Sunday, 31 March 2024
ரகு - அண்ணாவுக்கு பிரியாவிடை
Saturday, 30 March 2024
UK government lawyers say Israel is breaking international law
Chair of foreign affairs select committee Alicia Kearns said at a Tory fundraiser that legal advice would mean the UK has to cease all arms sales to Israel without delay.
Sat 30 Mar 2024 19.30 GMT The Guardian/Observer
The British government has received advice from its own lawyers stating that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza but has failed to make it public, according to a leaked recording obtained by the Observer.
The comments, made by the Conservative chair of the House of Commons select committee on foreign affairs, Alicia Kearns, at a Tory fundraising event on 13 March are at odds with repeated ministerial denials and evasion on the issue.
On Saturday night, Kearns, a former Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence official, who has repeatedly pressed ministers, including foreign secretary David Cameron, on the legal advice they have received, stood by her comments and called for the government to come clean.
“I remain convinced the government has completed its updated assessment on whether Israel is demonstrating a commitment to international humanitarian law, and that it has concluded that Israel is not demonstrating this commitment, which is the legal determination it has to make,” she said. “Transparency at this point is paramount, not least to uphold the international rules-based order.”
The revelation will place Lord Cameron and prime minister Rishi Sunak under intense pressure because any such legal advice would mean the UK had to cease all arms sales to Israel without delay.
Legal experts said that not to do so would risk putting the UK in breach of international law itself, as it would be seen as aiding and abetting war crimes by a country it was exporting arms to.
Answering questions at an “evening drinks reception” hosted by the West Hampstead and Fortune Green Conservatives in London, Kearns said: “The Foreign Office has received official legal advice that Israel has broken international humanitarian law but the government has not announced it.
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns made the comments at a Tory fundraising event earlier this month.Photograph: NurPhoto /Getty Images |
Kearns told the gathering that both she and Cameron believed strongly in Israel’s right to defend itself. “But the right to self-defence has a limit in law. It is not limitless,” she said, going on to suggest that Israel’s actions put its and the UK’s long-term security at risk.
“Some of the ways in which Israel is prosecuting this is making their long-term security less certain. It is making our long-term security less certain. I’m amazed that our national threat level has not gone up. And it breaks my heart because I know it could be done differently.”
The British barrister and judge Sir Geoffrey Nice, who was the lead prosecutor at former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević’s trial from 2002 to 2006, said he would not be at all surprised if such advice had been given by government lawyers and called for it to be made public.
Nice said: “A warring party becomes unlawful if it cannot show that its actions have been proportionate. It would not be surprising if there had been advice to that effect from the Foreign Office’s lawyers.”
Were that to be the case, he said that “at the very least that would mean the UK would have to look at the whole issue of arms sales to Israel. It takes you into the area of aiding and abetting. It takes you into to very difficult areas.”
He added: “Countries supplying arms to Israel may now be complicit in criminal warfare. The public should be told what the advice says.”
The UK’s arms exports to Israel amounted to £42m in 2022, a figure described by defence secretary Grant Shapps as “relatively small”.
But former lord chancellor Charles Falconer said a legal assessment that Israel had broken international law would also prevent the UK sharing intelligence with Israel.
“Governments who abide by the rule of law cannot ignore mounting evidence of breach which would then put those governments in breach if they continued assisting,” he said.
In a session of the foreign affairs select committee in January, Cameron was asked directly by Kearns whether “you have never had a piece of paper put in front of you by a Foreign Office lawyer that says that Israel is in breach of its international humanitarian commitments under international humanitarian law”.
Cameron stated that “I cannot recall every single bit of paper that has been put in front of me … I don’t want to answer that question.”
He later said that “if you are asking me whether I am worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law … yes, of course I am worried about that. That is why I consult the Foreign Office lawyers when giving this advice on arms exports.”
Other UK ministers have previously claimed that Israel has abided by international law. In late November, business secretary Kemi Badenoch said on Sky News that “we’ve always said that Israel should abide by international law, and that appears to be what they have done … It looks like they have taken great pains to make sure that they’re staying within the confines of the law. We applaud them for that.”
Labour has repeatedly called for the government to be transparent about the legal advice it has received.
On 22 March, David Lammy MP, the shadow foreign secretary, wrote to Cameron, calling on him to publish the legal advice on Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.
On 26 March in the House of Commons, Lammy asked the minister for development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell MP, if the foreign secretary had received legal advice saying there was a clear risk that items licensed by the UK might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Mitchell said “no government do[es] that”, adding later that “we do not disclose our internal legal advice”.
Last week, the international court of justice ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza, where huge numbers of people are facing imminent starvation. Cameron has repeatedly voiced his frustration at Israel’s action in blocking aid from crossing the border into Gaza.
The war began on 7 October after Hamas launched an attack inside Israel that killed more than 1,100 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took about 250 people hostage.
Israeli military attacks on Gaza have resulted in the death of more than 32,000 people, the majority women and children, according to local health authorities.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We keep advice on Israel’s adherence to international humanitarian law under review and ministers act in accordance with that advice, for example, when considering export licences. The content of the government’s advice is confidential.” ⍐
A.K. Dissanayake in the Lead for President-IHP
The Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) MRP provisional estimates of presidential election voting intent in February 2024 show no real changes compared to January. NPP/JVP leader A.K. Dissanayake continues to lead with the support of 53% of all adults followed by SJB leader Sajith Premadasa on 34%, President Ranil Wickremesinghe at 6% (-2) and a generic SLPP candidate at 7% (-1).
These estimates are based on the January 2024 revision of the IHP SLOTS Multilevel Regression and Poststratification (MRP) model. The update is for all adults and uses data from 16,248 interviews conducted from October 2021 to 24 March 2024 including 575 interviews during February 2024. Margins of error are assessed as 1-3% for February.
IHP’s SLOTS MRP methodology first estimates the relationship between a wide variety of characteristics about respondents and their opinions, in this case, “If there was a Presidential Election today, who would you vote for?” in a multilevel statistical model. It then uses a large data file that is calibrated to the national population to predict voting intent in each month since October 2021 according to what the multilevel model says about their probability of voting for various parties (‘post-stratification’) at each point in time.
SLOTS combines interviews from a national sample of adults (ages 18 and over) reached by random digit dialling of mobile numbers, and others coming from a national panel of respondents who were previously recruited through random selection. IHP estimates voting intent using an adaptation of Multilevel Regression and Post-Stratification (MRP), with multiple imputation to account for uncertainties in its modelling, exploiting data from all SLOTS interviews to estimate voting in a particular month.
The February 2024 MRP estimates are based on 16,248 interviews conducted from 1 October 2021-24 March 2024 including 575 interviews conducted in February 2024. All estimates are adjusted to ensure the sample matches the national population with respect to age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, geographical location and voting in the 2019 presidential and 2020 general elections.⍐
Friday, 29 March 2024
India, Ukraine discuss achieving ‘peaceful settlement’
India, Ukraine discuss achieving ‘peaceful settlement’ to Moscow-Kyiv conflict during FM Kuleba’s India visit: MEA
New Delhi [India], March 29 (ANI): India and Ukraine discussed regional and global matters including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and efforts to achieve a ‘peaceful settlement’, during the visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro to New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
FM Kuleba was on an official visit to India on March 28-29. During his visit, FM Kuleba met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and Deputy National Security Adviser, Vikram Misri.
The meeting between Jaishankar and Kuleba held on Friday focused on fostering constructive dialogue and strengthening bilateral relations between India and Ukraine, including in areas such as trade and investment, science and technology, defence, agriculture, health, culture, and education, the statement read.
Both ministers also held a separate discussion on matters related to the India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical, industrial and cultural cooperation and its working groups.
New Delhi and Kyiv agreed to work towards holding the seventh Inter-Governmental Commission meeting later this year.
“The exchange of views on regional and global matters involved a comprehensive discussion on the ongoing conflict and efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement,” the statement added.
The two sides also acknowledged that regular interactions at various levels and meetings of bilateral mechanisms have contributed to the strong and multifaceted partnership that exists between India and Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian FM Kuleba said on social media platform X that he held “comprehensive talks” with EAM Jaishankar on bilateral ties and global security. The two leaders paid special attention to the Peace Formula and the next steps to be adopted for its implementation.
He added that the two sides agreed to restore the level of cooperation between our countries that existed before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started in 2022.
EAM Jaishankar stated on X that the two sides had wide-ranging conversation focussing on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and its wider ramifications. They also reiterated their commitment to strengthen the overall relationship, including bilateral cooperation.
At the meeting, Jaishankar said that he looks forward to the visit, adding that India looks forward to hearing the Ukrainian perspective on their regional situation.
“We have been looking forward to this visit…In recent months, we have had interactions at various levels, I am glad to see some of our bilateral mechanisms have also met and this has created certain momentum in our bilateral relationship. Today, after this discussion, we look forward also to the meeting of the intergovernmental commission,” Jaishankar said.
“Your visit gives us an opportunity to understand the situation in your own region and I look forward to hearing your perspective on that. Our teams have prepared a very substantial agenda for discussions,” he added.
While, the Ukrainian FM stated that Kyiv will be looking forward to discussing new areas of cooperation with New Delhi.
“We will be looking forward to restoring what had existed before the large-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine began, existed between us. We will be looking forward to discussing new areas and projects of our cooperation because I do believe that this relationship has a strategic perspective,” he said.
In 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first presented Ukraine’s 10-point peace formula to world leaders at the G20 Summit in Indonesia’s Bali. The 10-point peace formula includes a path to nuclear safety and food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes and a final peace treaty with Moscow.
Ukrainian FM Kuleba arrived in India at the invitation of EAM Jaishankar on Thursday and said he will look to boost bilateral ties between the two countries and build on the dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He also paid respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, this visit came days after a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on March 20, in which the two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the India-Ukraine partnership in various spheres.
While discussing the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, PM Modi reiterated India’s people-centric approach and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward. He highlighted that India supports all efforts for an early and peaceful resolution of all issues between the parties.
He added that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution. Ukrainian resident Zelenskyy appreciated India’s continued humanitarian assistance for the people of Ukraine. (ANI)⍐
Thursday, 28 March 2024
Xi meets Sri Lankan PM
This handout photograph released by Sri Lanka Prime Minister’s Office on March 27, 2024 shows Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena (left) shaking hands with China’s President Xi Jinping before a meeting in Beijing. | Photo Credit: AFP |
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena in Beijing on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan PM Dinesh Gunawardena meets Chinese President Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping assures continuous support to Sri Lanka for political and socio-economic progress, emphasising mutual respect and cooperation
Wednesday, 27 March 2024
Why are foreign envoys making a beeline to the JVP?
The JVP misread the invite as the Indians had acknowledged that the party would be the next government in waiting and Anura Kumara, the prospective president.
These days, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)/National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and top-level party stalwarts are busy receiving a beeline of foreign diplomats, who seem eager to know what is going through those elusive minds.
That is an achievement for the party that languished on the sideline. Their luck has changed since the Indians showed a sudden interest and invited the JVP leadership to New Delhi, where they met, among others, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and travelled to Modi’s home turf, Gujarat to learn the Gujarati model of development.
The JVP misread the invite as the Indians had acknowledged that the party would be the next government in waiting and Anura Kumara, the prospective president. Quite a hubris for a party that had not managed to poll over five per cent of the popular vote in the last decade. The JVP’s best performance was when it ran on the back of Chandrika Kumaratunge’s People’s Alliance after she staged a constitutional coup in 2003.
Junior partner
The JVP ran as a junior partner in CBK’s alliance and won 39 seats, effectively eating into the preferential votes of the PA candidates. Probably, the JVPers themselves felt that the outcome was too good that they later conceded a few seats to the PA to stall a brewing storm in the tea cup in the PA. The JVP’s best performance, contesting as a single party was in 2001 when it polled 9% of popular votes and won 16 parliamentary seats. That was a quarter century ago.Therefore, the party is right to relish every bit of good news, though it might also have to eschew itself from self-delusion.
The Indian invites appeared to be two-fold; in the first place, it was quite natural for New Delhi to build bridges with the political actors across the board in its southern neighbour.
First policy has been well-oiled under Modi with substantial investment in soft and hard power projection, which made it possible for New Delhi to throw a $4 billion aid line for Sri Lanka during the economic crisis.
Secondly, as leading Indian conglomerates, many including Adani’s who enjoy a backdoor channel to Modi and the BJP, undertake large investments in Sri Lanka, New Delhi might have expected to tame one of the major disruptors of the Indian economic interests in Sri Lanka.
The JVP’s opposition to Indian projects has been somewhat muted since the visit.
Why is the sudden Western interest in the JVP?
American Asia Pacific strategy is undertaken in association with its regional partners. A similar regional strategy of the EU is a subtext of the wider US initiative. In South Asia, India takes precedence over the rest. India, which considers South Asia as its sphere of influence, an inheritance of the grand strategy of the British Raj, would not give in to any external power, friendly or otherwise, which significantly negates its influence in its immediate neighbourhood. Not to mention, in the context of China’s rise, foreign policy interests in India and its Western partners are increasingly convergent. Also, other than the US, the majority of the West lacks substantial relative power vis a vis China and, therefore, power projection capacity in Asia.
Since India threw an invite to Dissanayake, the Canadian High Commissioner has met the JVP and the Japanese ambassador is expected to meet. The IMF local mission chief met with an NPP delegation, though Dissanayake abstained.
Diplomatic overtures
Similar diplomatic overtures are neither unique nor new. Western envoys regularly met the leadership of minority political parties. At the height of the peace process, many paid homage to the LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his political chief Thamil Chelvam, though none of them could change his behaviour.
Probably their overture to the JVP leadership is a step to the right direction, from a flawed approach in the past, which viewed real and imaginary minority grievances as the source of all evil in Sri Lanka.
However, this sudden interest might well be inspired by concocted data. A think tank, the Institute of Health Policy is publishing an opinion poll that some time ago put the JVP leadership enjoying over 50 per cent of approval while the rest languishes in obscurity.
A recently revised model places the JVP at 40% followed by SJB at 30%. The survey methodology which is under scrutiny, thought the IHP claimed they were based on 15,590 interviews conducted with adults across Sri Lanka since October 2021, with 506 interviews carried out in January 2024. However, an experienced Sri Lankan watcher would find these projections too good to be true. Samples seem to have been picked from the JVP picket lines and trade union demonstrations!
Sri Lankans have seen similar enterprising efforts when a group of SLFP affiliated dons of Kelaniya University produced regular opinion polls ahead of General and Presidential Elections in the past.
But, this permeates well within an eco chamber of ideas and stakeholders that many foreign embassies in the country have confined themselves.
What do foreign envoys gain from meeting with the NPP camaraderie? Obviously, it is an insight into their mind, their policies and how they affect the country at large, including their interests in Sri Lanka.
Whether the JVP could provide insight into these matters is an open question though. For a party that exploited public anger and despair without offering solutions, giving an even remotely workable solution to Sri Lanka’s intricate economic problems is a tall order. Foreign envoys that meet the JVPers should be able to notice this dichotomy.
These interactions are indeed helpful to the JVP at a different level. They could widen the JVP’s worldview. These meetings should not only help the foreign envoys get an insight in to the elusive JVP policies, if something tangible to that effect exits at all but they should also help the JVP to have a glimpse into the rest of the world. But, that is only possible to the extent that the JVP is willing to unlearn its economic dogmatism. dailymirror.lk/ 27 March 2024⍐
Monday, 25 March 2024
Full text: UN Security Council Resolution 2728
Full text: UN Security Council Resolution 2728
The Hamas ceasefire resolution was adopted on March 25, 2024, following the abstention of the United States.
Resolution 2728 (2024)Adopted by the Security Council at its 9,586th meeting, on 25 March 2024
The Security Council,Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,Recalling all of its relevant resolutions on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,Reiterating its demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and in this regard deploring all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as all violence and hostilities against civilians, and all acts of terrorism, and recalling that the taking of hostages is prohibited under international law,Expressing deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,Acknowledging the ongoing diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, aimed at reaching a cessation of hostilities, releasing the hostages and increasing the provision and distribution of humanitarian aid,1. Demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs, and further demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain;2. Emphasizes the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale, in line with international humanitarian law as well as resolutions 2712 (2023) and 2720 (2023);3. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.
Gaza: Security Council passes resolution demanding ‘an immediate ceasefire’ during Ramadan
The UN Security Council on Monday passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into Gaza. There were 14 votes in favour with the United States abstaining.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The UN Security Council adopts a resolution tabled by its 10 non-permanent members (E-10) demanding a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan, by a vote of 14 in favour to none against, with one abstention (United States)
- Resolution 2728 also calls for the immediate release of hostages and for ensuring humanitarian access to Gaza
- The Council rejected a Russia-proposed amendment that would have called for a permanent ceasefire
- The US ambassador said her delegation “fully supports” the critical objectives of the draft
- Algeria’s ambassador says the ceasefire will end “the bloodbath”
- “This must be a turning point,” says the ambassador for the observer State of Palestine
- The draft’s lack of condemnation of Hamas is “a disgrace”, says Israel’s ambassador
Three main demands: Ceasefire, return hostages, let aid into Gaza
The resolution is a bare-bones call for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, which began on 11 March. It also demands the return of about 130 hostages seized in Israel and still held in Gaza and emphasizes the urgent need to allow ample lifesaving aid to reach a starving population in the besieged enclave.
The demand to end hostilities has so far eluded the Council following the Israeli forces’ invasion of Gaza in October after Hamas attacks left almost 1,200 dead and 240 taken hostage.
Since then, Israel’s daily bombardment alongside its near total blockade of water, electricity and lifesaving aid has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry there, where a recent UN-backed report showed an imminent famine unfolding.
Growing calls to end the war
While a week-long ceasefire in November saw an exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians detained in Israel, fighting resumed and has only escalated, as the death toll and malnutrition in Gaza continues to soar along with ever louder calls to end the war and rapidly address the stark humanitarian suffering.
Previous rejected drafts contained basically the same provisions as this new one, as did resolutions 2712 and 2720 that were adopted in late 2023, but points of contention persist among the membership while calls continue to demand that the 15-member Council take a stronger stand to end the conflict.
What’s the new draft resolution calling for?
- The Council would demand “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire”
- It would also demand “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs” and “that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain”
- Other provisions would have the Council emphasize “the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip.
- In this regard, the draft would have the Council reiterate its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale, in line with international humanitarian law as well as resolutions 2712 (2023) and 2720 (2023).
Here are HIGHLIGHTS from the Council’s meeting on Friday:
- A US-proposed draft to end the war in Gaza was vetoed by permanent Council members China and Russia, in a vote of 11 favour to three against (Algeria, China, Russia) and one abstention (Guyana)
- Several ambassadors voiced their support for a new draft proposed by the “E-10” group of non-permanent Council members, which calls for an immediate ceasefire
- The vetoed draft would have made imperative an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza, with an “urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance” to all civilians and lifting “all barriers” to delivering aid
- Council members disagreed over elements of the draft, and some highlighted glaring exclusions despite having raised multiple concerns with the US during negotiations
- Ambassadors largely supported swift action to bring food and lifesaving aid at scale into Gaza, where concerns of famine grew as Israel continues to block and slow walk shipments into the besieged enclave
- Some Council members called for pursuing the two-State solution to the ongoing conflict
- Israel’s ambassador was invited to speak, calling the draft’s failure to pass and condemn Hamas “a stain that will never be forgotten”⍐
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
இலங்கைத் தமிழரும் இந்தியக் குடியுரிமையும்.
கட்டுரையாளர் : முன்னாள் உதவி விரிவுரையாளர், இலங்கை பேராதனை பல்கலைக்கழகம், கண்டி.
M. A. Sumanthiran represents TNA at IMF proposals review meeting while SJB and NPP choose to boycott discussion
Lone MP attends key opposition leaders meeting with President
- M. A. Sumanthiran represents TNA at meeting while SJB and NPP choose to boycott discussion
- TNA MP raises concerns regarding lack of transparency relating to IMF recommendations
- Highlights absence of published technical assistance reports regarding several recommendations of concern
- In response Govt. promises to release reports for examination of MPs to foster debate and deliberation
- President extends fresh invitation to Opposition to attend a meeting with IMF to further discuss its proposals and concerns
Monday, 11 March 2024
Gotabaya Rajapaksa's book “The Conspiracy ”- Excerpts:
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa this week released his book titled “The Conspiracy: How Internationally Sponsored Regime Change Made a Mockery of Democracy in Sri Lanka”. Excerpts:
Sunday Times:
On opposition to his election:
–“The only reason I won the 2019 presidential election with over 52% of the vote was because of the Sinhala vote.”
–“From the time I was nominated as a candidate for the presidency, large sections of the Tamil population, the Muslim population, the overseas Tamil groups, the foreign funded NGOs and certain countries with large expatriate Tamil populations were openly hostile to the thought of having me as the President of Sri Lanka. Sections of the Roman Catholic Church joined this group after I became President.”
On the politics of a two-thirds majority
Winning a two-thirds majority in Parliament brought with it “a raft of new problems”. While the government secured 150 seats in Parliament, the constitution limited the number of ministerial portfolios. Their parliamentary group had MPs who had been ministers in several previous governments but they could not all be accommodated in the Cabinet or even as State Ministers.
–“From the time we got that two thirds majority in Parliament, in August 2020, it was a downhill slide, politically speaking.”
On too many Rajapaksas in positions of power
–“I did not want to appoint many members of the Rajapaksa family to various positions.” But when they are voted in at number one position in their districts, voters expect them to get positions so they can do something for the district.
–“One of the accusations levelled at me was that even though I claimed to be doing things differently, that in reality I consolidated the power of the Rajapaksa family further and that under me there were more members of the family holding ministerial office than there was even under Mahinda Rajapaksa. To be sure, under my Presidency, there were five Rajapaksas in the Cabinet…”
They were himself, Chamal, Mahinda, Basil and Namal. His nephew, Shashindra, was a State Minister and Nipuna Ranawaka was the District Coordinating Committee Chairman for Matara.
On the disadvantage of not being party leader
–“The fact that I was not leading the party meant that I did not have much political power. For example, I was not involved in preparing the SLPP national list or the district nomination lists.”
–“The fact that we had 150 MPs became a disadvantage rather than an advantage. We started off with disgruntled elements in our midst. This is what made it easier for our opponents to destroy us. I can now say through experience that whoever becomes President should be the leader of the political party as well”.
–“Usually people spend years in a political party rising through the ranks as parliamentarians and ministers before becoming President. But when I became President, there were many people in our parliamentary group with whom I had not had much interaction.”
On personal problems
–“Basil was in control of the SLPP. When members of the ruling coalition picked a quarrel with Basil that too had an impact on me as the head of the government. Wimal and Udaya had personal issues with Basil.”
–“Everybody knows that the ban on dual citizens contesting elections was brought in by the 19th amendment…. But when we were trying to repeal the 19th amendment, some of our own people objected to repealing the ban on dual citizens contesting elections. This was entirely due to their opposition to Basil.”
On the breakup of the coalition
–“What contributed to this situation was that I was not an office bearer of the party and that Mahinda Rajapaksa did not get involved in politics as in the past…However, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s silence was one of the main reasons for the breakup of the coalition and the party. Mahinda Rajapaksa had over half a century of political experience and a factor that we could have used to our advantage but failed [sic].”
–“There were also various individuals and groups that believed that their support was crucial in ensuring that I was elected to power and they expected me to do what they wanted. These are the problems that emerge when somebody like me gets elected to power.”
On depoliticisation attempts backfiring
Overall, his “experiment in not appointing party loyalists to key government positions” was unsuccessful.
–“Some of those political appointees for the most part behaved exactly the same way as political appointees—their only aim was to use the position they got, to further a career in politics.”
–“A matter that was under discussion in political circles in the months following my ouster was the manner in which certain so called apolitical appointees who held positions in my government played a major role in funding and organising the aragalaya against my government. Fifth columnists were present not only within the country but within my government as well”.
On the failed organic farming initiative and Chinese fertiliser
–“I have openly admitted that the way the organic farming initiative of my government was implemented was a failure and a mistake.”
–“Though some think that the ban on the import of chemical fertiliser was taken suddenly and without much consultation, the shift to organic farming was a matter that had been under discussion in my government from the earliest days and it was an integral part of my manifesto ‘Vistas of Prosperity’.”
–“But when Sri Lanka tried to import some organic fertiliser, unanticipated problems cropped up which had all the hallmarks of the deliberate sabotage that usually accompanies regime change projects.” (Reference is to the aborted organic fertiliser import from Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group of China).
On the Mirihana protest and attack on private residence
–“SIS Director Suresh Sallay who was also at the wedding reception, arrived at the scene and when he arrived, only around a hundred or so had been at the demonstration. But the police, STF and army personnel deployed in the area had been inactive since no one had given them instructions as to what had to be done. Sallay had taken a video call to Shavendra [Silva] and Kamal [Gunaratne] and shown them the crowd present but instructions still did not come down the hierarchy to disperse the crowd. Ultimately Sallay and some other army officers had taken it upon themselves to disperse the mob as some elements in the crowd had turned violent…”
–“By around 2 am that night, the crowds had been dispersed. Around 10.30 am the following morning, the Army Commander/CDS [Shavendra Silva] and Defence Secretary [Kamal Gunaratne] arrived at my Mirihana residence.”
On the composition of the ‘aragalaya’
–“The minority communities were well represented within the aragalaya because each had a motivating factor to be there.”
–“There were NGO related foreign funded liberal political activists, youtubers [sic], and social media activists, then there were the usual opposition types associated with various political parties, the JVP, FSP (Peratugami Party), SJB and the UNP….Virtually all of those at the Galle Face argalaya site were those who would have opposed me anyway.”
–“From day one, the so called argalaya was an operation inimical to Sinhala and particularly Sinhala-Buddhist interests, and it was well supported by foreign interests that had much the same objectives.”
On destabilisation by Fifth Columnists
–“It would be extremely naïve for anyone to claim that there was no foreign hand in the moves made to oust me from power.”
–“These foreign powers maintain a permanent cadre of activists to promote their agenda in this country and can at short notice deploy dozens of commentators, speakers, writers to create public opinion on
Sri Lanka…. Money is just one way of buying influence. Granting a permanent residence visa, giving a scholarship to the offspring of important persons, ‘research’ grants or even a simple foreign trip will even be enough to induce certain people to act against the national interest of their country.”
–“ Thus we had a toxic mix of foreign money, geopolitical interests and notions of [liberal] ideological superiority all coming together at a strategically appropriate time to achieve the objectives of certain parties in Sri Lanka.”
On the Easter Sunday attacks
By mid-January 2022, the Cardinal started saying it was evident certain leaders used the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks to their political advantage.
–“What was now being alleged in so many words was that eight Muslim fanatics had launched a suicide attack in order to make me president”. The souring of relations is rooted in the Cardinal being dissatisfied with the investigation.
– “The Cardinal’s pronouncements are creating more divisions in an already divided country. The icing on the cake will be when the Cardinal’s campaign based on wrong assumptions and conjecture against those not responsible for the Easter Sunday bombings results in yet another government that is totally dependent on the Muslim vote like the government of 2015-2019 and is unwilling to do anything to stop the spread of Islamic extremism in the country.”
On the failure of intelligence
–“If an organised mob can make its way to Colombo completely unopposed and then proceed to take over the President’s House, the Presidential Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Prime Minister’s official residence and to burn down the private residence of the incumbent Prime Minister, that can only be described as a law and order debacle.”
–“…though the intelligence service performed well in pandemic related duties, they completely missed the build-up of politically-motivated mobs on the social media.”
–“Where a situation arises, the standard operating procedures are implemented automatically. In the months of May and July 2022 none of this happened the way it was meant to.”
On “structural shortcomings” that led to the debacle
One issue was there wasn’t much of a seniority gap between Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne and Army Commander Shavendra Silva. Both were Divisional Commanders during the war and saw themselves more or less as equals.
–“Whether the two got on well was doubtful. The Army Commander and Defence Secretary were working at cross purposes at times with the Army Commander disregarding instructions of the Defence Secretary. Kamal Gunaratne may not have had the same control over the armed services that I had as Defence Secretary because of these reasons.”
–“…strict protocols must be enforced to regulate, monitor and limit the interactions senior officers of the armed services, police and the intelligence services have with the staff of foreign embassies. Visits by foreign Ambassadors to military installations should also be stopped.”
On why he resigned
–“Many people have asked me why I resigned from the Presidency. There was in fact a major foreign power that was insisting that I should not resign and they had demonstrated their willingness to do whatever it takes to keep Sri Lanka supplied with essentials. Yet I resigned from the presidency [sic] to give the people of Sri Lanka some respite.”
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