Archive for January, 2007

THE OSLO DECLARATION: REPORTS OF ITS DEATH ARE NOT GREATLY EXAGGERATED

The Morning Leader (31st January 2007) carries a report of the first press conference given yesterday by the Hon. G. L. Peiris M. P., the new Minister of Export Promotion and International Trade, since he crossed over to the government. In this he is reported to have, to put it tartly, rubbished the significance and import of the Oslo Declaration of December 2002, which he was instrumental in producing. The Declaration appeared to articulate the framework of a politically negotiated constitutional settlement around an asymmetrically federated, united Sri Lanka. Stressing that constitutional concepts such as federalism are ‘mere words’ which have ‘no clear definition and are indistinct at best’, he states that effectively what he and other actors in the peace process of 2002 – 2004 were doing was ‘brandishing words.’ He therefore argues that what is needed is ‘a practical solution’ to the ethnic conflict, for which he and his former UNP colleagues would support the government. Needless to…

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Jaffna Prices At MPCS Now Higher Than When Taxed

Jaffna people are now paying a higher price for essential things than when they were taken through the land route and taxed by the LTTE. Now essential items are taken to Jaffna by ship and sold through the MPCS (Multipurpose Cooperative Society) for ration. The prices are higher than the marketprice when they were taxed by LTTE. Before the landroute closed all the things taken to Jaffna by land. Normally LTTE imposed 15% duty for the essential things but everything was nevertheless sold at market prices in line with Colombo prices. Some pharmacies even sold the baby milk powder and baby infant lower than the market price eg 135.00 marked Cerelac sold for 128.00 rs. Those days some people criticised Jaffna people for paying double tax but the Jaffna people purchased everything at market pricees. A Correspondent asked the Jaffna G.A who decide the prices, he replied Ministry of Essential Services decide the prices. Before Aug 11th Now (Mark price)…

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  • 31 Jan, 2007
  • 19 Comments
  • Colombo

Tour A Bohra

Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb greeting AHM Aswer In case you hadn’t noticed, Colombo has been full of men and women in head to toe cloth, white and colored respectively. Nice hats too. These people are obviously Muslim, but I did a bit of reading and they are part of a Shia sect called the Bohra. Their leader Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb, has arrived in Colombo for a ten day ceremony called the Ashara Mubaraka. This influx has almost single-handedly boosted the Colombo tourism industry, filling hotels and guest houses. I’ve also seen Majestic City and Odel full of these guests. The Prophet Mohammed’s temporal succession involved many schisms in Islam, the most notable being that between Sunni and Shiite. That division hinges on the 1st successor to Mohammed, while the Bohras emerged from another succession dispute, this involving the 9th caliphate. That group split again, with one branch being the Dawoodi Bohra. They are mostly India based, but…

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Cutting off telecoms in Sri Lanka redux…

This from the FMM today: Internet facilities and 8,000 telephones cut off in Jaffna Peninsula The Free Media Movement (FMM) is deeply disturbed to learn that basic communications facilities to the Jaffna Peninsula have been blocked from 28th January 2007. Internet facilities and around 8,000 landline telephones of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) are dysfunctional to date. SLT, jointly owned by the Sri Lankan Government and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation (NTT) of Japan, is the sole Internet provider in Jaffna Peninsula with a population of around 600,000 according to official statistics. The FMM was told that there is no official decision by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority to block communications in this manner in the Peninsula. However, a number of citizens in Jaffna and journalists confirm that there is no Internet access in Jaffna for the past 3 three days, when contacted through mobile phones. SLT Jaffna office told FMM that for security reasons SLT link to Jaffna has been disconnected…

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A Look Into A Village In Kalutara

My recent visits to the coastal village of Nalarua in the district of Kalutara, about 5 kilometres from Kalutara town, got me thinking about life in the south. 450 families live in that village. I spoke to eight men and seven women on a Tuesday morning. Religion-wise 97% of them were Buddhist, 2% Catholic and 1% Muslim. They work as masons, carpenters, craftsmen working with coconut fibre to make ropes and small boats and others as garment factory workers. Their political affiliations are with parties such as the SLFP, UNP, JVP and JHU. I asked one of the middle-aged men asked whether there were any caste issues in their village. “We don’t have any caste issues, we are all Sinhalese living peacefully. For example one-day the temple was affected by an electric fire. We all got together and controlled the fire,” he said. While the people seemed very keen to not talk about any caste issues, my inquiries in the…

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  • 29 Jan, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict

Poll: What does the Minister of Special Projects do?

For previous polls, click here. Repost This Article

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Minister of what?????

Really, does Sri Lanka actually need a Minister of bloody Indigenous Medicine? Or a Minister of Special Projects (whatever that is). Has no one heard of parliamentary and ministerial secretaries — in other words, the Civil Service? The latter, while not quite the bastion of Sir Humphrey Appleby’s bureaucracy, should theoretically be able to handle the bulk of work areas currently awarded separate ministries. And probably much better than the politicians themselves. For example, is a former union leader the best choice as Minister of Sports and Public Relations? I doubt that there was anyone in Sri Lanka today who wasn’t blown away by the number of cabinet apointments, and that’s not even counting the deputy ministers and other assorted cooks and bottle washers. The most commonly heard sentiment this morning (after the amusement at the whole ridiculous scenario had subsided), was “who the hell’s going to pay for this lot?” Well, we all know the answer to that, don’t…

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  • 29 Jan, 2007
  • 6 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict,
    Vavuniya

More Defensive Offensives – coming soon…

If the Bush regime can do it, why can’t the Sri Lankan Government … From today’s Daily News: Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka paid a special visit to the area yesterday as the LTTE violence gathered momentum in Vavuniya. From today’s Daily Mirror: The Defence Ministry yesterday warned that following a severe setback in the east, the Tigers were planning a major offensive against the security forces in the Wanni, to retain control of their cadres. I guess NMAT knew the game plan all the time… Repost This Article

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  • 28 Jan, 2007
  • 8 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict

One year of Mahinda Chintana

Editors note: Text from the Mahinda Chintanaya referred to in this post is in bold. The Mahinda Chintanaya can be downloaded here. Mahinda Chintana (Mahinda Vision) is a document written for the 2005 presidential elections. It gives a vision for the changes that the President would like to bring about during his tenure. After one year it is time to revisit some of the statements made and to assess what has been achieved and start a discussion with the Sri Lankan people on what seems to have been election rhetoric and what has been achieved so far in reality. A first attempt hopefully followed by reactions by many of us who follow the present development in the country. Each section starts with a quote from the document followed by an observation. Page 4 I will be dedicated to the task of totally eradicating the drug menace presently experienced in Sri Lanka. I will do so within a period of three…

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Some thoughts on the Second Chamber

Some Thoughts on the Second Chamber   By Sumanasiri Liyanage One of the main lacuna in the 2000 constitutional draft was that although it proposed quasi-federal arrangements closely following the Indian model, it did not have a provision for a second chamber so that it as a whole lacked adequate power-sharing at the center. The report by the the Sub-Committee A (RSCA) includes comprehensive suggestions on the nature, compositions and the powers of the second chamber. Although the Sub-Committee B (RSCB) is not much enthusiastic about the second chamber, it does not oppose to it if it improves center power-sharing arrangements. This is what RSCB says on the subject: “We are not averse to a Second chamber if it is created to give minorities/provincial minorities a voice at the centre but we feel this could be another white elephant and a talk shop at great public expense to expand political cronyism”. Minister Tissa Vitharana includes provisions for a second chamber…

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  • 26 Jan, 2007
  • 1 Comment
  • Peace and Conflict

BATTICALOA CONSORTIUM OF HUMANITARIAN AGENCIES FACILITATING TO THE BATTICOLA IDPS

Most of the Trincomalee district IDPS are living in welfare center in Batticaola .they requested to cha that they want to go to Trincomalee.Batticaloa cha suggest to resettle the Idps to Trincomalee they will take some activities according to resettlement IN NEXT MONTH First Batticloa cha help to select 120 representatives each and every IDPS welfare center . they will go to Trincomalee and analysis the situation of in their earliest place after that they will fill the questionnaire of the situation and they will explain the situation Then they will like to go their earliest place Batticloa cha will facilitate them. Cha means that Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies Repost This Article

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  • 26 Jan, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict

Poll: Is the international community partial to the LTTE?

As we move towards the Donor Conference towards the end of January, it would be useful to see what the Groundviews community think of the partiality, or lack thereof, of the International Community towards the LTTE. Repost This Article

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42 People Surrender at Jaffna Human Rights Commission

42 people have surrended at the Human Rights Commission Jaffna office so far. They were facing death threats. HRC officials produced them before Jaffna Magistrate and the Magistrate ordered that they be sent to prison for their saftey. Some of them said that escaped while gunmen tried to kidnap them, while others gave statements that they escaped while gunmen tried to shoot them. From what I am told by people here, Military Intelligence, LTTE, Para Military are involved but most of them are threatened by MI or Para Military (white van people) Repost This Article

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Double standards?

A post here points to a powerful new report on the dangers on humanitarian aid work in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Reports in Groundviews, both from Citizen Journalists as well as news snippets from JNW featured on the site, clearly indicate growing concerns about the security and safety of aid workers, increasingly assaulting, vilified and killed for being perceived to be partial to non-state actors, biased towards operations of terrorists and / or acting to undermine the “national security” of the State. This is the first report I’ve read that comprehensively debunks the myth that local INGO / NGO / staff and humanitarian aid workers are any less vulnerable to attacks. As it notes: Humanitarian organisations have largely failed to fully consider the ethics of transferring security risks from expatriate staff to national staff or local NGOs. One of the core assumptions of remote management approaches is that national workers are at less risk than their international counterparts. But this…

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Myanmar (Burma) luvs Lanka

I don’t know much about Burma, or Myanmar as it’s now known… but according to today’s Daily Mirror: The Myanmar (Burmese) government yesterday assured its support to Sri Lanka in the fight against terrorism and reaffirmed it would never allow any group or individual to use its territory to engage in any hostile activities against neighboring countries, including Sri Lanka. According to various other reports (PBS, BBC, CIA), Burma is a territory that’s run by a military dictatorship which also has many business interests, including illegal logging, trading in drugs, and human trafficking. There was an election once – back in 1990. But the military didn’t like the way 80% of the people voted, and placed the leader of the winning side, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest. The following year, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. There are many different peoples who call Burma home, but the majority population dominates over the minorities. The military is accused…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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