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Monday, 27 May 2013

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AROUND THE CORNER …

The U.S government’s establishment of ‘the American Corner in Trincomalee in an agreement with the local government authorities of that Eastern city at first glance may sound as if it is all about the establishment of a hole-in-the-wall Information Centre (…Center as they say in the peculiar American argot.)

But, the sense of unease since the news was divulged on the issue is palpable, and who could blame anyone for it, with the Northern Provincial Council elections around the corner. Anyhow, the External Affairs Ministry has already articulated its abiding concern over the matter and last week, the Ministry Secretary told this newspaper that the U.S Embassy authorities here will be asked to show cause why an agreement was signed on establishing a Centre of this sort, when clearly External Affairs Ministry approval was needed, considering the diplomatic protocols.

These diplomatic niceties and/or imperatives should have been known not just by the American Embassy but also the local government authority involved, and therein lies the danger. There is an apprehension that in the North and the East where the Sri Lankan government writ runs totally after 2009, there could still be insidious moves to overrun that writ by various political outfits, some that can barely conceal their allegiance to the Tamil Tiger rump.

The Trincomalee affair needs to be investigated thoroughly, and the External Affairs Ministry will no doubt look after the aspect of the American involvement. The bigger issue however, is the matter of the government writ in the Northern and Eastern province and how to preserve that guarantee, which is the only assurance for a life of peace and progress for the people of those two provinces.

These people have now for decades been under the gun of the most potent terrorist outfit in the entire world, and are therefore cowed to the point of being unable to assert themselves. They are easy prey for the machinations of the self-serving and the mercenary minded, that are willing to sell these people’s new found freedom for a mess of pottage.

Incidents such as the American Corner brouhaha in Trincomalee have to be viewed in this context. Much needs to be done before the elections in the North to ensure that the people of the North are not under threat of having their peace and contentment undermined by various ‘elected bodies.’

Various political actors have moved, with ‘civil society’ often acting as a conduit to establish links with foreign governments and various foreign interlopers surreptitiously without so much as a by your leave from Sri Lankan authorities. If links established are as per the law of the country, it wouldn’t matter, but when they clearly contravene diplomatic protocols on the one hand and the powers vested with local politicians on the other, there will be greater apprehensions about how things will turn out in the future if and when regional political actors get more power in their hands, that they can wield.

This is why there is already a sharp reaction to the news of the American Corner in Trincomalee, not just in the Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs but from among various other groups, some allied to the government. The whole matter is crying out for an investigation -- and though the foreign affairs angle is covered with the steps taken by the Ministry of External Affairs, the modus operandi of the local government body involved and the whys and the wheretofores of their conduct has still not been investigated.

The fallout of this matter will no doubt reverberate in the Parliamentary Chambers when the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) meets to decide on matters of constitutional change -- and no doubt the 13th Amendment and its current and future status. Many will be keeping their ears to the ground.

Point of View:

Lessons for Lanka: Malaysia’s election story

The election victory in Malaysia by the ruling Barisan Nasional by winning 135 parliamentary seats out of the 222 seat Parliament, and nearly 50 per cent of the popular vote marks another loss for the global regime change model being tried out by the American neocons in collaboration with local collaborators. The pin-up boy of the neocons and the global bogus human rights enterprise, Anwar Ibrahim has lost, marking the end of his campaign to capture power in Malaysia.

Full Story

Sudden malicious, mala fide termination of Agreement :

Norwegians surrendered right to immunity

A District Court judge recently ruled on the standing of respondents in the case Foundation for Co-Existence vs. 14 other defendants, mostly from the Norwegian Embassy, including the former Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka Hilde Haraldstad, Norwegian Minister of Development Co-operation and Environment, Erik Solheim, Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, former Counselor at the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo Edle Hamre -- and also the British High Commissioner, among others.

Full Story

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