UNHRC - Part I: Navi Pillay Faulted For Abuse Of Power

By Kalinga Seneviratne

InDepthNews.info

 

SINGAPORE (IDN) - UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) head Navi Pillay’s current campaign against Sri Lanka over alleged human rights violations – along with similar campaigns against Libya and Syria earlier – could jeopardize the cause of human rights around the world, analysts say.

Pillay released a report in February calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes when the Sri Lankan armed forces crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a final battle in May 2009.

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Envoy in Geneva conveying the Sri Lankan Government’s response to Pillay’s report stated that the UN High Commissioner’s recommendations, “reflect the preconceived, politicised and prejudicial agenda which she has relentlessly pursued with regard to Sri Lanka”, and in a 18-page document pinpointed her double standards accusing her of giving “scant or no regard to the domestic processes ongoing in Sri Lanka”. 

The Sri Lanka government has also criticized the report for arriving at conclusions in a “selective and arbitrary manner” and ignoring requests from the Sri Lankan government to provide factual evidence to substantiate allegations and to refrain from making general comments.

Sri Lanka’s criticism of Pillay is not new. But, commentaries in both mainstream and online media in Sri Lanka indicate a hardening of attitudes in the island state against Pillay’s perceived bias and alleged abuse of power as head of UNHRC. She is said to have got away with it in the international media because the western media apparently tended to believe – and continue to – most of the propaganda put out by the LTTE supporters in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora over the past 30 years.

At the twenty-fifth session of the UNHRC from March 3 to 28 in Geneva, Pillay’s report is due to be officially tabled, and she has refused to entertain a request from the Sri Lankan government that its response to the report be attached as an appendix. The United States has indicated – supported by EU and India – that they may table a resolution at the meeting to establish an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes and human rights violations in Sri Lanka, which the government is sure to reject.

“How many of the bullying countries accusing Sri Lanka of crimes against humanity and war crimes have clean hands or a flawless record?” asks Senaka Weeraratne, a Sri Lankan lawyer and international affairs analyst.
“What we see today in western dominated international organisations such as the United Nations related bodies such as the UNHRC, ICC and the like are proceedings conducted on an Inquisitorial footing i.e. witch hunts aimed at devastating the target country or individual usually of non–European descent thereby perverting the course of justice. No quarter is given to the other party until it submits to the political will of the bullying nations,” argues Weeraratne.

“It is a shameless display of brute power making a mockery of institutional rules and procedures. The targeted country is assumed to be guilty right from the start ruling out any mitigating circumstances. It is virtually a re-enactment of the Inquisition under the auspices of the United Nations rather than the Catholic Church as in the days gone by.”

It is not only Sri Lankans that are complaining about the UNHRC and Pillay’s tactics. Anti-war activists in the West and supporters of the former Libyan regime and that of Syria have also pointed out how these UN agencies, and particularly UNHRC under Pillay, are practicing double standards to promote Western imperial designs.
Veteran Canadian antiwar activist Ken Stone writing for the website ‘Syria 360’ argued in an article written last year that Pillay has abused her power to facilitate western military interference in Libya and Syria to change regimes. He argues that the western media, and CNN in particular, have used interviews with Pillay to promote military intervention in Libya and Syria, where she relates the actions of these regimes to defend their country from rebel forces, to human rights violations and crimes against humanity.

In the name of humanitarian intervention

“Two very useful precedents for illegal, but so-called ‘humanitarian’, intervention by NATO were set by the United Nations in regards to Libya,” argues Stone. “The first was that the doctrine of the responsibility to protect (R2P) was successfully invoked, for the very first time, as a legal ground for over-riding the fundamental principle of national sovereignty as the basis of international law.”

R2P holds that, if a government cannot protect the human rights of its own citizens, the international community may step in to do so. In the case of Libya, R2P was used to justify United Nations Resolution 1973, the motion that authorized NATO to create a no-fly zone over Libya.

“Resolution 1973 was perverted by NATO within hours into a full-blown military intervention for regime change in Libya that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Libyans, pogrom against black persons resident in Libya, the assassinations of Muammar Gaddafi and members of his family, massive infrastructure damage, the de facto partitioning of the country, and a failed state machine,” notes Stone.

He argues that the first precedent (above) could not have been realized without the fancy legal footwork executed in advance by the nimble Pillay in demonizing Mouammar Gaddafi and his son, Saif, at the UN. “The second precedent, then, was the initiative taken by the UN Human Rights Council, chaired by Pillay, in calling for an international inquiry into violence against civilians in Libya,” he says.

Stone goes on to detail how Pillay has been playing a similar role in appearing in the international media accusing the Syrian government of crimes against humanity and calling upon the ICC to mount a war crimes investigation against President Assad, while ignoring the role played by foreign-funded mercenaries in the civil war.  “Humanitarian intervention is a powerful tool in the West, where even people on the ‘left’, who should know better, fall for it,” notes Stone.

Libya is the real tragedy of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ that has turned into an ‘Arab Winter’. This brings into question the real motives of those International NGOs who promote human rights with an evangelical zeal.
Libya under Gaddafi may have been an authoritarian state in terms of freedom of speech (not any worse than U.S. allies in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and UAE), but, was a success story in human development. In Gaddafi's Libya, the right to free education for everyone from elementary school right up to university and post-graduate studies at home or abroad were implemented with government subsidies; there was free health care with 1:673 doctor-patient ratio; free electricity for all citizen; interest-free housing loans; and free land for farmers.

Libya had no external debts and its reserves amounted to $150 billion. Today we have a Libya that is ruled by warlords and terrorists and human rights campaigners are silent about the human rights abuses taking place today in Libya and no one is asking the question what is happening to Libya’s huge financial reserves and its oil? Who is benefiting from it?

What happened in Libya amounts to a war crime for which both NATO and International Crisis Group (ICG) that came up with the R2P formula should be held accountable, analysts say. But, UNHRC is muted about it. Instead, a report will be tabled at the current session titled “Technical assistance for Libya in the field of human rights”.
The report does not discuss accountability issues with regards to human rights in the implementation of the R2P formula nor does it address in any serious manner the problem of the anarchy created as a result of regime change. It assumes that there is a regime in charge, when there is not.

A question often asked by Sri Lankans is why Pillay is not calling upon President George W Bush, Tony Blair, David Cameroon and ICG to account for the war crimes USA, UK and NATO forces have indulged in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya?

During her visit to Sri Lanka last year, at a press conference, she said that UNHRC has indeed questioned these countries on certain human rights issues and they have responded. But, what the Sri Lankan journalist didn’t press her on is why she cannot do the same with Sri Lanka, rather than indulge in a public spat and witchhunt?

Opening up old wounds

Most people in Sri Lanka believe that what she is trying to do is to open up old wounds and it is completely counter productive to promoting reconciliation between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities. Nor is it helping to improve human rights in Sri Lanka, where a government that is threatened by what they see as an international conspiracy to change regime, has cracked down heavily on internal dissent and freedom of expression.

Weeraratne argues that Pillay’s methods are harming human rights and increasing the credibility gap of UN agencies in the eyes of the international community (which is not just the U.S., EU and its allies). Instead he argues that UNHRC should adopt the Japanese model of solving a post-war crisis.

“The Japanese approach advocated by the Buddhist Prince Shotuku to use the method of consensus and dialogue, and not allow the accused party to lose face is a far more enlightened approach to resolution of complex human rights issues than the ‘ burning at the stake’ inquisitorial approach of the West” notes Weeraratne.

“It is the employment of double standards and devious methods to achieve ulterior political ends of powerful Western actors that have resulted in the moral collapse of the UN and related agencies.”

*Kalinga Seneviratne is IDN Special Correspondent for Asia-Pacific. He teaches international communications in Singapore. [IDN-InDepthNews – March 3, 2014]

Australian company to set up US$ 190 million solar panel plant in Sri Lanka

ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

 




Feb 24, Colombo: The Sydney-based Australian solar panels manufacturer, Energy Puzzle Group will invest US$ 190 million to set up a state-of-the-art factory in Sri Lanka to manufacture solar panels.

Sri Lanka's investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment (BoI) said the Energy Puzzle Group will set up its plant in the BOI's new Export Processing Zone at Mirijjawela, near Hambantota in the deep south.
Chairman of Energy Puzzle, Patrick Featherston and Chairman of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Dr. Lakshman Jayaweera signed the agreement recently in Colombo.

Energy Puzzle will be developing their operations in Sri Lanka under several phases and in the first phase, which is covered under the agreement with the BOI, the company will manufacture solar cells and panels of up to 150 MW/year.

"However the company envisages a greater production of Solar Panels and Energy Technology in the future," the BoI said.

The company will originally employ 150 staff of which there would be a mix of Sri Lankan and some Australian managers and workers.

According to the BoI, Energy Puzzle has a vast experience in solar power projects and provides consultancy services to the governments of Australia, the USA and Sri Lanka in this form of alternative energy.


Production of solar panels will be mainly exported but some of this production will also be made available to the local market. The Company could be listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange under a new scheme which is being set up by the BoI and Stock Exchange.

Caught Red Handed! Regime Change Activities of the US around the World!

WOW! Read this ... It is Truly Frightening how DESTRUCTIVE a Force the USA is becoming, and why the left-wing Obama Administration is as bad as the right-wing Bush Administration it replaced!

.................................................
Caught Red Handed

Secret Tape Reveals US-backed Plot to Topple Ukraine's Democratically-Elected President

By Mike Whitney
"Information Clearing House - "Counterpunch"
InformationClearingHouse.info

February 12, 2014

“In the latest debacle for the US State Department and the Obama Administration, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was caught on tape micro-managing Ukraine opposition party strategies with US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. That the Ukraine regime-change operation is to some degree being directed from Washington can no longer be denied….The taped conversation demonstrates in clear detail that while Secretary of State John Kerry decries any foreign meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs, his State Department is virtually managing the entire process.”

– Daniel McAdams, “‘F**k the EU’: Tape Reveals US Runs Ukraine Opposition“, Ron Paul Institute

Washington is at it again, up to its old tricks.

You’d think that after the Afghanistan and Iraq fiascos someone on the policymaking team would tell the fantasists to dial-it-down a bit. But, no. The Obama claque is just as eager to try their hand at regime change as their predecessors, the Bushies. This time the bullseye is on Ukraine, the home of the failed Orange Revolution, where US NGOs fomented a populist coup that brought down the government and paved the way for years of social instability, economic hardship and, eventually, a stronger alliance with Moscow.

That sure worked out well, didn’t it? One can only wonder what Obama has in mind for an encore.

Let’s cut to the chase: The US still clings to the idea that it can dominate the world with its ham-fisted military (that hasn’t won a war in 60 years) its scandalized Intel agencies, its comical Rambo-style “Special Ops” teams, and its oh-so-brilliant global strategists who think the days of the nation-state will soon be over hastening the onset of the glorious New World Order. Right. Ukraine is a critical part of that pipe dream, er, strategy which is why the US media puts demonstrations in Kiev in the headlines while similar protests in the US are consigned to the back pages just below the dog food ads. In any event, the crisis is likely to intensify in the months ahead as Washington engages in a no-holds-barred tug-o-war with Moscow over the future of civilization.

For bigwig strategists, like Zbigniew Brzezinski, Ukraine is a war that Washington must win to maintain its position as the world’s only superpower. As he sees it, the US must establish outposts throughout Eurasia to diminish Russia’s influence, control China, and capitalize off the new century’s fastest growing region. Here’s how Brzezinski sums it up in Foreign Affairs in an article titled “A Geostrategy for Eurasia”:

    “America’s emergence as the sole global superpower now makes an integrated and comprehensive strategy for Eurasia imperative…Eurasia is home to most of the world’s politically assertive and dynamic states. All the historical pretenders to global power originated in Eurasia. The world’s most populous aspirants to regional hegemony, China and India, are in Eurasia, as are all the potential political or economic challengers to American primacy…

    Eurasia is the world’s axial supercontinent. A power that dominated Eurasia would exercise decisive influence over two of the world’s three most economically productive regions, Western Europe and East Asia. A glance at the map also suggests that a country dominant in Eurasia would almost automatically control the Middle East and Africa…

    What happens with the distribution of power on the Eurasian landmass will be of decisive importance to America’s global primacy and historical legacy.” ( “A Geostrategy for Eurasia”, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Foreign Affairs, 1997)

Okay, so the not-so-subtle Brzezinski is telling US policymakers that if they want to rule the world, they’ve got to take over Eurasia. That’s pretty clear. It’s the Great Game all over again and Ukraine is one of the biggest trophies, which is why the US has allied itself to all kinds crackpot, rightwing groups that are stirring up trouble in Kiev. It’s because Washington will stop at nothing to achieve its objectives. Of course, there’s nothing new about any of this. The US frequently supports violent, far-right organizations if their interests coincide. Here’s a little background on the topic from Eric Draitser in an article in CounterPunch titled “Ukraine and the Rebirth of Fascism”:

    “In an attempt to pry Ukraine out of the Russian sphere of influence, the US-EU-NATO alliance has, not for the first time, allied itself with fascists. Of course, for decades, millions in Latin America were disappeared or murdered by fascist paramilitary forces armed and supported by the United States. The mujahideen of Afghanistan, which later transmogrified into Al Qaeda, also extreme ideological reactionaries, were created and financed by the United States for the purposes of destabilizing Russia. And of course, there is the painful reality of Libya and, most recently Syria, where the United States and its allies finance and support extremist jihadis against a government that has refused to align with the US and Israel. There is a disturbing pattern here that has never been lost on keen political observers: the United States always makes common cause with right wing extremists and fascists for geopolitical gain.” (Ukraine and the rebirth of Fascism“, Eric Draitser, CounterPunch)

Death squads here, jihadis there; what difference does it make to the big shots in Washington?

Not much, apparently.

But, wait, what’s all this talk about the US being on the side of anti-Semites and fascists in Ukraine? Is that true?

It sure looks that way. In fact, there was a funny story in the World Socialist Web Site about Assistant Secretary of State Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland which shows how far these people will go to achieve their objectives. In this case, Nuland, who — according to the WSWS — is “the grand-daughter of Jewish immigrants who fled to America to escape pogroms in Tsarist Russia”…was seen “handing out cookies in Maidan square to Svoboda thugs who venerate the mass murderers of Hitler’s SS.” (“Leaked phone call on Ukraine lays bare Washington’s gangsterism“, Bill Van Auken, World Socialist Web Site)

Nice, eh? So Vickie was having a little snacktime with guys who’d probably shove a knife in her back if they were given half a chance. That’s what you call dedication. By the way, Nuland’s “husband is Robert Kagan, the right-wing foreign policy pundit who served as the founding chairman of the Project for a New American Century, the neo-conservative Washington think tank that played a key role in the political and ideological preparation for the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The fact that Obama and Co. are directly involved in this latest would-be coup, doesn’t surprise anyone. According to a recent poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, “almost a half (45%) of Russian citizens think that protests in Ukraine have been provoked by Western special services.” By “special services” we presume the survey’s authors mean US Intel agencies and US-funded NGOs which have a long history of poking their noses in other country’s affairs. Here’s a statement by Rep Ron Paul in 2004 to the US House International Relations Committee which helps to throw a little light on the issue:

    “It is clear that a significant amount of US taxpayer dollars went to support one candidate in Ukraine. …. What we do not know, however, is just how much US government money was spent to influence the outcome of the Ukrainian election.

    Dozens of organizations are granted funds under the PAUCI program alone, (Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Initiative, which is administered by the US-based Freedom House.) and this is only one of many programs that funneled dollars into Ukraine. We do not know how many millions of US taxpayer dollars the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) sent to Ukraine through NED’s National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute. Nor do we know how many other efforts, overt or covert, have been made to support one candidate over the other in Ukraine.

    That is what I find so disturbing: there are so many cut-out organizations and sub-grantees that we have no idea how much US government money was really spent on Ukraine, and most importantly how it was spent.” (“What has the NED done in Ukraine?“, Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell)

The fact is, the USG gives away tons of money to all types of shady groups who carry out their agenda. As far as Ukraine is concerned, we actually have a better idea of the money that’s been spent than Paul thinks. Check out this video of Nuland addressing various industry groups and admitting that, “Since the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1991, the United States supported the Ukrainians in the development of democratic institutions and skills in promoting civil society and a good form of government…We have invested more than 5 billion dollars to help Ukraine to achieve these and other goals.” (“Washington’s cloned female warmongers“, Finian Cunningham, Information Clearinghouse)

5 billion smackers to topple a democratically-elected government in Ukraine while 8 million Americans still can’t find a damn job in the US. That tells you a lot about Obama’s priorities, doesn’t it?

Last week’s fiasco surrounding Nuland’s leaked phone conversation has clarified what’s really going on behind the scenes. While the media has focused on Nuland’s obscenity, (“Fuck the EU”) it’s the other parts of the conversation that grabbed our attention. Here’s a brief summary by the WSWS’s Bill Van Auken:

    “The call (exposes) the criminal and imperialist character of US policy in Ukraine …What the tape makes clear, is that Washington is employing methods of international gangsterism, including violence, to effect a political coup aimed at installing a regime that is fully subordinate to US geo-strategic interests…

    The precise goal of US efforts is to shift political power into the hands of a collection of Western-aligned Ukrainian oligarchs who enriched themselves off of the private appropriation—theft—of state property carried out as part of the Stalinist bureaucracy’s dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. In doing so, it aims to turn Ukraine into a US imperialist beachhead on the very border of Russia, whose territory it also wants to divide and subjugate to neocolonial status as part of its drive to assert American hegemony throughout the strategic landmass of Eurasia…

    Nuland makes clear that behind the scenes, Washington is dictating which leaders of the opposition…should enter the government to swing it behind Washington and what role the others will play…”(“Leaked phone call on Ukraine lays bare Washington’s gangsterism“, Bill Van Auken, World socialist Web Site)

Same old, same old. Like we said earlier, there’s nothing new here, nothing at all. All the blabber about “democracy” is just public relations crappola. It means nothing. US elites want to trim Moscow’s wings, set up shop in Eurasia, control China’s growth, be a bigger player in the continent’s oil and natural gas markets, export its financial services model, and make as much money as possible in the 21st century’s hottest market, Asia. It’s all about profits. Profits and power.

But then, you probably knew that already.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com.

From Sri Lanka, questions about wars

TheHindu.com
November 20, 2013

The real question in the debate over India’s Sri Lanka policy isn’t whether it is pragmatic or ethical. It goes, instead, to the heart of the ethics of the wars our country fights, and will fight in years to come.

Florence-on-the-Elbe, they used to call the historic German city of Dresden, before it began to turn to ash that evening in February 1945. Inside of days, the United Kingdom and the United States bomber command dropped some 3,900 tonnes of ordnance over the city, creating an inferno which would claim an estimated 25,000 lives.

The military utility of the slaughter is still debated by historians: proponents claim it destroyed key Nazi communication hubs, and broke the will of Germans to resist; opponents say it was vengeance, plain and simple. 

“There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre,” wrote Kurt Vonnegut, who watched the destruction of Dresden from a prisoner of war camp, in his classic Slaughterhouse Five.

Perhaps Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would agree: neither he, nor anyone else in the Indian government, has attempted to explain his controversial decision to stay away from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka. That leaves supporters of the choice to contend it was driven by high principle, and opponents to claim low politics triumphed over pragmatic foreign policy. 

It is time New Delhi thought of something intelligent to say on the issue, because it goes far deeper than India’s interests in Sri Lanka. Instead, the issue is enmeshed with how India fought the wars it believed were necessary to survive as a nation — and how it will fight the wars it is fighting today, and the ones yet to come. 

Making sense of the killing that unfolded in Sri Lanka in the last days of the Eelam War isn’t easy: we don’t know how many lives it claimed or, indeed, whether a genocide took place at all. Estimates for civilian fatalities, produced by the United Nations and human rights groups, range all the way from 20,000 to 1,47,000. There is no expert consensus on whether civilians were targeted on purpose, and, if so, when. There are indeed several well-documented cases of extrajudicial executions, but these are not the same as a genocide. 

The numbers 

It is important to understand why so many different numbers exist, what they mean, and what they imply.

The methodology behind these figures was first proposed by the University Teachers for Human Rights, a Jaffna-based human rights group. In essence, the UTHR proposed deducting the number of civilians who arrived at the government’s refugee camps from those known to be living in the so-called no-fire zone. This gave a number for people who could be presumed to have been killed. 

However, no one knows how many people were actually living in the no-fire zone to start with. The government agent in Mullaithivu district, K. Parthipan, estimated the population to be around 330,000 in February 2009. Mr. Parthipan, though, had no way of conducting a census in the no-fire zone; he relied instead on reports from local headmen. He did not have any tools to distinguish civilians from LTTE conscripts and irregulars. He had no way of accounting for people who fled the zone to safety as the Sri Lankan forces closed in.

Mr. Parthipan’s numbers weren’t supported by the United Nations Panel of Expert’s analysis of satellite images, which suggested a population of 2,67,618. The U.N. experts then attempted a rule-of-thumb calculation of 1:2 or 1:3 civilian dead for every person known to be injured, which suggested 15,000 to 22,500 fatalities — much lower than the estimates that have now become commonplace. Finally, the panel plumped for an estimate of 40,000, based on Mr. Parthipan’s numbers. 

Notably, the panel did not distinguish between civilians and the LTTE cadre — a fact noted by the U.S. State Department’s December 2009 report to Congress. The LTTE’s regular forces, estimated by experts at around 30,000, were backed by irregulars, the makkal padai, as well as press-ganged conscripts.

Deliberate killing?

It isn’t unequivocally clear, either, that disproportionate or indiscriminate force was used to eliminate these forces. Satellite imaging shows that right up to May 17, the Sri Lankan Army was facing fire from the LTTE’s 130 mm, 140 mm and 152 mm artillery. The Sri Lankan Army claims to have been losing over 40 soldiers a day during the last phases of the war. The former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, sent a confidential cable to Washington, DC, on January 26, 2009, saying that the Sri Lankan Army “has a generally good track record of taking care to minimise civilian casualties during its advances.” 

Jacques de Maio, head of operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, concurred: on July 9, 2009 he told a U.S. diplomat that Sri Lanka “actually could have won the military battle faster with higher civilian casualties, yet chose a slower approach which led to a greater number of Sri Lankan military deaths.”

It is worth noting, too, that the U.N. panel acknowledged that the LTTE put some of those civilians in harm’s way. The report found “patterns of conduct whereby the LTTE deliberately located or used mortar pieces or other light artillery, military vehicles, mortar pits, and trenches in proximity to civilian areas.” 

D.B.S. Jeyaraj has graphically described how the LTTE forced civilians into the Karaichikkudiyiruppu area to defeat an offensive by the Sri Lankan Army’s 55 division and 59 division. Photographs taken by a cameraman for The Times of London on May 24, 2009, for example, show what appear to be pits for siting mortar, an arms trailer and a bunker, in the midst of a civilian location in the no-fire zone. 

None of this, of course, settles things one way or the other — and that’s the point. There is very little doubt that the Sri Lankan forces did commit crimes. They worked with savage paramilitaries who were out to settle scores with the LTTE. It doesn’t follow from this, though, that Sri Lanka’s campaign against the LTTE was genocide. And this brings us to the larger question. 

The language of war 

The real question is a simple one: when, and how much, is it ethical to kill in war? Through the history of modern warfare, commanders have confronted the same dilemmas that Sri Lanka faced in 2009, or Winston Churchill confronted in 1945. Iraq, the University of Washington’s Amy Hagopian and 11 co-authors have estimated, lost 461,000 lives, either directly or indirectly, because of the U.S. invasion. 

In April 2004, up to 800 civilians were reported killed when the U.S. tried to clear insurgents from the Iraqi city of Fallujah — a cost so high that embarrassed commanders were forced to call off the campaign. Iraq continues to see abnormally high rates of birth defects, which some researchers attribute to depleted-uranium munitions used.

The second battle of Grozny in 1999-2000, when Russian troops backed by armour and air-power battled Chechen insurgents, saw the city reduced to what the U.N. later called “the most destroyed city on earth”.

For decades, India has propagated the comforting fiction that its counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations are conducted within the framework of everyday criminal law. Leaders and lawmakers have, at once, countenanced extra-judicial executions, torture, and collective reprisals against civilians. This hypocrisy is corrosive to the armed forces, and to India’s polity. 

This isn’t reason to countenance sanctimony. The laws of war, as we know them, were written in the wake of 1945 — driven by a particular historical experience of war. They continue to evolve mainly in Europe and the U.S., where nation-states have no lived experience in generations of the hideous consequences — and costs — of existence-threatening insurgencies.

In India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, though, there has been next to no first-principles discussion of the ethics and law. We have lost our ability to talk honestly about war, and what it entails — and that won’t do.

“The language of war is killing,” 9/11 bomber Khalid Sheikh Mohammad told his interrogators, perhaps unconsciously borrowing words from the great strategist, Carl von Clausewitz. He was right. How to speak it is something we must learn to honestly discuss. Sri Lanka is as good a place to begin as any. 

praveen.swami@thehindu.co.in

Documentary on Sri Lanka aired on NBC network in US

 

Colombopage News Desk, Sri Lanka
ColomboPage.com




Feb 06, Colombo: A public relations firm in the United States contracted by the Sri Lankan government has aired a 30-minute documentary on Sri Lanka on the prime network TV.

The 28 minute documentary titled "Sri Lanka Reconciling & Rebuilding" produced by the Thompson Advisory Group (TAG) has been aired on the NBC network, the Daily FT reported.

The paid program narrated by the former CNN correspondent and global PR consultant Gene Randall was aired on last Sunday (February 02) on the NBC network following the "Meet the Press" program, according to the Daily FT report.

The same documentary was reportedly presented at the US Capitol last week before a group of Congressmen and officials specially invited by TAG to meet a Sri Lankan delegation headed by Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga.

Sri Lanka's Central Bank hired the Washington-based Thompson Advisory Group last year at a cost of US$ 66,600 per month to promote a political environment in the US that is more conducive to enhancing Sri Lanka's long term political and economic aspirations and to implement a relationship building program between the Sri Lankan and US governments.

The airing of the documentary and lobbying of influential US lawmakers are aimed at counteracting a third US resolution the State Department will table at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva next month.

Sri Lanka Accountability: Investigate LTTE-TNA allegiance

By Shenali D. Waduge

LankaWeb.com
January 30, 2014

We agree with the US, UK, EU, UN and UNHRC head. There are serious allegations to be investigated. The onus is on the Government of Sri Lanka to immediately INVESTIGATE – how the LTTE emerged, who trained, armed and financially sponsored them and the most important link between a terrorist organization and a political entity such as the TNA. In our eyes both LTTE and TNA are one and the same – the Sri Lankan public now demand that this evil nexus be investigated and the criminality of these entities be exposed and charged under the country’s laws and regulations.

LTTE-TNA links (lethal combination of Terrorists and Politicians)

Attempts at Separatism
1.    Creation of Tamil ethnic political party – All Ceylon Tamil Congress during British rule
2.    Creation of the ITAK (Federal Party) by Chelvanayagam in 1949 (year after independence)
3.    Vaddukoddai Resolution 1972 calling for youth to take up arms (Prabakaran was just 18years)
4.    Creation of Tamil New Tigers on 22 May 1972 by Prabakaran
5.    Tamil New Tigers rechristened as LTTE on 5 May 1976

Collective Responsibility – Guilty by Association

·         Did Prabakaran hijack what the Tamil politicians wanted or were both following the same objective by different route?
·         Did it serve both Prabakaran and elements of the Tamil political set up to annihilate all moderate Tamil politicians who were for peacefully living with other communities?
·         How many Tamil civilians do not wish to make their stand about the LTTE or the TNA and to negate the false assumption that Tamils wish to live separate from the other communities in Sri Lanka?
·         Why do Tamils not come out to say that most Tamils in reality live outside of the ‘Tamil Homeland’ thus putting to rest the charade and lies? Does the Tamil civil population not hold the key to silencing all critics and nullifying separatist claims on the grounds that Tamils cannot live with Sinhalese.

TNA-LTTE

TNA is an unregistered alliance formed in 2001.
TNA comprises ACTC (All Ceylon Tamil Congress) / EPRLF (Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front) / TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization) / TULF (Tamil United Liberation Front)
LTTE’s influence over voters enabled TNA politicians to enter Parliament – Investigate this.
TNA and LTTE are making the identical demands. The only factor that differentiates the 2 is LTTE had arms.
Now with the LTTE factor removed TNA is continuing the same demands.

LTTE-TNA alliance

2001 TNA election manifesto
TNA announced that the LTTE was the ‘sole Tamil National Entity’ in 2001. TNA claimed LTTE was the SOLE REPRESENTATIVE of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and LTTE had a right to negotiate on behalf of the Tamil people.  Investigate!
a) Recognition of Tamils as a distinct nationality 
b) Recognition of a Tamil Homeland with guaranteed territorial integrity 
c) Recognition of the inalienable right of self-determination of the Tamil nation. 
d) Recognition of the right to full citizenship and fundamental democratic rights of all Tamils.

2004 TNA election manifesto

“Accepting the LTTE’s leadership as the national leadership of ‘Tamil Eelam’ Tamils and the Liberation Tigers as the sole and authentic representative of the Tamil people, let us devote our full cooperation for the ideals of the Liberation Tigers’ struggle with honesty and steadfastness. Let us endeavour determinedly, collectively as one group, one nation, one country, transcending race and religious differences, under the leadership of the LTTE, for a life of liberty, honour and justice for the Tamil people.”

Investigate:
·         TNA Parliamentarians attending pro-LTTE events abroad and locally throughout 30 years
·         TNA Parliamentarians speaking atop LTTE stages, delivering speeches that echo separatist sentiment.
·         TNA Parliamentarians paying homage to dead LTTE suicide cadres
·         TNA Parliamentarians communicating and liaising with LTTE fronts overseas
·         Foreign mission briefings/country data on Sri Lanka that describes ‘TNA as a pro-LTTE party’ while international media too carry the same description.

·         2004 EU Election Observation Mission Chief John Cushnahan released the EU report on 17 June 2004 clearly establishing the LTTE-TNA alliance: Quote: Firstly, the LTTE intended that no other rival Tamil party (or Tamil candidate from the mainstream political alliances) to the TNA would be able to claim to represent Tamil interests. A chilling message to this effect was sent early in the campaign when a UNP candidate and an EPDP activist were murdered. Incidents such as this seriously restricted the right of the parties other than the TNA to campaign freely in the Northern and Eastern Districts. During the 2004 elections, the major incidences of violence was perpetrated by the LTTE, whereas at the earlier elections, the primary source of the violence (although not all), were the two largest political parties. Unquote

·         2009 statement by Anandasangaree (President/Secretary of TULF) to the President of Sri Lanka: 

 “Democratic Tamil National Alliance considers the TNA, as the first and the worst enemy of the Tamil People. They should take full responsibility, among many other matters, for the loss of several thousands of lives and for causing injuries for many more.…. All have become paupers now. They will find hardly anything left when they return to their homes one day. All these or atleast 90 % of these could have been saved and total displacement could have been avoided if only the TNA had the forethought to advise the LTTE to release the people from their grip, to go anywhere they liked. The TNA is blamed for this because, when everyone, every organization, every country, the EU, the UN etc. had made this request specifically, only the TNA kept on asking for the war to stop. When the 8000 students who sat for the G.C.E(O/L) exam were taken away for compulsory training by the LTTE the TNA kept mum. Some of them are now dead and others are under detention by the Government. Where are the children and grand-children of the TNA MPs. Will the TNA at least now tell the world as to what happened to the students at Sencholai. …. “Who are these gentleman of the TNA now wanting to form an alliance with the DTNA. They are the people whom the LTTE elected to represent them in parliament fraudulently and it is they who unashamedly claimed the LTTE as the sole representatives of the people. The LTTE is no more and hence they do not need any representation in Parliament. Under the Present circumstances the most honourable action the TNA can take or must do is to quit parliament without clinging on to that office. Neither the PLOTE nor the EPRLF (Pathmanabha) gave any indication to Mr. Srikantha who met me by appointment and the other two by accident. As for me I will not touch the TNA even with a “pole”. The dead, the injured and those living in the IDP camps deprived of all their rights will not pardon us if we have any deal with them. The TNA should not under-estimate our alliance partners who cannot be bought over with a mayor-ship or with any membership in Parliament as they sold themselves in April 2004. …. “For five years I fought a lone battle, amidst threat to my life, unbearable humiliations etc. I was also christened as a “traitor”. I now feel exonerated. Let the souls of the dead haunting our homes bless me and not curse me.” 

V. Anandasangaree, has signed the statement as President – TULF & Secretary – DTNA/2009. Incidentally, Anandasangaree had to eat his own words because he has now joined the TNA alliance which he accused in 2009.
  
Guilty by Association

 In investigating and establishing the links with LTTE-TNA every killing and act of crime committed by the LTTE automatically incriminates the TNA as being guilty by association.
LTTE’s crimes include suicide missions, destruction of civilian property, premeditated targeting of civilians, denying fundamental rights under the UN Charter to Tamil men, women and even children by forcibly recruiting them as terrorists, denying children their right to life, right to live with parents, right to education and right to freedom of movement, banks heists, political assassinations, narcotic trade, human smuggling and a host of other crimes which TNA by association with LTTE becomes culpable. Investigate!

 COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY – COLLECTIVE GUILT

 Allied Forces Denazified Germany – LTTE/TNA need to be denazified as well

 When Germany was denazified by the Allied Forces with the objective to totally eliminate any ideology associated with Nazism.

Sri Lanka must totally eliminate ideology associated with SEPARATISM.

·         Germans could not decry against foreign occupation (The Sri Lankan Army is the National Army of Sri Lanka and the GOSL has every right to position its troops wherever they like and their numbers cannot be questioned by any nation or group)
·         Germans could not object to foreign military presence which remained for 13 years in Germany
·         Denazification is a legal term coined by Pentagon in 1943 (Denazification Directives)
·         The Allies thus removed all physical symbols associated with Nazi regime.
·         The Nazi Party was abolished (TNA is the political arm of the LTTE)
·         Nazi links to cultural, social, intellectual, economic or even politics was abolished.
·         Everyone who supported Hitler or the Nazis were held accountable and charged with war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials. (WE DEMAND INVESTIGATION TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED LTTE/TNA IN THEIR CRIMES FROM 1980S TO DATE)
·         The Nuremberg Trials aimed to purge all elements of Nazism – even the Swastika was removed
·         German and Austrian refugees had to fill a questionnaire that categorized them – 1.5million Germans were categorized as hard-core Nazis
·         US took over German media and 37 German newspapers, 6 radio stations, 314 theatres, 642 cinemas, 101 magazines, 237 book publishers, 7384 book dealers and printers made sure there was NO CRITICISM of Allied occupation or its troops.\
·         More than 30,000 book titles ranging from school textbooks to poetry were banned, those who possessed these books were punished
·         All artwork related to Nazism was prohibited
·         If denial of holocaust is considered a CRIME and is BANNED. The denial of LTTE crimes must be equally considered a CRIME and should be BANNED. 30 years of suffering LTTE put Sri Lanka through cannot be forgotten. Each of us are victims in our own way. We need to differentiate who made merry by LTTE terror and who suffered because of LTTE terror. Investigate.
·         Allied forces ran posters in German which read ‘YOU ARE GUILTY OF THIS’  or “THESE ATROCITIES : YOUR GUILT” photos of dead humans carried headings with “WHO IS GUILTY” or “THIS TOWN IS GUILTY”.
·         Germans were forced to see rotting corpses and made to feel guilty in an Allied program to make ALL GERMANS feel ‘collectively responsible’ and ‘collectively guilty’ for the crimes of the Nazis. This was how US, UK and FRANCE treated ACCOUNTABILITY. Sri Lanka went about a totally different path and for that these same countries find fault.

 YES WE WANT ACCOUNTABILITY:

·         We want the world to know that India first mobilized groups of unemployed Tamil youth from Sri Lanka and trained them in India by Indian intelligence and retired army officers.
·         We want the world to know that these trainings began far before the July 1983 riots which makes us wonder whether this was a created incident to bring out the LTTE into the open.
·         We want the world to know that the majority of Tamils live outside their propaganda suited “Tamil Homeland” and amongst the very Sinhalese they say they cannot live with.
·         We want the world to know that in countries where minorities like Tamils making just 10% of the population can never hold positions as Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Inspector General of Police, Chairman of the Central Bank, Chairman of State TV, Heads of Government Departments, University Professors and Vice-Chancellors, Ambassadors and High Commissioners and the person tipped to be the first Tamil PM was gunned down by the LTTE as was the Mayor of Jaffna who became the 1^st killing of the LTTE.

 The public have been demanding that the GOSL INVESTIGATE the LTTE and its links to the TNA.
This investigation must commence now. The Public must be invited to send all evidence of such ties and the State must bring criminal charges against all the men behind these two movements having proven their guilt by association for the bulk of LTTE crimes were meted upon civilians and under Geneva Conventions and all other customary international laws civilians are non-combatants and anyone targeting them in the pre-meditated manner the LTTE had using suicide bombers becomes a war crime and if TNA is guilty by association all TNA members must be brought to trial using all the country laws already in place to facilitate this.

WE DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION INTO LTTE-TNA ALLIANCE without delay.

MoD to probe TNA-LTTE nexus ahead of Geneva HR summit

By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
January 28, 2014

*EU polls monitors’ report used as evidence

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) would probe the nexus between the LTTE and the five-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a senior MoD spokesman told The Island yesterday.

The official said that the investigation would focus on the close relationship between the LTTE and the TNA since late 2001, when the political grouping recognised the LTTE as the sole representatives of the Tamil speaking people.  Based on the findings, legal action would be taken against TNA members, the MoD said.

The international community, too, would be informed of the TNA’s pro-LTTE activities during the conflict, the MoD said.

The TNA consists of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), the TELO, PLOTE, EPRLF and TULF.

The MoD official was responding to a recent resolution adopted by TNA-led Northern Provincial Council to urge the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to inquire into the alleged atrocities against civilians during the military offensive against the LTTE.

The MoD official said:

"We intend to investigate senior TNA members including those in Parliament and the Northern PC. The investigation is aimed at ascertaining how the TNA influenced the LTTE strategy leading to war in mid 2006."

Asked whether the MoD had irrefutable evidence to support allegations against the TNA, the official said that following parliamentary polls in December 2001, an EU Election Observation Mission had revealed that the TNA had been backed by the LTTE to win the majority of seats in the Northern and Eastern districts.

The MoD said some senior TNA representatives had even attended the passing out parades of the LTTE’s child soldiers. Photographic evidence was available, the MoD said. "We will also inquire into the circumstances under which the TNA on behalf of the LTTE ordered Tamil speaking people to boycott presidential election in November 2005." The TNA made the announcement on November 10, 2005 in Kilinochchi, the then nerve center of LTTE operations in the Northern Province.

The MoD acknowledged that there hadn’t been a comprehensive investigation into the TNA-LTTE nexus though some military officers felt an inquiry was a necessity. Responding to a query, the MoD said that except for last presidential polls in January 2010 when the TNA backed former army commander General Sarath Fonseka, the alliance had worked closely with the LTTE at the general elections in 2001 and 2004.

LTTE Political Wing was meant to infiltrate military-held areas; Sasitharans no saints -MOD

By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
January 16,  2014

The Defence Ministry yesterday said that Northern Provincial Council member Ananthi Sasitharan was under investigation, though she had publicly distanced herself from the LTTE fighting cadre.

A senior Defence Ministry spokesman said that the ongoing inquiry was meant to establish her role during the conflict as well as the post-war era.  The Defence Ministry was responding to criticism of its decision to weigh the need to rehabilitate Ms. Sasitharan.

During the conflict Ananthi Sasitharan worked at the Kilinochchi Divisional secretariat.

Ms Sasitharan successfully contested the first Northern Provincial Council polls last September. Representing the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) she polled the second highest preferential votes in the Northern Province comprising the administrative districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

Asked whether authorities had specific information regarding Ms. Sasitharan’s involvement in terrorism, the official pointed out that an attempt was being made to sanitize her on the basis that her husband, Velayutham Sasitharan alias Elilan functioned as the political wing leader of the Trincomalee district.

The Defence Ministry alleged that the LTTE created a political wing especially to infiltrate territory in Northern and Eastern Provinces, during the Norwegian arranged Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in early 2002. The CFA stipulated that LTTE could establish political offices in areas under the government control, the ministry said, adding that the Sasitharans could have taken advantage of the CFA on many occasions.

Sri Lanka wouldn’t give special status to those terrorists masquerading as political activists, the Defence Ministry insisted. Referring to the killing of LTTE political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan in early November 2007, the ministry stressed that the former Jaffna commander was targeted as he was a member of a terrorist outfit.

In fact, a US military team that examined the ground situation in late 2002 asserted that the LTTE was exploiting the CFA to its advantage. The team from Pacific Command alleged that: "Since the signing the CFA with the government of Sri Lanka, the LTTE has increased political presence within military controlled territory and actively repositioned, re-equipped and re-trained combat forces. As a result of these activities, the LTTE has improved its ability to affect civilian popular opinion, interdict military lines of communications and seize control of additional territory."

The ministry said that those who had visited Sri Lanka to examine the ground situation ended up listening to either former terrorists or the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which endorsed the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamil speaking people leading to the outbreak of eelam war IV.

Economic outlook 2014 SL will show all characteristics of growth of small developing countries: Dr. Kelegama

DailyMirror.lk

January 16, 2014

The Talking Economics editorial team interviewed Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Executive Director Dr. Saman Kelegama to get his views on the outlook for 2014 for the global economy and for Sri Lanka. Excerpts …

Q: Dr. Kelegama, what is your overall take on the economic prospects for 2014, globally?
It’s difficult to forecast global economic growth in contemporary times because of the high volatility and uncertainty in an inter-connected world. Slow recovery from the 2008/2009 global economic crisis and external shocks has further aggravated the situation.

Even an international institute like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) keeps changing its global economic forecasts every quarter. What was stated in its World Economic Outlook in April 2013 changed in the October 2013 report. Any prognosis on the global economic outlook and its implications need to be interpreted with caution.

Q: Based on the data available, what are your views on how 2014 will pan out for developed countries in particular?
The IMF expects that global economic growth in 2013 would be recorded at 2.9 percent and this will increase to 3.6 percent in 2014. Both forecasts are down by 0.3 and 0.2 points, respectively, from the last prediction made by the IMF in July 2013. These latest predictions were made despite the signs of recovery in the Euro area in the third quarter of 2013.

In the EU, business confidence indicators suggest that activities are close to stabilizing in the periphery and recovering in the core economies. But the worrying public debt level and the fragmented financial system are issues in the EU. The Japanese economy recovered from -0.6 percent growth in 2011 to stable 2 percent growth in both 2012 and 2013 after a quantitative easing policy pursued by the new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

As a large sum of the quantitative easing money is flowing out or leaking from Japan, the impact of this policy will gradually diminish in 2014, indicating a lower growth in the Japanese economy. Meanwhile, the US economy is expected to recover from 1.6 percent growth in 2013 to 2.6 percent in 2014.

Q: Let’s stay with the US for a minute – what are the key developments in the US economy to look out for?
After the financial crisis in 2008, US used several rounds of the bond buying strategy, known as ‘quantitative easing’, to pump credit to the US economy to revive it. Further to the announcements in June 2013, on December 18, 2013, it was announced that monthly bond purchase will be reduced by US $ 10 billion, which will amount to US $ 75 billion with effect from January 2014.

So, there are very clear signs of a tapering off of quantitative easing and the US Fed making a permanent exit from low interest rates. The impetus for stronger global growth will as usual come from the US economy.

Q: What about the prospects for emerging markets, particularly China, India and ASEAN?
China’s growth moderated in 2013 due to the rebalancing policy of focusing more on the domestic market. China is gradually shifting from the export-oriented and investment dominated economic model to a somewhat domestic-oriented and consumption dominated economic model.

The 7.6 percent growth in 2013, although less than the 9.3 percent growth recorded in 2011, remains high by international standards. China is expected to maintain this growth rate for 2014 with 0.3 percentage points lower than 2013.

India, the other major market in Asia has shown much slower growth during 2012 and 2013, 3.2 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. This has happened due to low business confidence resulting from policy uncertainty, double digit inflation caused mainly by deregulating administrative prices and depreciating currency, rising current account deficits, etc.

The Indian case clearly shows that rising external account deficits cannot be solved by short-term foreign capital inflows. Measures to enhance exports by addressing deep seated structural problems in the economy are essential. With currency depreciation and other measures taken in recent months, India will show a growth revival to 5.1 percent in 2014 but elections related uncertainty in mid-2014 could dilute growth prospects.

Q: To what extent are developments in the West, for instance the Fed taper, having an impact on these emerging markets?
After June 2013, with the signals of US gradually ending its quantitative easing policy, we saw some funds exiting from developing countries back to the US. It is estimated that countries such as Malaysia and Thailand lost close to 1.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth due to such pull-out of funds.
Some East Asian countries saw an increase in portfolio inflows from Japan consequent to the Japanese stimulus which compensated for some of the capital outflows to the US. These developments in the global market have created volatility in Asian financial markets.

Meanwhile, EU austerity is having an impact on ASEAN exports to the EU. Overall, ASEAN countries will show a marginal improvement in their growth rates from 5 percent in 2013 to 5.4 percent in 2014.

Q: What are the prospects for global trade in 2014 – will there be a notable impact?
Yes, all of these developments mean that there will be a weak recovery of global trade. This will be also due to some emerging protectionist forces by the limited progress of the WTO Doha Round (although the WTO Bali Ministerial was successful) and growing space of negotiations of mega regional initiatives like the Trans Pacific Partnership and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Of course, there will be better growth in 2014 compared to 2013 in overall global trading. In contrast to 2013, where a lower growth of imports and exports were seen compared to 2012, in 2014, there is estimated to be acceleration of import growth by 5.9 percent and export growth by 5.8 percent compared to lower growth for both in 2013.

Q: What about oil and commodity prices?
As estimated by international agencies, there will be a decline in both oil and food prices in 2014 and this will ease pressure on the foreign reserves of developing countries and support inflation management policies.

The consumer price increase at 5.7 percent for emerging and developing countries estimated for 2014 clearly shows that maintaining inflation at the single digit level will not be a major problem for most developing countries although the case may vary from country to country.

Q: How are small developing countries coping with these changes?
Despite volatility, the developing economies have shown promising growth in services exports, tourism and remittances. The services export growth has been mainly driven by the IT sector. In Sri Lanka, for instance, IT exports that amounted to less than US $ 50 million in 2001 have reached close to US $ 500 million in 2012. The growth in tourism is a result of the growing income levels, spread of Internet, etc. and this too was seen in Sri Lanka in the post-2009 period at a rapid rate.

People travelling overseas for jobs are also showing an increase. Remittances now exceed overseas aid and FDI in many developing countries. In Sri Lanka, remittances exceed 8 percent of GDP and are an important source of support to the balance of payments. With male migration for jobs now exceeding female migration, Sri Lanka is gradually moving towards exporting semi-skilled and skilled labour.

Remittances and tourism have been significant sources in sustaining the economic growth momentum in some developing countries and we will see the same trend in 2014.

Q: Let’s focus a bit closer on Sri Lanka now. What is your overall assessment of Sri Lanka’s economic prospects for 2014?
In 2014, Sri Lanka will show all characteristics of growth of small developing countries as I mentioned above with IT services exports, tourism and remittances playing a role in overall growth. With close to 6 percent GDP public investment in physical infrastructure as announced in the 2014 Budget, the debt financed government-led growth with some spillovers to private sector activities like construction will be visible in the economy.

Overall, Sri Lanka will also show a slight improvement in growth in 2014 compared to 2013 but the improvement may not manifest in full if 2014 is going to be an election year. Perhaps the growth rate will be between 7 percent and 7.5 percent — a reasonably high rate from an Asian perspective.

Q: You mentioned debt-financed growth. There are many questions regarding the sustainability of this strategy. How do you see it playing out in 2014?
We may see the end of global easy money in 2014 with the tapering off of quantitative easing in the US. Short-term foreign capital inflows to Treasury bonds/bills cannot be relied upon as an assured source of foreign exchange to boost up reserves in the coming years. LIBOR rates will grow at a faster rate in 2014 relative to 2013. This in turn means that international commercial borrowing is going to become costly in 2014.

Sri Lanka has already seen these tendencies in the second half of 2013 in its pursuit of borrowing from the global market where the US $ 750 million bond issue of the NSB carried 8.87 percent interest rate and the bond issue of the DFCC carried 9.62 percent interest rate and the bank settled for US $ 100 million instead of going for the desired US $ 250 million. Already the government has announced that it will go for a US $ 1.0 billion sovereign bond in 2014.

Presumably, part of it will go for infrastructure development work and other part for debt/interest repayment. What interest rate it will carry with the current BB- Sovereign Credit Rating will be an important issue in the context of overall management of the economy. Needless to say, a lower rate will be more manageable than a higher rate.

Q: Do you see any significant developments on the international political economy and trade front?
During the last four years Sri Lanka has been hit by two sanctions, viz., the GSP-Plus removal in August 2010 and US sanctions on Iran starting July 2012 that diminished crude oil imports from Iran at a concessional rate. The GSP-plus removal led to Sri Lanka losing over Rs.780 million from ready-made garments – the largest export item of the country — as was reported in Parliament in October 2013.

In 2014, Sri Lanka will embark on the China-Sri Lanka FTA. Will Sri Lankan ready-made garments gain in the Chinese market what it lost in the EU? Will the China-Sri Lanka FTA give duty free market access to key exports from Sri Lanka like ready-made garments, tea, gems and jewellery, rubber products, IT, etc.? If generous market access to Sri Lankan active exports is offered by China it will also give a boost to the overall exports that is much needed at a time when the export share in GDP has declined.

Likewise, the US sanctions on Iran will hit Sri Lanka’s oil imports – the largest import item of the country — in 2013 since Sri Lanka had to opt for some spot market purchasing from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Vietnam, etc., instead of the earlier arrangement of 93 percent dependence on Iranian crude oil at a cheaper rate. Before the sanctions, the oil bill was 25 percent of the overall import bill of US $ 20 billion; i.e., close to US $ 5 billion.

In 2014, there are reasons to believe that the oil bill might be more than US $ 5 billion if the price factor dominates over the volume. Given the improving relations between US and Iran there may be a possibility of removing these sanctions and in that case, with overall global downtrend in oil prices in 2014, Sri Lanka will be a beneficiary.

Two important global political events to watch in the context of the Sri Lankan economy would be the March 2014 UNHRC session in Geneva outcome and the May 2014 Indian elections outcome and their implications for the economy.

Q: What are some of the key ongoing policy issues facing Sri Lanka that need to be tackled in 2014 and beyond?
Global experience shows that debt financed consumption and investment-led growth do not necessarily improve market sentiments and is not sustainable. Sustainable growth requires real sector growth with exports taking the lead and increased inflow of FDI.

So, it becomes all the more important to build on the export pick up seen in Sri Lanka in the months of September and October 2013 and also create a consistent and predictable policy environment to attract more FDI to ensure sustainable high growth in the coming years.

Why 1984 Golden Temple raid still rankles for Sikhs

By Poonam Taneja
BBC Asian Network
July 13, 2013

 

In June Sikhs gathered at the Golden Temple to mark the 29th anniversary of what they see as a war crime

Four Sikhs have been convicted in London of attacking a retired general who led the Indian army's assault in 1984 on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The attack on Lt Gen Kuldeep Singh Brar, 78, in September last year brought one of the most controversial events in recent Indian history back into the headlines.

The storming of the Golden Temple, codenamed Operation Blue Star, was aimed at flushing out Sikh separatists.

They had been demanding an independent homeland - called Khalistan - in the Punjab.

The army's operation outraged Sikhs around the world, who accused the troops of desecrating the faith's holiest shrine.

Storming of the Golden Temple

• 1982: Armed Sikh militants, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, take up residence in the Golden Temple complex
• 3-8 June 1984: The Indian army attacks the Golden Temple, killing Bhindranwale, his supporters and a number of civilians
• 31 October 1984: Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had given the go-ahead to Operation Blue Star, was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards
• November 1984: More than 3,000 are killed in anti-Sikh riots across India

According to the Indian government, about 400 people were killed, including 87 soldiers.

But Sikh groups dispute this figure. They say thousands died, including a large number of pilgrims who were there for an important Sikh festival, the anniversary of the death of their fifth guru, Arjan Dev Ji.

Parts of the temple were damaged during the fighting and Sikhs felt it was an attack on their religion.

Operation Blue Star led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was killed by her Sikh bodyguards in revenge.

Almost three decades later a group of Sikhs saw an opportunity to take revenge on Lt Gen Brar, who was in London on holiday with his wife Meena, a visit the couple regularly made, astonishingly without any security.

Lt Gen Brar told the court - by video-link from India - there had been many attempts on his life since 1984 and several extremist Sikh websites had had him listed as their number one target.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court were told by Lt Gen Brar: "[Operation Blue Star] wasn't carried out against the Sikh community but against militants who had been carrying out a lot of killings."

He said they had given the militants lots of warnings but when they had failed to respond, they had had no other option but to go into the temple.

Lt Gen Brar, bearing the scars to his throat, returns to India after the attack in London

 

He said he had told his soldiers to use minimum force and not to damage the temple, but after the soldiers came under attack from all sides "they were dropping like mosquitoes.

"You can't sit there like dead ducks," he said, adding that they had had to fight back to defend themselves.
His attackers - Mandeep Singh Sandhu, 34, Birmingham, and Dilbag Singh, 36, from London, were just children when Operation Blue Star took place, but they bore a grudge.

The court was told that two members of Dilbag Singh's family had been missing since 1984 - his father and brother, who were in the temple complex at the time of the Indian army's attack.

When Singh Sandhu and Dilbag Singh found out Lt Gen Brar and his wife were in the capital, they made two reconnaissance missions to check out their movements.

A friend, Harjit Kaur, 38, of Hayes, west London, followed the couple into a casino, a restaurant and onto a bus.

Then on the night of 30 September, in a quiet street just yards away from their hotel, Lt Gen Brar and his wife were attacked.

The court heard Mrs Brar was thrown against a wall as three men grappled with her husband.

He told the court: "I shouted out, 'Who are you? Go away!' and tried to fight back."

The attackers will be sentenced on 19 September

 

Three assailants wrestled him to the ground and a fourth slashed his throat.

"I thought I was never going to see my wife and children again," he said.

The attackers ran off into the night and drinkers from a nearby pub helped Lt Gen Brar as blood poured from his wounds.

He was taken to hospital, where he needed emergency surgery to the deep cuts to his face and neck.

The police initially treated it as attempted murder, but the defendants were charged with wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.

The Golden Temple was built in the 16th Century and contains one of the holiest books in Sikhism

 

Dilbag Singh admitted he had followed Lt Gen Brar but said it had been with a view to exposing him to the Sikh community so they could protest against his presence in London.

Mandeep Singh Sandhu refused to give evidence. Kaur also denied the charge.
But all three were found guilty of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
A fourth man, Barjinder Singh Sangha, 33, of Wolverhampton, had previously pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Another man remains at large.

India diplomat row: Delhi says 'no stand-off' with US

Devyani Khobragade maintained a diplomatic silence on meeting reporters in Delhi

India's Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid has sought to downplay the row with Washington over an Indian diplomat who was arrested in the US. 

There was "no stand-off" with the US, he told reporters in Delhi, and predicted problems would be sorted out.

The row erupted after the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested in New York on charges of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper.

She is now back in India after an apparent agreement with Washington.

"If there are any issues" India and the US will "sort them out mutually", Mr Khurshid said in televised remarks.

He was speaking a day after Ms Khobragade arrived in India, where she was greeted by her father, Uttam. On Saturday, the two were welcomed by Mr Khurshid.

Analysis

Jonathan Marcus BBC diplomatic correspondent

 

In requiring the US to remove one of its diplomats from Delhi, the Indian government is effectively treating the departure of its own diplomat from the US as an expulsion.

The question now is whether this draws a line under the messy diplomatic spat between the two countries.
Of greater importance is the longer-term impact this may have on bilateral ties. India, a democracy and rising power in Asia, is seen in many quarters in Washington as a natural fit to become a special partner of the United States. The US has sought a closer strategic and military partnership with Delhi but to a large extent has been rebuffed.

India is cautious about advancing ties too quickly. It doesn't want to antagonise Beijing, and many Indians still see the US as having been far too close to Pakistan.

Surrounded by reporters on leaving the Maharashtra Sadan state guesthouse, Ms Khobragade gave little away. 

"No comments, I am really thankful for all your support... I cannot make any comments right now. My government will speak for me, my lawyer will speak for me," she said.

Ms Khobragade was asked to leave the US as the diplomatic rift deepened.

The US meanwhile confirmed that an American official will leave its embassy in Delhi at India's request - Mr Khurshid described this as an expulsion.

"We have our reasons and have informed the US about it. We are in touch with the US. We will do what needs to be done. I do not think that this needs more discussion," Mr Khurshid said.

Washington said it deeply regretted the move but hoped that it would bring closure to the case and lead to a return to constructive ties.

The expelled US diplomat has not been named.

Sources told Agence France Presse that the individual was of similar rank to Ms Khobragade and had been involved in the Khobragade case.

'Shocked and appalled'

Ms Khobragade and her father (l) met the Indian foreign minister the day after her arrival in Delhi

 

India had demanded an apology after Ms Khobragade, 39, was handcuffed and strip-searched following her arrest last month. It refused to waive her immunity so she could be prosecuted in the US.

Ms Khobragade has always denied any wrongdoing.

On Thursday she was indicted by a US federal grand jury in Manhattan, but was also granted immunity by US officials, paving the way for her to return to India.

Ms Khobragade was arrested after a complaint from her maid, Sangeeta Richard.

She in turn accused Ms Richard of theft and attempted blackmail.

Delhi said it was "shocked and appalled" at the manner of her arrest, and ordered a series of diplomatic reprisals against the US.

Security barricades around the US embassy in the capital were removed and a visiting US delegation was snubbed by senior Indian politicians and officials.

On Wednesday, the embassy was ordered to stop "commercial activities on its premises". India also said that embassy cars could be penalised for traffic offences.

The embassy has been told to shut down a club within its premises which includes a pool, restaurant and tennis court, NDTV news channel said.

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Devyani Khobragade: Bureaucratic and diplomatic negligence

By PJ Crowley Former US Assistant Secretary of State

The Indian and US negligence has turned a minor legal case into a diplomatic and political test of the countries' relationship

Every crisis theoretically provides an opportunity. But the current diplomatic rift between the United States and India seems to be a lost opportunity to avoid a crisis.

Rather than deepening relations, the two countries are deep into a lengthy period of crisis management.
The brouhaha was triggered by the arrest of the Indian deputy consul general in New York, Devyani Khobragade.

Ms Khobragade was accused of lying on an application for her housekeeper's work visa, over-reporting the amount of money the housekeeper was paid.

This is the third case of alleged mistreatment by Indian diplomats in New York in three years.
The US contends that Ms Khobragade's limited diplomatic immunity does not cover private conduct that violates US law.

'Despicable and barbaric'

Political hell has broken loose in India over the manner in which Ms Khobragade was detained. She was handcuffed after dropping off her child at school, subjected to a strip and body cavity search, then placed in a cell with the general jail population.

Barricades were removed from the front of the US embassy in Delhi, apparently in retaliation 

 

A high-level Indian official characterised the treatment as "despicable and barbaric". Secretary of State John Kerry called Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon to express regret.

New Delhi has retaliated by taking away privileges accorded US diplomats in India and removing security barriers guarding the American embassy there.

It has also elevated Ms Khobragade to a position at its United Nations mission that carries full diplomatic immunity. Whatever this means for the court case, it clearly indicates the dispute is no longer just a diplomatic problem but a political one as well.

The strip-search was an unforced error.

The US Marshals Service says it followed "standard arrestee intake procedures," a cringe-worthy bureaucratic phrase that means it went by the book.

Ms Khobragade was treated like every other female defendant awaiting a court appearance.

"The US could have declared Ms Khobragade persona non grata, demanded her immediate departure and refused further work visas for domestic help for Indian diplomats”

But the arrest of a diplomat is never just another case. If the state department did not know she would be strip-searched, it should have - and should have demanded special handling.

In diplomatic circles, any perceived slight is reciprocated. You step on our toes, expect the same. The political and public fallout was predictable, particularly in a country like India with a vigorous and sometimes inventive media.

En route to the courtroom in lower Manhattan, both countries lost sight of the big picture and the broader interests that should shape the relationship between the world's oldest and largest democracies.

India is a rising power the United States has been cultivating for years.

Frustration over the consulate's dismal human rights record is understandable, but a prosecution is necessarily a lengthy process that is bound to cast a shadow over the relationship even under the best of circumstances. The Italian case of American Amanda Knox comes to mind.

The state department alerted India about the case in September, but it's unclear what diplomatic efforts were undertaken to resolve the underlying issues short of prosecution.

The US could have declared Ms Khobragade persona non grata, demanded her immediate departure and refused further work visas for domestic help for Indian diplomats.

But once the United States chose to prosecute, it had not just to do everything by the book but do everything right, to keep the case focused on her. That obviously did not happen.

Devyani Khobragade at a fundraiser on 8 December

On the Indian side, it is unclear why the Indian ambassador to the United States or the country's foreign ministry failed to clean house when first alerted by US authorities.

Indian diplomats surely understand that disrespecting US law and international norms undermine its emergence as a constructive global actor.

India's removal of security barriers is excessive and irresponsible.

Even if the remaining security arrangements are adequate - India has primary responsibility for embassy security under the Vienna Convention - New Delhi should understand how sensitive such a move is given last year's attack on a US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

Once charges were pending, both sides should have worked together to ensure the case did not undermine vastly improved, but still occasionally testy, relations between the two countries. That didn't happen either.
That India and the United States have allowed a minor legal case to become a major test in US-India relations is bureaucratic and public diplomacy negligence.

After all, tending to the big picture is supposedly what governments and foreign ministries do for a living.
There are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about US-India relations. Mutual interests far outweigh differences. But if this week is any indication, the road ahead will be bumpy.

PJ Crowley is a former Assistant Secretary of State and now a professor of practice and fellow at The George Washington University's Institute of Public Diplomacy and Global Communication.

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Indian diplomat tells of anguish at leaving US without children

By Abhaya Srivastava 

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New Delhi (AFP) - An Indian diplomat at the centre of a bitter row with the United States told Sunday of her "immense stress" at leaving behind her young family in New York, and vowed to clear her name.

Indian consulate official Devyani Khobragade was allowed to leave the United States on Friday after a month-long dispute over her arrest and strip-search on suspicion of visa fraud involving her domestic servant.
Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity and allowed to fly back to India -- just hours after charges were filed in court alleging she lodged false documents to obtain a visa for her servant and then underpaid her.

Khobragade, 39, told an Indian newspaper of her anguish at leaving behind her daughters, aged seven and four, in New York along with her husband, a US citizen, who works as an academic.

"I wonder if I will be able to ever reunite with my family, my husband, my little kids. I miss them," Khobragade told The Sunday Express.

"What if my children choose to study and work in the US? What if I can never return to the US, which I cannot now. Does it mean we will never be able to live together as a family again?" she said.

"I know I am honest, and I will come out clean. But we do not know how much time it will take and for how long my family will have to suffer due to this," she added.

Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade gives a traditional greeting after her return from the US in New Delhi

 

Her arrest on December 12 outside her children's school and treatment in custody, where she said she was subjected to a cavity search, outraged India which claimed she benefited from full diplomatic immunity.

US prosecutors disputed this, and filed charges in New York accusing Khobragade of sometimes forcing the Indian maid to work 100-hour weeks, even when sick and often without a day off, for pay as little as $1.22 an hour.

Khobragade did obtain diplomatic immunity when last week New Delhi asked Washington to grant her a G1 visa given to diplomats at India's UN mission, which is also in New York.

The row between the two countries, which had embraced each other as strategic partners, saw weeks of feisty exchanges that strained bilateral ties and left resentment on both sides.

India has removed extra security barriers at the US embassy in New Delhi, demanded contract details for domestic staff employed by American diplomats and even stopped the mission importing duty-free food and alcohol.

On Wednesday, it ordered an embassy leisure centre popular with American expatriates in the capital to stop admitting non-diplomatic members, while scheduled visits by US officials to India have been cancelled.

In a fresh retaliatory measure late Friday, India asked the United States to withdraw an embassy official in New Delhi.

The expelled American diplomat was a "similar rank" to Khobragade and is thought to have helped the family of her maid travel to America where they were granted protection by prosecutors.

US prosecutors say the family of the maid were evacuated to the United States because of attempts to intimidate them.

In her newspaper interview, Khobragade said she would continue a legal fight to clear her name, including attempting to have her case in New York officially dismissed in a federal court.

"I have come to India but my stand still needs to be vindicated. And of course, I have been separated from my family, and I am under immense stress for my children," Khobragade said. 

"I spoke to my kids for hours last night, and they are already missing me. The four-year-old asked me, 'Mommy, when will you be back home', and I had no answer." 

She cannot return to the United States unless she surrenders to the court on arrival, and her name is being placed on US immigration watch lists "to prevent the routine issuance of any future visa", according to US officials.