Snubbed by Lanka anchored off Chennai

[ Times Now ]
MV Captain Ali- a ship on a mercy mission to Vanni in Sri Lanka has been anchored of the coast of Chennai. The ship carrying 884 ton of food, medicine and other relief materials for internally displaced Sri Lankan Tamils was turned away by Lankan Navy. Relief laden - MV Captain Ali was sent to Vanni by an NGO called 'ACT Now' a strong representative of the Tamil diaspora. However, the Lankan government has accused the NGO of aiding LTTE and hence has snubbed the relief ship. The in charge of the ship, Kristjan Guomontsson spoke exclusively to TIMES NOW and said that he has no clue as to why the aid was turned down. Guomontsson, an Iceland national, was a part of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) which includes Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Sweden. The SLMM was set up in 2002 under the terms of cease fore agreement. Guomantsson was one of the monitors- and the SLMM was slammed by the Lankan government to be sympathetic to LTTE. According to the Lankan Navy, the ship was turned away on the ground that it violated internationally accepted formalities followed by merchant ships seeking to enter Lankan waters and that it did not conform to the International Ships Port Facility Security (ISPS) code.

President to be in power 'for ever'

[ BBC Sinhala ]

Chief minister says the president is successfully handling development work "after establishing peace in Sri Lanka"
Mahinda Rajapaksa will be the executive president of Sri Lanka for life after next general elections, a senior leader of the ruling party said.
Chief Minister of north central province Berty Premalal Dissanayake said that nobody will be able to change President Rakapaksa becoming the lifetime president in Sri Lanka.
He made the remarks addressing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Central Committee in Seruvila electorate on Sunday.
"It is very clear that Mahinda Rajapaksa will be the lifetime president of this country once we amend the constitution following a victory in the general elections," he said.
'No elections'
Any change to Sri Lanka's constitution needs to be approved by a two thirds majority in parliament.
It is very clear that Mahinda Rajapaksa will be the lifetime president of this country once we amend the constitution following a victory in the general elections
Berty Premalal Dissanayake

However, any extension to the term of office of the president should be approved by a referendum.
The chief minister of the north central province was confident that the ruling party will be able to get a two thirds majority in a future general election.
Earlier, Local Government Minister Janaka Tennakoon has told Sunday Times newspaper that the government plans to extend the term of the president without holding a presidential election.
However, in a statement, Media minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa has said the government has no such plans.
"We believe in people's mandate and the democratic right of the ballot and this we have demonstrated many times.The people have positively responded in large majorities to elect representatives to all bodies in a democratic manner," the minister was quoted by the government Information Department.

HSBC Gushed About Sri Lanka Though IMF Loan for Ethnic Cleansing Delayed, Citi on Blood Bonds

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, June 22 -- As human rights groups call for investigations of the killing of tens of thousands of civilians by the Sri Lankan government as well as Tamil Tigers, and for the government to release the hundreds of thousands of Tamils including UN staff whom it has in detention, some banks and investors see only the chance to profit while there's blood in the streets. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank are reportedly upbeat on "bloodbath bonds."
Now, Roman Scott of the Singapore-based Calamander Group brags that the geopolitical risk is "not as bad as the West thinks" -- in essence, monetizing the votes and posturing at the UN Human Rights Counci in Geneva and Security Council in New York. "Scott says even though Sri Lanka makes high-end apparel including Victoria's Secret lingerie, he doesn't like the structure of the business because it's 'far too prone to big single orders.' Tea plantations have 'horrible unionized labor,'" he is quoted.
"The rebound will be spectacular," said HSBC Private Bank's chief investment strategist for Asia Arjuna Mahendran, hyping the possibility of Sri Lanka becoming the "Hong Kong of India" and "wealth Indians" investing there.
Another HSBC report by Prakriti Sofat is being used to urge countries to drop restrictions on and travel advisories about Sri Lanka: "a report released by HSBC Global Research on 25 May 2009 had forecast... business process outsourcing (BPO), and manufacturing were key sectors ripe for Foreign Direct Investment."
But while continuance of the EU's GPS Plus favorable tariff treatment of Sri Lankan textiles, proffered after the tsunami, requires a human rights review, the Rajapakse administration has blocked investigators' access. Click here for Inner City Press on the tariff.
The focus seems to be on Sri Lanka's ports, which are to be trebled in size. Getting many of the contracts, some have noted, are South Korean firms.
But even the International Monetary Fund, which a month ago on May 21 said that the Rajapakse administration's application for a $1.9 billion loan would be approved "within weeks"(click here for the Inner City Press story) now says the proposal is not yet certain, is not agreed to.
The government's use of funds for what many call ethnic cleansing is increasingly questionable. This does not dissuade HSBC, or reportedly Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, under fire for standardless banking for strongmen in Gabon and Turkmenistan, respectively.

HSBC, multiple signs but no moral compass?

HSBC has a global record of ignoring human rights. It was implicated in money laundering with Riggs Banks, for Agusto Pinochet of Chile and other dictators. It has raised funds for controversial Canadian oil company Talisman, and has been sued for lending discrimination. Many now question its blithe gushing at this time about Sri Lanka. Watch this site.

100,000 Tamils march in London over Sri Lanka’s concentration camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2009, 02:25 GMT]Over one hundred thousand expatriate Tamils in Britain marched Saturday through central London to express their outrage at international inaction over Sri Lanka’s massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils and the suffering of hundreds of thousands more enduring starvation, disease, disappearance, rape and torture in Colombo’s internment camps. Dressed in black, carrying placards and several hundred Tamil Eelam flags, the protesters marched from Hyde Park to rally at Embankment. The event was organised by the British Tamil Forum.

The protestors began forming up at midday and began their march at 2:00 p.m. By the time the lead protestors reached Haymarket, the hundred thousand-strong column stretched the mile-long length of Piccadilly and up Park Lane. The rally began at 5.30 p.m.To facilitate the march, the Police closed off traffic in one direction along the three-lane Park Lane and Piccadilly roads and along Haymarket, past Parliament Square and one direction of the thoroughfare along the Embankment.Hundreds of red and yellow Tamil Eelam flags fluttered in the summer breeze as the marchers chanted slogans, handed out leaflets to tourists and spectators crowding the pavements and balconies of central London. Several Union Jacks were carried by the protestors.“The protests we have been doing [in the Diaspora centres], at last has opened the conscience of the Western world,” a BTF spokesman said. “For example, the mainstream media has begun to expose the scale of the tragedy suffered by our people.”“Our struggle has now shifted to the hands of the Diaspora,” he said.“We have gathered here today to begin the next chapter of our long struggle

Tamil expatriates were joined by delegations from Columbian, Kurdish, Palestinian and some Indian communities in Britain, as well civil liberties and social justice groups.At the front of the protestors’ column were mobile street theatres depicting Sri Lanka’s militarized concentration camps where hundreds of thousands of Tamils are detained without access to sufficient food or medicine and suffering escalating abuse.Groups of Tamil people, including – elderly, children, families, dressed in blood-stained clothing and bandages marched within squares of barbed wire bearing signs with names of known concentration camps. Other protestors dressed in military uniform threateningly wielded batons to symbolize the ongoing brutality.Leaflets handed out set out the protestors’ demands about Sri Lanka’s abuses: “[1] Stop the disappearances, rapes and torture occurring daily at the internment camps, and find all those who have already gone missing [2] Free people from the camps immediately so that they can return to their normal way of life [3] Bring the perpetrators of the genocide against the Tamils to justice.”

Another leaflet stated: “The Tamil community, disappointed and embittered by the failure of the UK and other international powers to prevent the recent carnage despite constant and repeated warnings, are demanding that the international community must at least now act decisively to save the estimated 300,000 civilians in these camps, who remain in grave danger.”The protestors gathered on Embankment by Blackfriars Bridge where a stage had been set up, decorated in Tamil colours of red and yellow and a banner demanding “Free Tamils from Nazi style concentration camps! Prosecute the war criminals of the Sri Lankan State!”The rally was addressed by British political personalities, including Tony Benn, Simon Hughes MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP, as well as Tamil and British human rights and social justice activists.Veteran politician Tony Benn condemned the Sri Lankan state’s violence against the Tamils as crimes against humanity in which Britain continues to play an unacceptable. He also criticised the British media for the woeful lack of coverage the conflict in Sri Lanka has received, compared to similar conflicts around the world.Raji Nesaraja, representing the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO), said the recent events in Sri Lanka were “nothing short of genocide”.In a stirring speech that illustrated the strong feelings amongst young Tamils in the UK, she went on to say that, following repeated and desperate warnings of an impending bloodbath, young Tamils were left dumbfounded and disappointed by the UN’s complete lack of response.She however expressed her optimism in the awakening of all sections of the British Tamil community in the past few months, and, observing that “we are witnessing a global uprising of Tamils,” vowed the Tamil struggle would be taken forward.

Jan Jananayagam, who stood as an independent candidate at the 4 June European election, winning a historic record of 50,000 votes for an independent, urged everyone to work tirelessly until the Tamils of Sri Lanka enjoy the same rights that Tamils take for granted in the UK.She also reminded the crowd of the power of their vote in a genuine democracy, and urged them to ensure they make their individuals vote count during the next UK general election towards the cause of stopping Sri Lanka’s genocide..Andy Higginbottom, secretary of the Columbia Solidarity campaign and lecturer in human rights at Kingston University, called claims that the LTTE used civilians as human shields during the conflict the “first lie of the international media” and the “first propaganda victory of the Sri Lankan government”. He went on to denounce the inaction of the UN during the conflict, and the pitiable resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council following the conflict, an “absolute and utter disgrace”.Simon Hughes MP, a senior Liberal Democrat and long-time supporter of the Tamils, praised the “fantastic courage and determination” that UK Tamils have shown in the past few months, and assured the crowd that there were many non-Tamils that supported them in their aspirations.Cllr Julian Bell, leader of the Ealing Labour Party and researcher for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) admitted that members of the APPG-T share the Tamil community’s feelings of being let down by Britain’s Labour government.He said the APPG-T were working hard to ensure that the food and medical aid that UK Tamils collected and sent to Sri Lanka on board the Mercy Mission ship, which was recently turned away by the Sri Lankan authorities, would still reach the desperate Tamil civilians there.

Dan Mayor, national organiser for the Socialist Worker Party, angrily dismissed complaints about the alleged police cost during the 73 day Tamil protest at Westminster, saying that the Britain had made much more money through the sale of military equipment to Sri Lanka.He blamed the US/UK led ‘War on Terror’ for masking the political question in Sri Lanka and weakening the Tamils’ position and making possible Sri Lanka’s brazen onslaught against the Tamils.Jeremy Corbyn MP, Labour politician and chairman of the human rights organisation Liberation, called for a complete economic boycott of Sri Lanka, saying “the tourism must stop, the arms must stop, the trade must stop”.Tim Martin, former aid worker and director of the charity Act Now, was loudly cheered by the crowds as he thanked them for the huge support he received from UK Tamils during his recent 21-day hunger strike in Parliament Square. Revealing that Bob Geldoff and several other international celebrities have begun pledging their support for the Tamils struggle against Sinhala oppression, he urged UK Tamils to “keep on fighting” for the freedom of their people in Sri Lanka.Police presence was light throughout the event. Officers closing off side roads, so protestors could pass and guiding tourists and others seeking to reach places on the other side of the column of marchers.Officers worked with several hundred Tamil volunteers to keep the crowd moving steadily and there were no riot police, in contrast to some other major protests in London. Media helicopters and police chopper remained aloft for the duration.

Now, Sri Lanka goes after jihadis

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government was moving against armed jihadis, a new menace in the Eastern part of the island country, which just ended a long drawn out war against the LTTE, claimed a front-page report in the weekly Lakbimanews on Sunday.
Official Indian sources told The New Indian Express that presence of jihadis had begun to cause concern to both Sri Lanka and India. India was glad that the Sri Lankan authorities had, at long last, begun a crackdown on the Tablighi Jamaat members, who were getting funds and ideological inputs from abroad especially Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the sources added.
There have been instances of the armed clashes between Jamaatis and Tamils, a community the Eastern Muslims have been at odds with over questions of land for the last two or three decades.
Lakbimanews quoted unnamed intelligence sources to say that there could be about 500 jihadis in the three districts in the Eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
Batticaloa alone is believed to have 250 of them.
SPURT IN CRIME USING FIREARMS: In recent months, Eastern parts have witnessed a spurt in crimes such as abductions and extortions. At first it was thought that the perpetrators were members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal, a breakaway group of the LTTE. Later, the LTTE itself was blamed. But investigations later revealed that jihadis were behind most of these crimes.
Last Friday, Security Forces commander (East) Maj Gen Srinath Rajapakse, the Security Forces and the police held a meeting with moulavis and Muslim politicians and civil society leaders at the Hisbullah Centre, Lakbimanews said.
While Lakbimanews said that the Muslim political leaders had been funding the jihadis for the past 15 years, Indian sources contended that local Muslim political leaders were not involved. They also noted that there has been a significant spurt in the establishment of Madrasas where the radical Wahabi ideology is inculcated. Lakbimanews reported that the police in Kanthankudi, a Muslim town in Batticaloa district, had recently seized seven T-56 rifles, SMGs, communication sets and anti-personnel mines.
The paper said that the Defense Ministry had given the jihadis time until July 2 to surrender their weapons. “Thereafter, we will have no mercy on them,” the paper quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying.
The Muslim dignitaries who had attended Friday’s meeting with the Security Forces had admitted that some Muslim youth were armed and promised to persuade them to give up their weapons.
MIDDLE EASTERN INDOCTRINATION: Meanwhile, employment opportunities in the oil-rich Middle East had facilitated religious indoctrination in Sri Lanka. The new Saudi-returned Wahabists began to take on the Sufiists.
Apparently, Pakistan also stepped in to give money and training to radical Islamists here. According to Indian sources, the South Eastern University at Oluvil in the district of Amparai has become a hotbed of radical Islamists