Sri Lankan regime backing away from conflict resolution vows

Sri Lankan regime backing away from conflict resolution vows

Ana Pararajasingham

By ANA PARARAJASINGHAM
DECEMBER 5, 2017

Sri Lanka has by and large disregarded the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution passed in September 2015 that it had co-sponsored as part of its fresh approach under the new regime headed by President Maithripala Sirisena. Even the more modest aspects pertaining to demilitarization, repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act or releasing Tamil political prisoners remain unaddressed.

Lately, the government has taken a tougher, pro-Sinhala nationalist position in its dealing with the Tamil people.

On November 28, the Sirisena government, which now has been in power for nearly three years, evoked the Prevention of Terrorism Act to arrest Tamils who had organized events to honor the memory of the fallen soldiers of the Tamil rebellion. Maaveerar Naal has been observed annually since 1987 on November 27 to commemorate the day the first Tamil Tiger soldier was killed in action in 1982.

The annual commemoration continued even after the rebellion was put down in May 2009. During the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-15), the event was observed in secret, as it was clear that the government would punish participants. But in November 2016, it was observed openly and was allowed to proceed.

The event in 2016 was attended by Tamil parliamentarians and politicians. The Sri Lankan government’s inclination to allow Tamils honor their sons and daughters killed in battle was widely regarded as a goodwill gesture toward the Tamil people and a signal to the world at large that the new regime was democratic in its approach.

''The situation in late 2017 appears to be no different to what prevailed before the conflict erupted into war in 1983.''

However, last month, the Sri Lankan security forces actively engaged in intimidating people attending commemoration events across the northeast of the island – the Tamil homeland. Participants were photographed, people were warned that any display of Tamil Tiger symbols including photographs of the fallen in uniform was illegal, and there was a menacing army presence outside the premises where the commemoration events were conducted.

The very next day, Sri Lanka’s state minister of defense, Ruwan Wijewardene, ordered the Terrorism Investigation Division, notorious for its use of torture, to investigate and arrest those involved in organizing the commemoration.

The heavy-handed response to this year’s Maaveerar Naal by the Sirisena government comes in the wake of several other setbacks in the efforts to bring about an end to the conflict. These include the absence of any progress in respect of the UN Human Rights Council resolution to investigate war crimes committed during the latter stages of the civil war; delays in introducing a new constitution addressing the question of self-rule for the Tamil people; and the continuing specter of torture of Tamils taken into custody.

UN resolution

The UN resolution of 2015 was primarily focused on establishing a mechanism involving foreign judges in a local investigation probing war crimes committed during the latter stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war. This was a further dilution of earlier resolutions calling for international investigation.

In March this year, Sri Lanka was given another two years to implement the proposals, but there is little evidence of any progress. On the contrary, Sirisena has stated categorically that he will not make any “war hero” a suspect in cases of alleged war crimes. Addressing the Sri Lankan expatriate community in South Korea on November 28, he was dismissive of the UN resolution, stating: “There won’t be electric chairs, international tribunals or foreign judges. That book is closed.”

New constitution

The Sirisena government that replaced the Rajapaksa regime had agreed to address the root cause of the conflict via a new constitution to share political power with the Tamil people. The Tamil National Alliance, which had been in negotiations with the government, had understood the new constitution was to be “outside the unitary constitution amounting to federalism in substance.”

However, Sirisena has since stated categorically that he would never “betray the country” by introducing a federal constitution. This would mean that a new constitution, if implemented, would be unitary, ensuring that political power continues to reside with the majority Sinhala people. As it was this majoritarian rule that was the root cause of the conflict in the first place, a new unitary constitution is unlikely to resolve the conflict.

Torture

Early last month, an investigation by The Associated Press found that more than 50 Tamil men had been raped, branded and tortured by the current government. The men were accused of trying to revive the Tamil Tigers rebel group and were tortured between early 2016 and July of this year, the report said.

There is some confusion as to whether the perpetrators were from the police or the army. Captors had identified themselves as members of the Criminal Investigation Department, a police unit that investigates serious crimes. But some of the victims thought their captors and interrogators were soldiers.

Back to the future

Almost three years after promising to address the issues that gave rise to the conflict and two years after co-sponsoring a resolution calling for a probe into the alleged war crimes, the Sri Lankan government has reverted to type, pandering to ultra-Sinhala nationalism. The situation in late 2017 appears to be no different to what prevailed before the conflict erupted into war in 1983.

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Yemen's Houthi: Ali Abdulla Saleh killed for 'treason'

The leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels

Yemen's Houthi: Ali Abdulla Saleh killed for 'treason'
AL  JAZEERA

The leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels has praised the death of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country's overthrown president, as a victory against a Saudi-led military coalition that Yemen has been battling.

Saleh's party has confirmed reports that he was killed in a roadside ambush on Monday outside the capital, Sanaa, after switching sides in the civil war, abandoning his Iran-aligned Houthi allies in favour of the Saudi-led coalition.

In a lengthy televised speech aired on the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV network, Abdul Malik al-Houthi said his fighters killed Saleh for his "treason" and congratulated Yemenis "on this historic, exceptional and great day in which the conspiracy of betrayal and treason failed, this black day for the forces of the aggression".

He said the uprising of Saleh's loyalists against the Houthi group was the greatest threat the Arabian Peninsula country had faced, but that it was defeated in three days.

He said the Houthi group - officially called Ansar Allah (Partisans of God) - would maintain the country's republican system and would not seek vengeance against Saleh's party.

"The problem is not with the General People's Congress (GPC) as a party or with its members," Houthi said.

The GPC was Yemen's ruling party under Saleh but is now divided.

Several warnings

Without mentioning Saleh by name, Houthi said that he knew about Saleh's communication with the coalition and his efforts to turn against the Houthi group.

Houthi also said he had sent several warnings to Saleh.

"We have notified the leader of the traitor and criminal militias to retract, be wise, to stop his militias from continuing committing crimes," he said.

"Today is the day of the fall of the conspiracy of betrayal and treason. It's a dark day for the forces of the coalition."

Houthi also praised a missile launch announced by the group towards the UAE this week as a message against its enemies, advising against foreign investment in the UAE and Saudi Arabia as their campaign in Yemen continues.

The Houthi rebels had similarly fired a missile towards Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh last month, which official media said had been intercepted by the kingdom's air defence.

"The official story was clear: Saudi forces shot down a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group last month at Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. It was a victory for the Saudis and for the United States, which supplied the Patriot missile defense system," New York Times said in a report on Monday.

However, evidence analysed by a research team of missile experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, indicate that the missile's warhead flew unimpeded over Saudi defences and nearly hit its target, Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, according to the report.

The Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the November 5 explosion in Riyadh, saying they fired a long-range ballistic missile that travelled more than 800km over the border with Saudi Arabia.

A spokesman for the rebels told Al Jazeera they launched a Burkan 2-H missile - a Scud-type missile with a range of more than 800km - towards Riyadh.

Videos on social media that evening showed smoke rising from an area near the King Khalid International Airport.

The Middlebury Institute analysis found that the warhead detonated so close to the domestic terminal that people jumped out of their seats.

"The findings show that the Iranian-backed Houthis, once a ragtag group of rebels, have grown powerful enough to strike major targets in Saudi Arabia, possibly shifting the balance of their years-long war," the New York Times said.

Houthi origins

The Houthi rebels, seen at present as the most powerful political faction in Yemen, emerged in the 1990s as a movement to revive the Zaidi Shia traditions of Yemen's historically dominant northern highlands.

The group originated in the northwestern province of Saada to protest at what their followers said was discrimination against them and their stronghold by the central government.

A crackdown by Saleh, then Yemen's president, in 2004 led to the killing of founder Hussein al-Houthi, followed by six military campaigns to quell guerrilla warfare in the group's stronghold of Saada.

His younger brother Abdul Malek took over and stepped up the group's rhetoric against the government and its alliance with the US.

In 2011, the eruption of protests in Yemen against Saleh's long rule expanded the Houthis' clout beyond Saada. Their populist and anti-corruption rhetoric won them some support in Sunni areas too.

Under a UN-sponsored power transfer deal, Saleh stepped down and was replaced by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, his deputy, in 2012.

In July 2014, the Houthis took advantage of an unpopular move by the government to cut fuel subsidies and called for mass demonstrations in Sanaa.

In September, Houthi rebels took control of Sanaa and have since swept across the country.

On Monday, Hadi urged Yemenis to unite against the Houthi rebels, describing them as "Iranian militias".

Hadi, who has been self-imposed exile in Riyadh in recent past years, delivered his televised speech just hours after the killing of Saleh.

"I call on all Yemenis, in all the provinces, which are still under the rule of these criminal and terrorist militias, to rise up in their face and resist them. And our army will be the victor," he said.

"We are with you, in the same trench, and with one goal, which is battling for the republic and the revolution, and the expulsion of the Iranian Houthi militias."

Fighting and air strikes in Yemen's Sanaa trap civilians and halt aid: U.N.

Fighting and air strikes in Yemen's Sanaa trap civilians and halt aid: U.N.

Reuters Staff

GENEVA (Reuters) - Fighting and air strikes have intensified in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, where roads are blocked and tanks are deployed on many streets, trapping civilians and halting delivery of vital aid including fuel to supply clean water, the United Nations said on Monday.

Some of the fiercest clashes are around the diplomatic area near the U.N. compound, while aid flights in and out of Sanaa airport have been suspended, the world body said in a statement following its appeal for a humanitarian pause on Tuesday.


“The escalating situation threatens to push the barely functioning basic services ... to a standstill. These services have already been seriously compromised with the latest shock of the impact of the blockade,” it said, adding that fighting had also spread to other governorates, such as Hajjah.

Yemen's Saleh killed by Houthi fighters

Yemen's Saleh killed in RPG, gun attack on his car, party confirms death
Reuters | Published — Monday 4 December 2017

Yemeni former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)

SANAA/DUBAI: Officials in Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress party (GPC) confirmed to Reuters that the former Yemeni president and party leader has been killed outside Sanaa, in what sources in the Houthi group said was an RPG and gun attack.

The GPC officials said Saleh was killed south of the capital Sanaa along with the assistant secretary-general of the GPC, Yasser Al-Awadi.

Sources in the Houthi group said fighters stopped his armored vehicle with an RPG rocket and then shot him dead.

A Houthi video distributed on social media showed what appeared to be Saleh’s body, clad in grey clothes and being carried out on a red blanket. The side of his head bore a deep wound.
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Unverified footage that circulated earlier on social media showed armed militiamen unfurling a blanket containing the corpse and shouting, “Praise God!” and “Hey Ali Affash!,” another last name for Saleh.

In a televised address Monday evening, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called on all citizens in all provinces of the country to rise up against the Houthi militias.

The radio station of the Houthi-run Yemeni Interior Ministry first reported Saleh’s death but his party quickly denied this to Reuters, saying he was still leading his forces in Sanaa.

Earlier on Monday, Houthi forces blew up Saleh’s house in Sanaa and came under aerial attack by Saudi-led coalition warplanes for a second day, residents said.

Saleh’s loyalists have lost ground on the sixth day of heavy urban warfare with the Houthis during which the death toll has jumped to at least 125 with 238 wounded, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“We are supporting the main hospitals in Sanaa who urgently need war-wounded kits,” ICRC spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet said in Geneva. “We are also looking at donating dead body bags to hospitals which are actually asking for them and hope to donate fuel to the main hospitals because they depend on generators.”

The United Nations called for a humanitarian pause in Sanaa between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to allow civilians to leave their homes, aid workers to reach them, and the wounded to get medical care.

STREETS ARE “BATTLEGROUNDS“

Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said in a statement that the streets of Sanaa had become “battlegrounds” and that aid workers “remain in lockdown.”

McGoldrick warned the warring parties that any deliberate attacks on civilians and against civilian and medical infrastructure are “clear violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.”

Sanaa residents reported intense fighting overnight and into the morning with families cowering in their homes as explosions rocked the city. Coalition air strikes hammered Houthi positions in an apparent bid to shore up Saleh’s forces, witnesses said.

The realignment of Saleh’s forces with the Saudis would mark a significant turn in a war that is part of a wider struggle between regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Yemen’s protracted bloodshed has compounded the woes of one of the Arab world’s poorest countries and left at least 10,000 dead as hunger and disease have spread.

At the United Nations, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the warring parties to stop all ground and air assaults. He also called for the resumption of all commercial imports into Yemen, saying millions of children, women and men were at risk of mass hunger, disease and death.

However, in a speech late on Sunday, Saleh formally annulled his alliance with the Houthis and pledged to step up his fight.

Saleh, who dominated Yemen’s heavily armed tribal society for 33 years before quitting in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, and the Shiite Muslim Houthis had made common cause against Hadi loyalists.

But they vied for supremacy over the territory they ran together, including Sanaa, which the Houthis seized in September 2014, and their feud burst into open combat on Wednesday.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam claimed significant gains in the battle for Sanaa on Monday.

“With the aid and approval of God, the security forces backed up by wide popular support were able last night to cleanse the areas in which the militias of treason and betrayal were deployed,” he said in a statement.

The Houthi movement’s TV channel Al-Masirah and witnesses said Houthi fighters had seized the downtown home of Saleh’s nephew Tareq, an army general.

Residents said the warring sides traded heavy automatic and artillery fire as the Houthis advanced in the central Political District, which is a redoubt of Saleh and his family.

“We lived through days of terror. Houthi tanks have been firing and the shells were falling on our neighborhood,” said Mohammed Al-MadHajji, who lives in the frontline district.

“The fighting has been so violent we feel we could die at any moment. We can’t get out of our homes.”

Source: Arab News

Self-Employment Loan scheme Only fraction of ex-LTTE cadres benefit

Self-Employment Loan scheme Banks fight shy Only fraction of ex-LTTE cadres benefit

By
2017-12-03

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan

Only a tiny fraction of the money allocated as Self-employment Loans for the rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres has been disbursed, Ceylon Today reliably learns.

This newspaper met a large number of these ex-LTTE cadres in the Eastern Province last week. Their inability to obtain a portion of the Rs 524 million to restart their lives was a common lament.

What we heard was that the State banks in the Northern and Eastern Provinces are imposing 'restrictions with concerns' on these ex-LTTE combatants when they approach the banks to obtain the loans that were introduced to them by the Finance Ministry last December.

The loans are mandated to be a maximum of Rs 250,000 at a rate of 4% interest per annum with a repayment period of ten years, with a one-year grace period.

Between 4 December 2016 and 31 September 2017, only 1,494 ex-fighters had received recommendations to obtain the loan, out of which, only 621 received the loan facility, Ceylon Today learns.

Out of a total of 12,185 rehabilitated cadres, 7,858 persons applied for the loans but only 1,799 were declared eligible to obtain the loan.

When the first stage of disbursing the Self-Employment Loans was implemented in 20 June 2012, by the Bank of Ceylon, People's Bank and National Savings Bank, the Government saw a large percentage of defaulters.

The first stage of the loan scheme was disappointment due to the fact there were shortcomings in the selection process, inadequate monitoring, inadequate manpower and lack of awareness among the beneficiaries about the purpose of this scheme.

As a result, the banks are now reluctant to entertain the second loan scheme that was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 4 July 2013 to disburse another Rs 525 million.

Late last year, the Ministry of Finance and the Rehabilitation Authority, with the Bank of Ceylon, People's Bank, and Regional Development Bank signed a tripartite agreement to recommence the Self-Employment Loans to the rehabilitated cadres and the socially reintegrated trainees that is now in progress.

The banks are in a quandary over whether the loans could be recovered due to the arrears in the first stage. Banks told Ceylon Today that they also have witnessed some of the ex-cadres being re-arrested by the TID which halts the recovery process.

"Some of them are in prisons, and we don't know how to recover the loans," one bank official said.

கழகத் தோழர் ராவ் மனைவி, காலமான லட்சுமிக்கு ஆழ்ந்த இரங்கல்கள்.

லட்சுமி பிரபாகரன் ராவ்

மக்கள் ஜனநாயக இளைஞர் கழகத்தில் நீண்ட காலமாக இயங்கி வரும் மூத்த தோழர் பிரபாகரன் ராவ் அவர்களின் மனைவி லட்சுமி வயது 56, அவர்கள் நோய்வாய்ப்பட்டு மருத்துவமனையில் அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டிருந்த நிலையில் இன்று மாலை இயற்கை எய்தினார் என்பதை மிகுந்த வருத்தத்துடன் தெரிவித்துக் கொள்கிறோம். 

அன்னாருக்கு எங்கள் ஆழ்ந்த இரங்கல்கள்!

முகவரி : இடம் 52, 3 வது தெரு, தில்லை நகர்,கொரட்டூர், சென்னை -80. (பிரிட்டானியா அருகில் )

தகவல்: FB தோழர்கள் VR-SS

ஓக்கிப் புயல் - மீனவர் கதி என்ன? தத்தளிக்கும் கன்னியாகுமரி

கடலுக்குப் போன மீனவர்கள் நிலை என்ன? 
தத்தளிக்கும் கன்னியாகுமரி

கன்னியாகுமரி கடலில் மீன்பிடிக்கச் சென்ற டஜன் கணக்கான மீனவர்கள் ஒக்கிப் புயலால் சீற்றத்துடன் உள்ள கடலில் சிக்கிக்கொண்டிருப்பதாக தகவல்கள் வரும் நிலையில், காணாமல் போனவர்கள் எண்ணிக்கையோ நிலையோ, இன்னும் தெளிவாகத் தெரியவில்லை.

புயல் மழையால் சூழ்ந்த வெள்ளம்

இதனிடையே, கடற்படை கப்பல்களும், ஹெலிகாப்டர்களும் மீட்புப் பணியில் ஈடுபட்டிருப்பதாகத் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன.

ஆனால், மீட்புப் பணிகள் குறித்து மீனவர்கள், மீனவர் அமைப்புகள் அதிருப்தி தெரிவித்துள்ளன.

பிபிசியிடம் பேசிய கன்னியாகுமரி மாவட்ட ஆட்சியர் சஜ்ஜன்சிங் ஆர்.சவான் கடந்த இரண்டு நாள்களில் 203 மீனவர்கள் மீட்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாகத் தெரிவித்தார். இதுவரை 8 பேர் இறந்துள்ளதாகக் கூறும் ஆட்சியரிடம் இன்னும் கடலில் உள்ள மீனவர்கள் எண்ணிக்கை குறித்து தெளிவான எண்ணிக்கை இல்லை.

"காணாமல் போன மீனவர்கள் குறித்து மீனவர் குடும்பங்களிடம் அரசு கணக்கெடுக்கவில்லை, இவ்வளவு பெரிய பாதிப்பை ஏற்படுத்தும் புயல் வருகிறது என்பது பற்றி போதிய அளவில் அரசு முன்னெச்சரிக்கை செய்யவில்லை. இதுவரை, காணாமல் போன மீனவர்கள் குறித்து விசாரிக்க தகவல் மையம் அமைக்கப்படவில்லை," என்று பிபிசியிடம் தெரிவித்தார்

'தெற்காசிய மீனவர் தோழமை' அமைப்பின் பொதுச் செயலாளர் அருட்தந்தை சர்ச்சில்.

ஒக்கிப் புயலினால் ஏற்பட்ட கடல் சீற்றத்தில் லட்சத்தீவில் கரை ஒதுங்கிய படகு.

கேரளாவில் உள்ள இந்திய கடற்படைக் கப்பல் 13 மீனவர்களை மீட்டு திருவனந்தபுரம் மருத்துவமனையில் சேர்த்துள்ளதைக் குறிப்பிட்ட அவர் தமிழகத்தில் உள்ள கடற்படை இப்படி ஏன் செயல்படவில்லை என்றும் கேட்டுள்ளார்.

ஒக்கிப் புயலின் காரணமாக மழை பெய்வது சனிக்கிழமை நான்காவது நாளை எட்டியுள்ள நிலையில் கன்னியாகுமரி மாவட்டம் முழுவதும் பரவலாக பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மின்சார வசதி இன்னும் மீட்கப்படவில்லை என்கிறார் அங்கு சென்றுள்ள பிபிசி தமிழ் செய்தியாளர் பிரமிளா கிருஷ்ணன்.

மாவட்டத்தில் பல இடங்கள் சாலைகளில் மரங்கள் விழுந்திருப்பதாலும், தண்ணீர் தேங்கியிருப்பதாலும் சாலைப் போக்குவரத்து பெருமளவில் பாதிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறது என்று கூறும் அவர் குறிப்பாக நாகர்கோயில் பகுதி தனித்தீவாகவே இருப்பதாகக் கூறுகிறார்.

பருத்தித்துறைப் பகுதியில் மீன் பிடித்த நாகை-காரைக்கால் மீனவர்கள் 20 பேர் கைது

பருத்தித்துறைப் பகுதியில் மீன் பிடித்த நாகை-காரைக்கால் மீனவர்கள் 20 பேர் கைது


பருத்தித்துறை பகுதியில் எல்லை தாண்டி வந்து மீன் பிடித்த நாகை-காரைக்கால் மீனவர்கள் 20 பேரை  இலங்கை கடற்படையினர் கைது செய்தனர்.

நாகை மாவட்டம் வேதாரண்யத்தை அடுத்த கோடியக்கரையில் மீன்பிடி சீசனையொட்டி தமிழகம் முழுவதும் இருந்து மீனவர்கள் வந்து தங்கியிருந்து மீன் பிடித்து வருகின்றனர்.

கடந்த சில நாட்களாக தொடர் மழை பெய்து வருவதால் பெரும்பாலான மீனவர்கள் மீன்பிடிக்க செல்லவில்லை.

இந்த நிலையில் கடந்த 30-ந்தேதி நாகை அக்கரை பேட்டையை சேர்ந்த தங்கமணி என்பவருக்கு சொந்தமான விசைப்படகில் 10 மீனவர்களும், இன்னொரு விசைப்படகில் காரைக்காலை சேர்ந்த 10 மீனவர்களும் மீன் பிடிக்க சென்றனர். அவர்கள் இன்று அதிகாலை 2 மணி அளவில் பருத்தித்துறை பகுதியில் நடுக்கடலில் மீன் பிடித்து கொண்டிருந்தனர்.

அப்போது அந்த வழியாக ரோந்து வந்த இலங்கை கடற்படையினர் 2 படகுகளையும் சுற்றி வளைத்து 20 மீனவர்களையும் கைது செய்தனர். எல்லை தாண்டி வந்து மீன் பிடித்ததாகவும், தடை செய்யப்பட்ட வலைகளை பயன்படுத்தியதாகவும் கூறி அவர்கள் மீது குற்றம்சாட்டினர். பின்னர் அவர்களை காங்கேசன் துறை முகத்துக்ககு அழைத்து சென்றனர். அவர்கள் மீன் பிடிக்க பயன்படுத்திய 2 விசைப்படகுகளையும் பறிமுதல் செய்து கொண்டு சென்றனர்.

இதுபற்றி இன்று காலை தெரியவந்ததும் நாகை அக்கரைபேட்டையில் உள்ள மீனர்வர்களின் உறவினர்களும் காரைக்காலை சேர்ந்த மீனவர்களின் உறவினர்களும் , கடலோர காவல்படை போலீசாரிடம் முறையிட்டு தங்கள் குடும்பத்தினரை மீட்டு தரும்படி கண்ணீர் மல்க கேட்டுக்கொண்டனர்.

நாகை பகுதியில் கடல் சீற்றம் காரணமாக சில நாட்கள் மீனவர்கள் மீன்பிடிக்க செல்லவில்லை. இயற்கை சீற்றங்களை தாண்டி வருமானத்துக்காக மீன் பிடிக்க செல்லும் மீனவர்களையும் இலங்கை கடற்படையினர் கைது செய்வதும், இலங்கை மீனவர்கள் தாக்குவதும் அடிக்கடி நடந்து வருவதால் மீனவர்கள் கடலுக்கு சென்று மீன்பிடிக்க அஞ்சும் நிலை ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.

இந்த பிரச்சனைக்கு நிரந்தர தீர்வு காண மத்திய, மாநில அரசுகள் உரிய நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும். கைதான மீனவர்களை மீட்க வேண்டும். பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்ட படகுகளை மீட்டு தர வேண்டும் என்று பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மீனவர்கள் குடும்பத்தினர் கோரிக்கை விடுத்துள்ளனர்.

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SLNavy nets 20 Indian fishermen, 2 trawlers poaching in SL waters


Twenty Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, along with 2 fishing trawlers, were apprehended by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on Friday night (1). “The arrests were made north of Kovilan Point and Point Pedro by 2 SLN Fast Attack Craft attached to Northern Naval Command,” the SLN stated.

One of the seized trawlers was brought to the Naval base SLNS Elara in Karainagar, while the other trawler and the fishermen were detained at SLNS Uttara in Kankesanthurai. The apprehended fishermen were subsequently handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries in Jaffna, for Legal action.

Meanwhile, the proposed International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) meeting between the Navies of Sri Lanka and India was postponed this week due to bad weather, said a senior SLN officer. SLN Spokesman Commander Dinesh Bandara told the Sunday Times that talks were scheduled to be held on-board an Indian vessel near the IMBL border on Nov.28, but were cancelled at the last minute, as bad weather prevailed in the coastal area.

“Our delegation had to return from midway near the IMBL, as weather conditions worsened. We are hoping to fix a date for talks early next month,” he said. The Navy-to Navy talks on-board such vessels take place twice a year, to enhance operational effectiveness through common understanding of the Navies and Coastguards on maritime security in the region, by integration of forces through co-operation, coordination and collaboration.

The ongoing illegal poaching by Indian fishermen in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters was also one of the topics to be discussed in the talks. Another issue to be discussed was the possibility of joint patrols by the two countries’ Coastguards, along the Palk Strait, to prevent vessels trespassing into each others waters.

Sunday Times

Indian army disrespectfully trampled over the bodies of alleged slain militants - NHRC

Trampling of bodies: NHRC asks Defence Ministry to ‘take appropriate action’

“The authority concerned is directed to take appropriate action within eight weeks and to inform the complainant of the action taken in the matter,” the judgment of the NHRC reads.

SHAFAQ SHAH
Srinagar, Publish Date: Dec 1 2017

File Photo

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India, has asked the ministry of defence “to take appropriate action” in the matter where the army was seen trampling the bodies of militants at Nowgam Srinagar in September this year.

“The authority concerned is directed to take appropriate action within eight weeks and to inform the complainant of the action taken in the matter,” the judgment of the NHRC reads.

On 14th of September, Lakshar-e-Toiba commander, Abu Ismail and his associate Abu Qasim were killed by government forces on the outskirts of Srinagar at Aaribagh, Nowgam.
Immediately after the killing, a video showing army trampling the dead bodies of the militants went viral on the internet.

On 20th September, a Shimla based activist, Sunil Mohan Jetley, petition with NHRC against trampling of militants’ bodies by army.

“Some soldiers of Indian army disrespectfully trampled over the bodies of alleged slain militants, Abu Ismail and Abu Qasim, resting their feet on the militants’ chest and inhumanly dragged them with ropes tied to their legs,”

Sunil Mohan Jaitley had stated in his petition.

The petitioner had further said, “The defence spokesperson has assured of taking action, but no concrete action was taken against the army men. When such videos go viral, the youth in Kashmir get disturbed and then they take up arms.”

Source: Greater Kashmir

Seychelles- மற்றொரு உலக மறு பங்கீட்டுத் தீவு!

SECURITY INDIAN OCEAN

China-India vie for a strategic slice of paradise

Seychelles, a small island nation of 100,000, is at the center of a contest for supremacy in the Indian Ocean

By BERTIL LINTNER VICTORIA, SEYCHELLES, NOVEMBER 23, 2017 

An ocean view from Seychelles' Mahe Island on April 17, 2017. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Brocken Inaglory

 Victoria is one of the smallest capital cities in the world. With only 25,000 people, the Seychelles capital still represents a quarter of the tiny island nation’s mixed population of ethnic Indians and Africans.

The town center features an old clock tower brought by the British when the island was separated from their possession Mauritius and made into a separate colony in 1903. Now, the main source of income is high-end tourism and several hundred thousand visitors arrive every year to bask in the sun in what is often described as a tropical island paradise.

Unsurprisingly, the Seychelles also has one of the smallest defense forces in the world with only 650 men in active service. But when General Wang Guanzhong, a leading member of China’s Central Military Commission, visited Victoria in November last year, enhancing “defense cooperation” was high on his agenda, according to a press release from the Seychellois president’s office. The cooperation would involve training, the supply of equipment and high level exchange visits, the statement said.

In June this year, Xu Jinghu, a special representative to the Chinese government, paid a high-profile visit to the Seychelles where she met President Danny Faure and other high-ranking officials.

According to a Chinese foreign ministry statement on the visit, the Seychelles considers “China as a good friend and good brother [and] the country is willing to make joint efforts with China to expand bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as blue economy, tourism, health, sports and security, so as to promote the constant and forward-looking development of bilateral friendly cooperative relations.”

Seychelles-China-Leopold Payet-Jean-Paul Adam-Shi Zhongjun Seychelles’ Defense Force Chief Brigadier Leopold Payet (C-L) Seychelles Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam (R) and then Chinese Ambassador to Seychelles Shi Zhongjun (C-R) in a file photo. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Seychelles may be small in area and population, but is large in strategic significance positioned between Africa, the Arab peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. It’s also in the middle of China’s ‘New Maritime Silk Road’ stretching from southern China and Myanmar to Africa and through the Suez Canal to Europe. That makes Seychelles a potential vital geographic link in Beijing’s “One Belt One Road” (OBOR) infrastructure development initiative.

But China’s overtures towards the island nation have not gone unnoticed among other countries, including India, with a strategic interest in the Indian Ocean. In October, India dispatched Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on a sudden unannounced visit to the Seychelles. He met with President Faure to discuss infrastructure projects and scale up relations to a “more strategic, comprehensive and ambitious partnership between the two countries,” a statement said.

According to people familiar with the situation, New Delhi is alarmed not only by growing China-Seychelles defense and economic cooperation, but also the fast rise in the number of Chinese visitors to the island, up from a mere 500 in 2011 to 15,000 in 2016.

The Indian Ocean region is fast emerging as one of the world’s most important and contested maritime areas. That was underscored by US President Donald Trump’s rhetorical shift from the use of “Asia-Pacific” to “Indo-Pacific” in his references to the wider region during the Southeast Asian legs of his Asian tour.

The budding formation of a ‘quadrilateral’ arrangement between the US, Japan, Australia and India to counterbalance China’s maritime ambitions has also put a new spotlight on the Indian Ocean.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seen with
US President Donald Trump. Photo: DPA Pool/Michael Kappeler 

More than 60% of the world’s oil shipments pass through the Indian Ocean, largely exports from the Middle East to importing Asian powerhouse economies such as China, Japan and South Korea. Seventy percent of all container traffic to and from Asia’s industrialized nations also passes through the waterway.

China’s OBOR initiative has added a new strategic dimension that is arguably already impacting on the Indian Ocean region’s balance of power. While officially a peaceful plan to help neighbors and others to develop and facilitate trade, if China delivers on the US$1 trillion it has pledged it could lead to Chinese economic hegemony in the Indian Ocean region and beyond.

OBOR envisions incorporating 65 global countries (India has declined to participate) in the construction of roads, railways and ports that facilitate new maritime trade routes.

But there is a major point that China does not mention in its official handouts. The ‘New Maritime Silk Road’ alludes to ancient but defunct trade routes which OBOR supposedly aims to revive. While there was indeed an overland Silk Road from Europe to China, a “maritime” Silk Road is an entirely new concept.

Arab merchants made it as far as China over the centuries, but no Chinese ships have regularly plied the Indian Ocean since Zheng He, a 15th century Chinese explorer sailed his fleet to South Asia and Africa. Until the late 1980s, Chinese merchant ships seldom ventured outside the immediate region and China’s navy was then largely a riverine force.

As the country becomes more and more connected to the modern world, the India International Centre needs to democratize. Illustration: Vector. As the country becomes more and more connected to the modern world, the India International Centre needs to democratize. Illustration: Vector.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy was not developed into a more substantial unit that began to turn its attention towards the seas until 2009.

Now, for the first time in history, China is developing a merchant marine as well as a blue-water navy and it is increasingly making waves in the Indian Ocean. Chinese warships and submarines have been spotted in the region and China is investing heavily via OBOR in other Indian Ocean countries.

That’s raising the strategic ante. In October, India announced that its navy plans a permanent presence with more patrols in the Indian Ocean region to counter China’s growing influence. That’s raising the strategic stakes for small island nations like Seychelles which are likely to come under rising diplomatic pressure to choose one side or another in the contest.

Seychelles achieved independence from Britain in 1976 and was run as a socialist one-party state from 1979 to 1991. Over that period, it developed a close relationship with Tanzania, Eastern Bloc nations and even North Korea. After a transition to democracy in the early 1990s, the Seychelles became a haven not only for jet-set tourism, but also dirty money.

Coast Guard guards of honor in the capital Victoria greet then UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. Photo: AFP/ Seychelles President Office

Like many other island nations with a small population and few natural resources, the Seychelles has become “an offshore magnet for money launderers and tax dodgers”, according to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The Seychelles also figures in the ICIJ’s more recent exposé known as the Paradise Papers, though it’s not clear yet if the revelations will undermine its financial hub status.

Still, the Seychelles’ small population, lack of resources and laggard education system make it vulnerable to outside pressure — especially if monetary incentives are involved — and it appears that China aims to take advantage of that increasingly precarious situation. In 2011, China considered an offer from the Seychelles to establish a port to manage “anti-piracy patrols” in the Gulf of Aden.

While that port was never built, China opened its first overseas base in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa in August this year. If the proposed joint patrols do materialize as part of Beijing’s recent overtures, China’s Djibouti base will no doubt play an important role in the power projection into the Indian Ocean.

The Seychelles’ special relationship with China is contributing to a new strategic dynamic in the region, one that India and other regional players are scrambling to counterbalance. While Beijing’s promotion of the ‘New Maritime Silk Road’ and OBOR initiatives claim to draw on historical trade routes, the reality is China is a new and potentially destabilizing player in the maritime region.

Source:Asia Times