures” and “Security Measures” to the National Government/Favoured Faction of Government.
…but no, Pandukabaya, this must all be in my imagination. The CIA are nice peace-loving chaps. Wouldn’t get involved in anything as sordid as drug-running and gun-running, would they? (see, I’ve forgotten the Iran-Contra conspiracy already).
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 6, 2012
Dear Wu-Liang,
I think I have been answering your questions, such as they are, directly and bluntly. But you keep misunderstanding, and are clearly confused by what what you have heard about me, or read elsewhere. I am flattered, though, at your conclusion that my photo was taken 30 years ago! I must look young for my age!
To make things clear to you:
1. Yes, I was born in London. And yes, this was because my father was studying medicine there at the time.
2. My parents, sister and I returned to Sri Lanka in 1968, when I was eight, and lived in Kandy till 1976, when I was 15, when we migrated to Australia for reasons I am not certain about.
3. While I was at Trinity College I studied in the English medium, allowed to do so because of mixed parentage (yes, I do have a Tamil name – Romesh is a Tamil name – and no, it did not come from my father, it came from my mother who is Tamil).
4. No I do not “want Tamil blood”. I HAVE Tamil blood (and also Sinhalese blood…and probably a few other tribes, given the complex history of Sri Lanka and its people).
5. Though you may not want to believe so, I am a “real doctor”, who studied medicine in Australia, and spent most of my clinical career in general practice. Yes, my father is also a medical doctor. That is hardly unusual.
6. I have never met or spoken to Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike or any members of her immediate family, nor have I ever sought to. I understand from my parents and from genealogy charts, that my father’s father was a cousin of her assassinated husband S.W.R.D Bandaranaike. This is not of particular importance to me – I am not one to try and pull “family strings”, and never have been.
And a curiosity question: what do you mean by “pook”? Not a term of abuse, is it?
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Wuliangguobinjiu / November 6, 2012
Thanks you have been open to me now so I disclose what is possible on this public site. I am a 3rd generation professional and obtained my bachelors and masters in Industrial Engineering and later Urban Planning at IIT Bombay and Chennai. At present I hold 3 nationalities of the west and that excludes Ceylon. Yes I am a Eurasian of Ceylonese origin and we are a large family (immediate) spread throughout this world I have a niece at Canberra who is doing her PhD in Mining Engineering and a Nephew who came first in USA Space Engineering 98.5% (he got the best offers from blue chip starting@$250k but he wants to become a catholic priest and receive 15k –life) thank god money is not a problem as we have our own industry which is chemicals and our principals are Dutch so I speak several languages European and Asian just to get my work done from the best we employ) The others in my family do speak and write excellent English and could teach the English their language. I do know that sometimes I give a toss to grammar and punctuation etc. on forums because most do and if someone keeps on harping it annoys me as the subject is important not the language.
Leave these entirely aside now. Pook is American slang on the web for someone masquerading. In Spanish when we do business we commonly use some words that to a foreign student of Spanish it would sound like 4 letter words.
Yes I studied in the English medium too then of course several languages etc.
I was a kid 13-14 when the first insurrection took place and then surprised I asked my dad why are we killing our own people?? Then I came back qualified etc. as project director for a Eurasian company based in Delhi to Colombo in June 83 and was spellbound for 3 days in July seeing with my own eyes walking the streets the ultimate horror that man inflicts upon man. I cried and when I think of it I cry because we are killing our own people.
Now I tell you how we grew up – it’s an e-mail to share with all Ceylonese. next post please
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 6, 2012
Hi Wulian,
If I understand you correctly, you are an Indian businessman, with a qualification in engineering from the IIT in Bombay and Chennai? Does IIT stand for the “Institute of Indian Technology”? And you say you have been involved in town planning for the Indian government?
You seem proud that you have a nephew who has done well in the USA academic system and could earn lots of money from employment as a “space engineer” but wants to become a Catholic priest. But he doesn’t have to worry because your family has lots of money, through the chemical industry. In the document below you refer to the “church bell ringing at 6.30” when you lived in what you still refer to as “Ceylon”. Does that mean you call yourself a Catholic, Wu? You also say that you were “a kid” of 13 or 14 when the “first insurrection took place”. Are you referring to the 1971-72 Marxist/JVP rebellion? If so, you must be a couple of years older than me, in your mid-fifties.
I am less puzzled by you, now that you have revealed these things about yourself and your background in the analytical chambers, mysterious corridors of power and hallowed columns of the Colombo Telegraph. It seems strange that you would call me a “pook”, which you say is “internet slang” for “someone masquerading”, and you infer, is intended to sound like a “four-letter word without being one”, yet is code for “someone being bogus, or pretending” (ie: a “chameleon”). You sound like quite a devious character, Mr Pook.
So what colour robes DO you like, Mr Pook? Obviously, not yellow ones. Red, purple, orange, saffron…surely not white?
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Wuliangguobinjiu / November 6, 2012
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN SRI LANKA IN THE 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s & 1960’s!
(and maybe even in the early 1970’s!).
As for the rest of you, this is for your information to read & enjoy!
First, we survived being born to mothers who did not have medical checkups while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate coconut, raw egg products, and processed meat, tuna from a can, untreated water, and milk straight from the cow — and didn’t get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer…
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the hitching rides with anyone in the neighborhood!
As children, we rode in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and the tap at the top of the lane (NOT bottled water!).
We shared one bottle of soft drink with four friends and NO ONE died or got sick!
“Take-away” (“Fast food” was patties, rolls, pastries and vaddais; With crusty bread (Malu pan or Rose Pan)
(No Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nan do’s).
No Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time…
14th Feb – wasn’t that Independence day???
Even though all the shops closed at 8.00pm and most of them didn’t open on the weekends, somehow we didn’t starve!
We could collect old drink bottles, Sunday newspapers and cash them in at the Bothal kade and buy toffees, chocolates, Bubble Gum and some Fire crackers to have fun with (and no one got blown up!)
We ate prawn vaddais, Chilli raw mango, pineapple & boiled Kadala (often full of dust) from street vendors (Duwana Geeri Hotels) without needing Pepto Bismol..
We ate sponge cakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because……. WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home on Sat day morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. Then Church bell’s start ringing @ 6.30pm.
No one was able to reach us. And we were O.K. During our vacation, our parents never saw us the whole day, not even for meals as we ate at whatever house we were at during mealtimes. No one thought of compensation or asking for money.
We would spend hours building our Kite’s or go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we had forgotten the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played with matchbox cars.
We played cricket on the streets amidst the cars, & hide and seek using the whole neighbourhood as our playground, and no one complained.
Our homes were always open & the car keys were in the car.
We did not have Television, DVDs, Play stations, Nintendo Wii, X-box E360’s, no video games at all, no 55 channels on DTV, no video/DVD films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms, but we had such imaginations and we never found ourselves bored……….
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents…
Only the girls pierced their ears!
We shooed away flies hovering over our food, and probably swallowed worms in our fresh fruits, and the worms did not live in us forever – we just built stronger immune systems!
We didn’t get air guns or air hockey on our 10th birthdays, just a new one set of clothes on special occasions (birthday, Aluth Avurudu, Easter, Christmas).
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! We didn’t have to arrange play dates or make appointments in advance to see our friends.
Many of our mothers didn’t work and we survived on one salary… BUT there was always food on the table.
Rugby and Cricket had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!
Getting into the team was based on MERIT, not because of connections…
We got rulers landing on our hands or where ever the teacher could reach, and they didn’t get reported to the School Board!
Colleges were mostly unisex – but, this did not affect us psychologically or emotionally, because we always managed to find girl friends & boy friends..
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law & we were punished a second time when we got home!
Our parents didn’t invent silly names for their kids.
We had Freedom, Failure, Success and Responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And we survived and became contributing members of society despite it all.
“CONGRATULATIONS!”
Share this with others who have had the same fortune.. before our lives got over legalized for “our own good”.
And while you are at it, forward it to the youngsters so they will know how brave their parents were!
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Native Vedda / November 6, 2012
Dr Romesh Senewiratne:
“I HAVE Tamil blood (and also Sinhalese blood”
Tamils and Sinhalese share their DNA with their brethren across Palk Strait. Since you are related to Banda family your ancestors must have come from Madurai on Kallathonies.
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Senguttuvan / November 6, 2012
Romesh,
Just wondering. Are you Dr. Brian’s son?
Senguttuvan
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne / November 6, 2012
Yes
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