There is a facile truism about nations getting the politicians they deserve. We, in Sri Lanka certainly have the kind we deserve.  Small-minded, cliquish, corrupt, self-serving, self-indulgent and deceitful. We should have booted them out a long time ago – but have not.
As we watch the conclusion of yet another election what is evident is not that the ballot rules but that parliamentarians have shown once again that they will stoop to any level in order to cling to power.
In the run up to each election the mantra is similar. Election monitors in Sri Lanka warn that violence is likely. Last Wednesday, monitors once again, warned that violence was likely to grip the Ampara District in the Eastern Province if the law enforcement authorities fail to uphold law and order during the Eastern Provincial Council election.
The Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE) stated that Muslim-dominated Akkaraipattu in Amapara was likely to become another Kolonnawa with several Muslim parties contesting for power in the Council.
Kolonnawa turned violent last October during local government elections with a shooting incident that killed four persons including a Presidential advisor, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and severely injured a governing party parliamentarian and thug Duminda Silva.
CaFFE Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon has said that law enforcement authorities had ignored warnings by election monitors during last year’s local government elections resulting in the violence in Kolonnawa.  No surprises there.
He has explained that the situation in Akkaraipattu was similarly tense.
According to Tennakoon, the battle between Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader, Minister Rauf Hakeem and National Muslim Congress (NMC) Leader, Minister A. L. M. Athaullah is turning out into a full-blown conflict.
While all this is happening Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP have descended to a level similar to that of the Colombo municipal administration which may be considered a creation of Wickremesinghe.
Sri Lanka faces a serious crisis of governance. More so, when President Mahinda Rajapaksa boasts to acolytes that he is constantly bombarded with appeals from opposition party parliamentarians to cross to government ranks. Bi-partisanship once again fails in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is once more at a crossroad. Trapped, by narrow-minded, uneducated leaders. Leaders, who have spat on democracy, embraced corruption and trampled on development in the truer sense. If white elephants like the Hambantota port, airport and cricket stadium can be held as examples or parallel to development projects that will help lift this island to new heights then it is no small wonder that Sri Lanka is destined to remain stuck in a political time warp. And her people forever to be treated as asses.
Corruption and the abuse of power are so utterly universal in this country that the public has become cynical to the extent that it evokes no response from them. From the dingiest alleys through the middle corridors to the highest echelons of power, corruption holds sway.
As the COPE report details, public funds have been squandered  by none other than many of those among the government parliamentarians. Some of who are today holding office as Cabinet Ministers.  It does not matter one bit to either President Mahinda Rajapaksa or anyone of the other 225 MPs that neither a lasting peace nor development projects for the greater good of this country and its people are not even being considered at this moment in time as they jostle for perks and privileges of high office.
For this low breed of politicians what is required is for their mad projects to be cheap, popular stunts.  Our continuous articles on the law banning polythene to the government’s flagrant disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians are good examples.
The government has failed to conduct credible investigations into alleged war crimes by security forces, dismissing the overwhelming body of evidence as LTTE propaganda. The government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), characterized as a national accountability mechanism, is deeply flawed, does not meet international standards for such commissions, and has failed to systematically inquire into alleged abuses. In August the government allowed emergency regulations in place for nearly three decades to lapse, but overbroad detention powers remained in place under other laws and new regulations. Several thousand detainees continue to be held without trial, in violation of international law.
Remember the Expropriation Bill? The rationale for this wave of nationalisation was to reform under-performing or under-utilized assets, but if that is the goal the government has no further to look than Mihin Airlines or the Ceylon Electricity Board, both perennial money losers.However, there are pet projects and those with less emotional attachment. Some of the companies being nationalized have had a history of mismanagement, including the Hilton Hotel holding company. Some have not. It is possible that the government (or their cronies could run them better), albeit unlikely.  What is more troubling is the precedent this Bill set. The government said this is a one-time thing, but if you have to give that assurance, perhaps you should question why you are doing it even this one time. As the knock-on effect at the BOI shows, this is actually a change in policy, passed with a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
While Mahinda Rajapaksa could perhaps be commended for going the legalistic route rather than simply ramming the changes through, (the Supreme Court ruled the Bill was constitutional) he should be condemned for warping the legal system by pushing such a dubious Bill through. It makes the Supreme Court seem nakedly partisan, completely circumvents the usual Bill drafting and gazetting procedure, and, most importantly, sets a precedent. While this circus is enacted before a weary nation, fed-up to the gills with such antics, both the government and opposition is yet to come up with any strategy to find a political solution that will move Sri Lanka away from the machinations of a select few with a perverted sense of patriotism.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is good at making the right noises and a past master at playing good cop while he allows his siblings and henchmen to play bad cop by giving them a free hand at the same time.
But it is a catch 22 situation.  We desperately need leaders who are committed towards the betterment of the country.  Men and women of integrity, principle and ethics.

It has been a few weeks now since we highlighted the blatant disregard and violation of procedures at Sri Lankan Airlines by the Chairman of Sri Lankan Airlines, Nishantha Wickremasinghe. He was responsible for awarding the contract for the supply of Wine and Champagnes which is valued at approximately US$ 750,000 annually and also gave away the entire supply and management of the Sri Lanka Airlines in-flight duty free sales program valued at US$ 7 million annually to one and the same company, namely Phoenix Rising Venture now called Duty Free Partners.
In effect, the Chairman with his actions has done away with  tender procedures for selecting suppliers and/or vendors, and instead on his own selected the Company (as admitted by him in a previous interview with this newspaper), owned and managed by Mr. Dilan Wirasinghe from Canada and Mr. Raju Chandirum from Sri Lanka respectively.
We also brought out to the public domain the large sum of foreign exchange that was brought in by his son (as admitted by him) which is tantamount to smuggling of foreign exchange to the Country. We also inquired for details of the Rolex Watch he had in his possession.

To date the Government has not taken any action to either investigate or to take corrective measures to rectify these irregular incidents of gross misconduct by the Chairman. Also what action has been taken to inquire into the smuggling of the foreign exchange and to check on the bona fides of the Rolex Watch?
Why would a Chairman take a personal interest to select a company to award the business of over US$ 8 Million annually?
How can an eminent Board of Directors allow the Chairman to push through the Board two large supply contracts to Phoenix Rising Ventures (Duty Free Partners) without having any proper evaluation and tender procedure?
The Board of Directors have a responsibility and fiduciary duty to look after the interests of the Airline and to ensure that no misappropriation corruption or bribery is taking place. However, if the Board is also responsible for approving the proposals put forward by the Chairman for the appointment of this Company without any tender procedures, then the Board of Directors also stand guilty for having approved these contracts.
Is it that the Board of SriLankan Airlines cannot stand up to the Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe (Brother of the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa) because of this very connection?
If indeed that is the case the Board should resign.  But then resignations in this country are not only hard to come by but as impossible as asking a blind man to describe colour.
What can be concluded out of this entire saga is that the Board of Directors are as guilty for aiding and abetting in approving these contracts by bypassing established Company tender procedures. No matter how good it may be the Board will not know if there were any better offers that may have been possible as a tender was not called for either of these contracts.
The issue is this. Those Sri Lankans who have had experience with government appointed ‘Competent Authorities’ who were justly called ‘Incompetent Authorities” in the days of nationalisation under socialist regimes will recall with much horror, how once prosperous private enterprises such as the plantations were reduced to black holes of the economy sucking up public funds under these government commissars. The pundits of the Rajapaksa regime have obviously not read history and want to repeat the blunders  at great cost to the country.
The pathetic state which Sri Lanka Cricket had descended to from being the World Champion is revealed in its financial record having incurred a loss of Rs. 7 billion. Queries by the Auditor General have gone unanswered and cricket officials had no clue how to answer them!  Another, case in point.
This is the alarming state of public administration in the country.  Nishantha Wickremesinghe boasts that he has an enviable track record in the Plantation Sector.  He continues to function as Director at Finlays Group of Companies.
Clearly, President Rajapaksa has not only resorted to recruitment of his relatives to state entities but also hired incompetent private sector rogues who have succeeded in creeping into  places quite foreign to them and as a result have cost this country billions not of rupees but of dollars!

There is NO rape. There are NO abductions. There is NO corruption. There is NO fear psychosis. The media remain – independent – unbowed and unafraid. Editors are not coerced into submission over candlelit tete-a-tetes with the President.
Children as young as six and seven years old are NOT being raped. Certainly not by politicians.  Murder if committed are solved in record quick time – except for those that took place in broad daylight in high security zones, no less.  The authorities cannot be blamed. The police are calling for any and all leads/clues the public may care to come forward with. Very noble.
THIS is the miracle of Asia. The star in the Indian Ocean. We are nothing like our murderous, corrupt barbaric South Asian neighbours or the pillaging Western colonists. We had zero casualties in the final stages of the war – oops no sorry – we were later told that the figure did go up a wee bit from zero to 1,200 dead civilians. Perhaps. All those who have been abducted are rapists, murderers and underworld criminals! Even though NO abductions take place, on the off chance that one might happen, then it has definitely got to be a rapist, a murderer or an underworld criminal.
 It is very unfortunate that the media reports and strives to project a white van theory – giving the impression that every abduction is carried out by the police or the army. The bad thing about that is the culprits use that as a cover-up! So any group can carry out these abductions and put the blame on the police or the army. The culprits are at large. The media does this to throw mud at the government – these abductions are either for personal reasons or it is carried out by the underworld?
The Police are sincere and committed to ensuring law and order. However, according to them, parents and their children must be held responsible for any rape or violation of minors. Surely, the public must understand that law enforcement is only a curative and not preventive in Sri Lanka. The Police are sincere and committed to ensuring law and order prevail. But constantly battle with a lack of information. A lack of leads – there are many murders they were fortunate to solve but at the same time there were others they could not solve. Not because of lack of effort on their part.
Sometimes people do not know how much effort the police are taking. For example take the robbery at the Museum. The police grapple daily trying to get a lead, but have still not got a single clue. But on the other hand there are cases they have solved. Like an old lady who was murdered in Kolonnawa, then a robbery in Colombo, then the first Kahawatte murder…which of course was a very difficult case.
Take Janaka Perera’s murder. People put the blame on the government. Finally it was proved otherwise. And the murder solved and the people who were responsible captured. So they are not totally ineffective. But at the same time there have been cases they could not solve.  Not because they are impotent. For example the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge, despite all the effort put in by sleuths to resolve that horrific crime, police yet have been unable to get any lead into it.
Almost all those climbing into boats and trying to reach Christmas Island are former LTTE cadres.
There is no need now for search and cordon operations or having many road blocks, checkpoints or rounding up people for questioning. That is no longer necessary. There are other methods to keep vigilant. Especially on the intelligence side – military intelligence units have increased. They are being trained more in advanced methods so they can gather information on these affairs and have an early warning system. So they can keep an eye on certain people that the government is aware have been engaged in criminal activity. Healthy practices in a budding democracy. As long as Sri Lankans know that Big Brother is watching!
Mega projects built at tremendous cost are a boon to this country.  It is NOT true that Sri Lankan tax payers are made to pay for these visionary expenses enriching only selected vendors along the way.
It is not true that it is no longer 10% but a mega 50% commission off some projects. The Jaffna A9 being a case in point. And it is certainly not true that politicians make money hand over fist. By allowing short selling and borrowing millions for purchase of shares from state banks it is not true again that fund managers have made millions out of Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s inexperience and poor regulations.
It is not true that the Rajapksas are ego maniacs and or that the world’s stupidity is concentrated in one man’s mind. Or is it three? Four?
It is NOT true that the government is selling every piece of state land to businessmen without tender; using select companies to obtain lucrative government contracts; NOR are they selling approval signatures for a fee on the basis of ‘you pay I approve’. These politicians definitely do NOT have billions stashed overseas. NOR have hundreds of acres of land been given to one or two companies (Sampoor being a case in point) while thousands of poor people still live in cardboard makeshift homes; have no water and have to use the river as their loo. It is NOT true that Sri Lanka’s best students are sent overseas raising their standards while as in most countries the best are kept in local universities and the rejects sent overseas.
It is NOT true that Sri Lanka having been colonized by the British for so long cannot yet educate its own people. Look at Hong Kong or Singapore, less than 5% study overseas. But they are just stupid. Nit heads. Believing they save billions if every student overseas is recalled to a local university, and at the same time raising their own standards.
In China people have been shot for embezzling one thousand dollars. But nobody gets shot here. Not for embezzlement. Not unless they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Not even when the Chairman for SriLankan Airlines had his son smuggle in some twenty three thousand dollars evading the country’s exchange control laws.
This government is at the forefront of leading an anti-corruption campaign. Mirror images of one another they are all – one and all – icons of purity and good governance.
There are still people without shoes, without land to farm, without homes, bathing in rivers and having to use holes in the ground as makeshift toilets. But they are happy. They have no water, no electricity but are surrounded by concrete jungles springing up all around them. Soon the superhighways that run through their villages will be jammed with traffic. Hambantota is a case in point.
Every time SLAF choppers fly VVIPs and VIPs to watch the cricket – those barefoot villagers cheer. Loud and clear.
It is a fact that Sri Lanka signed and ratified the landmark UN Convention that outlaws bribery and corruption. What is false and untrue is that Sri Lankans have been robbed and thrown into poverty by a few greedy, crooked and power hungry politicians and public servants.
It is NOT true that corruption in Sri Lanka has reached herculean heights.
It is NOT true the government which abolished the independent Bribery and Corruption Commission, along with the independent Police, Elections, Public and Judicial Service Commissions, by bulldozing the 18th Amendment through Parliament, placed the country in a precarious position, since it was a signatory to UNCAC.
Transparency International, is lying when it states that Sri Lanka is among the most corrupt countries in the world, and Eran Wickramaratne is acting as expected of an opposition MP right on target that with the UN country review on corruption due next year, Sri Lanka could be subjected to international pressure, since its Bribery and Corruption Commission was not independent of the Executive.
It is a diabolical lie to point out that the most common forms of corruption in Sri Lanka today include bribery, secret commissions made on contracts, blatant abuse of public power and position for personal advantage, and tax evasion.
It is certainly NOT true that funds intended for development are stolen, therefore depriving a government’s ability to provide basic services, feeds inequality and injustice, and discourages foreign investment and aid.
It is an utter falsehood to state that three years after the war, the only thing thriving seems to be corruption and the most corrupt, apparently thrive the most.
Our politicians are absolutely right when they blame the United Nations, UNHCR, the United States, Western countries, and perhaps the whole world. They make no mistakes. Others do. People do not have to look too far to see the robber barons. Western sponsored INGOs and governments dominated by white men with checkered agendas.  Let THEM explain – the United Nations and its subsidiaries how THEY come to be in possession of abundant unexplained, unearned wealth – a visible sign of stolen funds, meant to uplift the poor of our country.

• Nishantha Wickramasinghe – Chairman of SriLankan Airlines

It is typical. Not the 8 million rupee theft. But the cover-up which has followed. Both police and SriLankan Airlines of which Nishantha Wickramasinghe is Chairman have collectively or perhaps it is a national maladay – effectively shut-up.
Closely connected to the first family – brother of First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, a former planter and currently General Manager Estates at Finlays, – Nishantha Wickramasinghe though the victim of a theft – nevertheless, appears to have been caught with an undeclared booty.
How much of the foreign and local currency worth Rs. 4 million, stolen from his residence can Wickramasinghe honestly account for?
We tried valiantly to ask Wickramasinghe himself this question but the man remained phone shy until this newspaper went to print.

So, we were compelled to rely on inside sources. Not the thieves. Our ‘sources’ confided that US $ 11,500, Sterling Pounds 10,500 and one million rupees was the amount stolen from Wickramasinghe’s home in Mt. Lavinia . A Rolex Watch valued at an estimated Rs 4. million was also stolen.
From where did Wickramasinghe get such an expensive watch?  His tax declarations would indicate whether he could afford to buy one himself. Wickramasinghe is clearly in violation of the Exchange Control laws his own brother-in-law helped promulgate in this country, as a legislator.
Controller, Exchange Control Department of the Central Bank P. H. O. Chandrawansa said that if a person retains foreign currency worth US $ 2000 with him 90 days after returning to Sri Lanka from overseas it is a violation of the Exchange Control Act.
Chandrawansa explained that according to the Exchange Control Act No. 24 of 1953, any person travelling overseas in possession of monies exceeding US$ 15,000 must declare it.
When entering the country any person can bring any amount of money back to Sri Lanka but no one is allowed to keep more than US$ 2000, for more than 90 days after arrival. “In such instances I have the authority to investigate the matter,” Chandrawansa said.
Asked as to what action he could take against those who violate the regulations of Exchange Control Act, Chandrawansa said that it is up to him to decide what the penalty should be.
Our repeated requests to SriLankan Airlines asking if Wickremesinghe is paid a per diem when overseas and if he is required to return any of those monies if unspent on his return, were met with blank denials of “I don’t know”, including from the Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena who was literally quaking andbegging us “not to involve him” when we asked him for a clarification on the matter.
Even an email query to the corporate communications department remained unanswered as we were fended off with a non committal “the email has been sent to the management for a response”. A management who remained mute, too afraid to pull the rug – from beneath the muddy feet of a Chairman who clearly has much to hide.
In our endeavour to find out how Wickramasinghe could have amassed such wealth to be left loosely lying around his home we asked Kapila Chandrasena and the Board Secretary for SriLankan Airlines Ms. Melgrade Peiris if the Board had recently approved a Rs. 500,000/- monthly reimbursement package together with perks for Nishantha Wickramasinghe.
Both Chandrasena and Ms. Peiris claimed they did not know or “are not entitled to speak on Board matters”.
The multi-million dollar plus sterling pound question is this. Where and how did Wickramasinghe gather R. 4 million worth of foreign and local currency which – he did not trust a bank vault with, but instead his home at De Saram Place, Mt. Lavinia?
The police refused to tell us where in the house the money had been stored.
The Mt. Lavinia police who initiated the investigation and the Police Media Spokesperson SP Ajith Rohana claimed not to know the exact amount stolen from Wickramasinghe’s residence saying, “There were only a few foreign currency notes among the robbed Rs. 4 million.
Wickramasinghe was to go overseas in a few days and those were the monies he planned to take with him,” SP Ajith Rohana said.
However, a senior police officer on condition of anonymity confirmed that the thieves had stolen US$ 11,500 and Sterling Pounds 10,500 from Wickramasinghe’s residence when he and his family were away last week.
“This is completely against the Exchange Control Act. According to this Act no one can retain more than US$ 2000 or any other foreign currency equivalent to that amount. The police department too is surprised as to why no action is being taken against Wickramasinghe who has blatantly violated the Exchange Control Act. Is it because he is the brother of the First Lady?” he asked.
That, is a question we would all dearly like answered.
In Sri Lanka this is what being part of the First Family can do for you. One can violate exchange control laws – play hide and seek – pressure the police into keeping mum – and literally flaunt one’s ill- gotten gains be it by way of currency or shiny gold watches.
For all Mahinda Rajapaksa’s spouting on good governance he is bounden to explain how his brother-in-law (his wife Shiranthi’s brother) was hoarding 4 million rupees worth of foreign and local currency in his house.
This incident in fact only mirrors what this newspaper has been consistently saying – that corruption is at an all time high in this country – the people are being taken for assess – while those walking the corridors of power are stealing from beneath our very noses.

With additional reporting – by Nirmala Kannangara

Police At A Dead End
Police Spokesperson SP Ajith Rohana said that the intruders had entered through a fanlight in a bathroom when the house was empty.
“Up until now no one has been arrested nor have the stolen articles been recovered. However a special police team from the Mt. Lavinia police has been deployed to carry out investigations,” he said.
According to SP Rohana, the Police Finger Print Bureau was able to collect “scientific evidence” including fingerprints of the burglars.
“Although we collected scientific evidence, the police sniffer dogs were not able to trace the intruders. We have questioned the neighbourhood and other suspects in the area but have not yet been able to make a breakthrough,” SP Rohana said.
He declined to give any details of the stolen items but said that goods worth Rs. 8 million have been taken away from Wickramasinghe’s residence.

Everybody looked as if they were something out of Jurassic Park. It was probably the eerie blue lighting. As I perched myself on a chair I whispered softly to my companion on my right that she looked good. She actually did. Despite the awful lighting – perhaps because she had wisely chosen white for her attire and plenty of makeup as she herself hissed back. Unlike me – who looked like the French flag – waving under terrible blue lighting.
The Gratiaen Prize, which was instituted by Michael Ondaatje in 1992 with the money he received as joint-winner of the Booker Prize for his novel The English Patient, is awarded annually to the best work of literary writing in English by a resident Sri Lankan. The Prize, intended to encourage English writing by Sri Lankans, is named after Michael Ondaatje’s mother, Doris Gratiaen.
The judges selected each year by the Trust make their choice from an increasing number of entries.
Much as I admire Michael Ondaatje, the man must never be allowed before a TV camera. The show began with everybody forced to watch Michael expostulating on why and how he had won an award – I forget for what – (clearly for writing a book of course) a video which was repeated over and over as guests trooped in – which is why I even forget what award he had won or where – an overdose of television gimmickry always does that to me – my mind simply goes blank unless it is a showing of ‘Desperate Housewives.’ Putting Ondaatje in a loop..NOT a good idea!!
The only person at the head table who had a clear understanding that nobody must speak for longer than three minutes was Anirvan Gosh Dastidar the CEO in Sri Lanka of the Standard Chartered Bank. Everybody else who was allowed to grab the mike labored their point to the extent where I vacillated between yawns and inane giggling….the elderly man who announced the prize for translation even forgot the name of the prize winner!! This after stuttering through a rambling speech which was conspicuous for its lack of clarity. A male companion giggled right through the entire proceedings. Until Jill Westaway, head of the British Council in Colombo and Chairman of the panel of judges, got up and told us all how trying it had been to select the winner and that the decision was not unanimous. Oh please! Why she thought that would interest anybody is beyond me. She also forgot to limit her lament to three minutes. Awards should be presented with style highlighting the people who win rather than the process of choice, judging etc… so much was said that we did NOT NEED TO KNOW?????
As for all those at the Head Table apart from being full of themselves, looked dead bored throughout the proceedings. The winner – Madhubhashini was charming – I cannot however comment on her work given that it is unpublished and over 500 pages long. For sure, this is one book I will not ever be reading. Then there were the readings. All good – except for Dereck …. Somebody needs to tell that boy that you don’t yell into a microphone!
Oh and then there was somebody whose claim to fame is that he attended on the mafia thug Duminda Silva as his anesthetist – the guy turned up one hour later that he should have – missed his assigned schedule for a reading and as a result Neidra Williams had to step in and read poetry which she had hardly had more than a minute to scan before being called upon to do so. And then there were the cocktails. The wine flowed ….one woman even ended up on the floor!! – and finger food sparse with only the cutlets as a saving grace. The chicken wings were ghastly and I spotted someone actually wincing in disgust before tossing a half chewed wing on the floor behind the bar.
It might have been polite on the part of the organizers to leave the chairs as they were until the guests had left instead of clearing the floor and noisily piling up chairs ladder-style simultaneously as the wine was being gulped. The icing on the cake was the waiters soliciting a white man in my group – of course he absolutely loved the attention and lapped it all up.
As for me – I really needed a good tall strawberry marguerita after all this – which I swallowed with relief at a water hole nearby on cushioned comfort – and under normal white but subtle lighting – where I checked my face in the mirror to make sure I no longer resembled a lysine-deficient female from Michael Crichton’s 1990 science fiction novel – Jurassic Park.

What happened to dozens of LTTE members who surrendered to the army together with Rev. Francis Joseph, a Catholic priest, south of the Vadduvaakal bridge on May 18 2009? “Aananthi” (not her real name), the wife of one of the disappeared, told Human Rights Watch that she saw the army load the priest and the LTTE members on to a bus and drive them away.
Human Rights Watch interviews with other witnesses and numerous media reports confirm her account. The wife and two children, aged 3 and 5 years, of an LTTE member were also taken away on the bus. The family members and Fr. Joseph remain missing.  Where and what happened to these people?  Why are these disappearances not investigated by the government which instead continues to stonewall all calls demanding accountability.
Through interviews with relatives of the missing and witnesses, published testimony and media reports, international human rights organizations have found that more than 20 people who were taken into army custody between May 16 and 18, 2009, appear to have been forcibly disappeared. Most of them are known to have been detained in the Vadduvaakal area, just south of the strip of land in north-eastern Sri Lanka where the final battle between the LTTE and government forces occurred.
At the time, the area was controlled by the Sri Lankan army’s 59th Division. Abductions in Sri Lanka continue unabated. Last week two more people went missing. Ramasamy Prahaharan, a Tamil businessman was abducted from outside his home as he attempted to open his gate at Canal Road, Wellawatte while another Tamil, Subramanium, was abducted from Aluthkade.
At the time of the abduction, Ramasamy Prahaharan had filed a fundamental rights application with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka against senior police officers, the Attorney-General, and eight others, alleging torture and unlawful arrest and detention. The Supreme Court had granted him leave to proceed and the hearing had been scheduled for February 13. Ramasamy Prahaharan was abducted two days before the Fundamental Rights petition was to be heard in the Courts.
Apart from the ritual blank denial, the government has thus far ignored the fate of these missing persons. Family members of those abducted have a right to know if their loved ones are missing or dead.
Under International Law, an enforced disappearance occurs when the authorities take an individual into custody but refuse to acknowledge doing so or do not provide information about the person’s whereabouts or fate. Among the rights an enforced disappearance may violate are those to life, liberty, and security of the person, including protection from torture and other ill treatment.
Aananthi meanwhile has told Human Rights Watch that she has had no news about her husband since the abduction.  “I have searched in all the camps. I went to the Defence Ministry. I filed a complaint with the police in January 2010. But I have received no information about my husband. The police only told me it would be difficult for them to find him since the area where he went missing is under military control. I want the government to tell me what happened to him. Whether he is dead or alive, I want an answer.”
Asked specifically about Yogiratnam Yogi, one of the men taken away on the bus, the Sri Lankan Commissioner General for Rehabilitation said in July 2010 that he was not among more than 11,600 LTTE cadres in custody. Human Rights Watch has established the names of several other people who were taken away on the same bus, but it has not been possible to confirm whether they remain missing. In another disappearance case, a witness told Human Rights Watch that two former LTTE members helped government soldiers identify Colonel Ramesh, an LTTE leader, among the fleeing population and took him and three others away to a small hut nearby. Ramesh’s family has not received any news about him since he was detained. In December 2010 several media outlets broadcast a video clip obtained by the Global Tamil Forum that allegedly showed Ramesh in custody.
Human Rights Watch has obtained several additional, longer videos of Ramesh, providing further evidence that he was in army custody. In one of the videos, Ramesh is seen lying on a bench in civilian clothes. In four other videos, several soldiers stand around Ramesh while one of  the soldiers questions him about where he is from, the whereabouts of the wife of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and how he received an injury on his back. At one point it seems  the soldiers are telling Ramesh that the date is the 22nd, suggesting that the video may have been filmed on May 22, 2009. A sixth video shows only Ramesh answering questions about when he joined the LTTE, what his position is, and his family members.
A Sri Lankan military spokesperson dismissed the December video as fake and claimed that Ramesh had been killed during the last days of the war.
On May 17, army soldiers detained Paramnantham Kokulakrishnan and two other men just north of the Vadduvaakal bridge. Kokulakrishnan’s wife told international human rights activists that the soldiers did not allow her to accompany her husband even though he was blind from an injury that he had received in 1996. The soldiers told her they would interrogate the men and then release them, but she has not had any news of her husband since. Kokulakrishnan’s family filed a complaint with the police in October 2010. The police replied by letter that they would investigate the disappearance, but the family has received no information.
Another witness account relates that five people are still missing after they were separated from the rest on May 17 just south of the Vadduvaakal bridge. Among the missing is Sudarsani Krishnakumar. Her family has filed complaints with the national Human Rights Commission and the police, but has received no information about her whereabouts.
In several cases, family members also testified before or filed written complaints with the  government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which was created by  President Rajapaksa in May 2010. While the LLRC has published testimony of  government officials and others on its website, it has not published many of the testimonies alleging enforced disappearances by government forces.
Where are these people? Surely, government law enforcement and other authorities cannot be this impotent to not be in a position to investigate them to a conclusion.

Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe - “a political insider” within the Rajapaksa administration

The cable very specifically mentions that Major General Prasad Samarasinghe must be protected describing him as “a political insider” within the Rajapaksa administration.  Why Samarasinghe chose to back his bosses and pass information to the Americans is what needs clarification.
Sources speaking on conditions of anonymity to The Sunday Leader but loyal to Prasad Samarasinghe told us the Major General has insisted to confidantes that he never once met James R. Moore. Nor, did he meet Robert R. Blake Jnr.  who was at the time Ambassador.  He has further flatly denied having supplied any information to the Americans. But the matter most certainly does not rest there. After all, James R. Moore could not have penned a cable and used the name of a top army officer merely to lend authenticity to what he was writing to his bosses in Washington D.C. Are we to believe that Robert R. Blake would fabricate or implicate the name of a top army officer in allowing him to be named as a source of “classified, secret” information?
The question then is this.  Did the US Embassy in Colombo hoping to use him as an informer, bribe Major General Prasad Samarasinghe with an offer of citizenship in America for him and his family?
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was recently quoted in a weekly English newspaper saying just that. He charged that the Americans made an abortive attempt to bribe Major General Prasad Samarasinghe to make allegations against Sri Lanka.  Accusing the US Embassy in Colombo of being involved in a sordid operation, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa  charged the diplomat, who had made the move after the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009 offered to accommodate Maj. Gen. Samarasinghe and his family in the US.
Interestingly, Rajapaksa made these allegations before the WikiLeaks cable was unearthed.
The newspaper report quoted the Defence Secretary as saying the ongoing efforts to bring to the fore a so-called affidavit should be examined in the context of an attempt to employ a serving officer against Sri Lanka. He was clearly responding to the fact that the Americans had placed on record that Samarasinghe as a serving army officer has provided valuable information to the US and contradicted the government’s official versions, on an issue that to date continues to haunt the credibility of the Rajapaksa regime.
The issue is this. On June 22, 2007 America’s then Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert O. Blake, sent a cable to his political masters in the US.  The cable was classified as “confidential” and carried the reference number: 07COLOMBO899.
In this, Blake wrote a summary of events which had taken place in Sri Lanka the previous day. He wrote that on June 21, a special unit of the Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit (CID) arrested former Air Force Squadron Leader Nishantha Gajanayake in connection with an ongoing probe into abductions, extortion and extra-judicial killings.  Among other crimes, Gajanayake is alleged to have arranged the abduction and killing of two Tamil Red Cross employees on June 1, 2007.
But here comes the coup de grâce.  Gajanayake’s arrest was mired in political controversy.  On June 18, 2007, the United National Party (UNP) filed a no-confidence motion with the Speaker of Parliament alleging that Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella deliberately misled Parliament when he said that Tamils evicted from Colombo had left voluntarily.  The truth was that the government in June that year evicted from lodges and hotels 376 ‘jobless’ Tamils from the north and the east on grounds of ‘national security’ and packed them in eight buses headed for the Vavuniya district in the north and Batticaloa district in the east. The move was condemned by the Opposition and civil society groups insisting it would lead to further polarisation between the different ethnic communities and heighten the sense of marginalisation and alienation of Tamil people of this country. This was later halted after a three Judge Bench of the Supreme Court revoked the order following a petition filed by the Centre for Policy Alternatives which argued the move was a violation of basic human rights.
The government counter-attacked by filing its own no-confidence motion with the Speaker on June 20 against UNP parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne, in part for his explosive allegations.
On June 6 that year, during an emergency session of Parliament to discuss the Government’s forced transport of hundreds of Tamils from Colombo, Lakshman Seneviratne accused Nishantha Gajanayake of working on behalf of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and in concert with Deputy-Inspector General of Police Colombo, Rohan Abeywardene to orchestrate abductions.  Seneviratne stated that Gajanayake arranged abductions and extra-judicial killings using Karuna’s cadres on orders from Gotabhaya and with the assistance of police officers acting under Abeywardene’s instructions.  Although Seneviratne alleged he had evidence to verify his accusations, the link between Gotabhaya, Abeywardene and Gajanayake was never proved nor verified. The UNP which threatened to release information, it maintained it had gathered, that connected Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to Gajanayake has not been released to date – nor made public.  Another red herring of the United National Party.
The upshot was this. The Americans in Colombo sent an explosive cable to the US government naming their source as Major General Prasad Samarasinghe in which cable James Moore opined that, “Despite the GSL’s efforts to tout arrests of alleged abductors, critics and some government insiders claim that there is little genuine connection between the abductions and those that the Government has arrested. Military Spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe (strictly protect), a political insider within the Rajapaksa administration, told us that the arrest on June 26 of the five alleged abductors working with Gajanayake was political retribution against those thought to be disloyal to the Rajapaksa administration. Samarasinghe further alleged the GSL felt compelled to demonstrate concrete examples of progress on abductions to appease the international community.”
Major General Prasad Samarasinghe is currently the Chief Signal Officer (CSO) of the Army and Chief Controller, Centre for Research and Development at the Ministry of Defence. He has also been the Commander for three separate Brigades in Jaffna, Wanni and Trincomalee, Colonel General Staff, 22 Division Headquarters, Trincomalee, Colonel General Staff, Directorate of Operations, Army Headquarters, Assistant Military Secretary, Army Headquarters and the Centre Commandant, Sri Lanka Signal Corps. He previously served as the military spokesman to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London on a diplomatic posting.

We give below the relevant part of the cable:

VZCZCXRO4601
OO RUEHBI RUEHLMC
DE RUEHLM #0959/01 1870735
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 060735Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6415
INFO RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0269
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7250
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 5357
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3892
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1177
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 3963
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1163
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 3049
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 7843
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 5498
RUEHON/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 0301
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION
PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2191
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON
DC PRIORITYR
HHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITYS E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000959
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND PM
MCC FOR D NASSIRY AND E BURKE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM MOPS CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  GOVERNMENT TAKES STEPS TO
ADDRESS
ABDUCTIONS
REF: A. COLOMBO 899
¶B. COLOMBO 463
¶C. COLOMBO 844
¶D. COLOMBO 561
¶E. COLOMBO 861
¶F. COLOMBO 809

Classified By: Charge d’Affaires, James R. Moore, for reasons 1.4(b,d).
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) has recently made several announcements about its efforts to eliminate abductions in Sri Lanka.  On July 4 DefenceSpokesman Keheliya Rambukwella announced the arrest of 10 suspected abductors in the GSL’s efforts to eliminateabductions-for-ransom.  On June 21 the GSL arrested N.Gajanayake (ref A), a suspected abductions ring-leader, and on June 26, the police arrested five other alleged abductors thought to be working with Gajanayake, bringing the total number arrested to 16.  Critics of the administration allege there is little connection between those arrested and the rush of abductions-for-ransom, charging instead that theGSL is arresting scapegoats to appease the international community.  However, in addition to arrests, the GSL has established a “help centre” to assist family members who wish to file a “missing person” report.  Minister Rajitha Senaratne, one of a five-member team appointed to oversee the new centre said he is committed to providing a level of transparency to the GSL’s investigations while shielding civilians afraid to file claims against military or police forces.  The GSL on June 29 publicly released some of its findings after looking into a list of alleged disappearances provided by the Ambassador.  While the Embassy welcomes GSL’s efforts to investigate the whereabouts of those on theAmbassador’s list, we have informed the Government that itshould take credit for the list rather than making it appear as though it is acting on behalf of the Embassy.  END SUMMARY.

GOVERNMENT TOUTS ABDUCTIONS ARRESTS;CRITICS ALLEGE POLITICAL RETRIBUTION
————————————
¶2.  (SBU)  During his weekly press briefing on July 4,Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella stated: “One ex-AirForce officer (Gajanayake), a serving airman and four police officers have already been arrested and another 10 suspects comprising four Muslims and six Sinhalese have been arrested in connection with ransom cases.”  Rambukwella further alleged that police have identified the suspects involved in killing two Red Cross employees on June 1 (ref C), but that they had escaped into territory controlled by the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  He also stated the police were working with Interpol to arrest a suspected abductions ring-leader who fled to Italy.  Noting that those arrested comprised both Muslim and Sinhalese, Rambukwella dismissed critics’ allegations that abductions were targeting Muslims based on their ethnicity.  Rambukwella also dismissed allegations that United National Party (UNP) ParliamentarianLakshman Seneviratne made in Parliament on June 6 alleging Rambukwella’s security detail was involved in abducting a Muslim businessman (ref D).  Rambukwella stated therehave been no abductions in Colombo since June 18 and cited it as evidence that the GSL’s efforts to bring abductors to justice is working.
¶3.  (S)  Despite the GSL’s efforts to tout arrests of alleged abductors, critics and some government insiders claim there is little genuine connection between the abductions and those the Government has arrested.  Military Spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe (strictly protect), a political insider

COLOMBO 00000959  002 OF 003  
within the Rajapaksa administration, told us the arrest on June 26 of the five alleged abductors working with Gajanayake was political retribution against those thought to be disloyal to the Rajapaksa administration.  Samarasinghe further alleged the GSL felt compelled to demonstrate concrete examples of progress on abductions to appease the international community.
MOORE