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A memorandum by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, part of an assurance given to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), has triggered many issues. When the matter came up for discussion at last Tuesday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, President Maithripala Sirisena asked why, despite all measures now being taken, an officer of the Sri Lanka Army was being accused of human rights violations.

He was alluding to the case of Lt. Col. Kalana Amunupura, a former second in command of the 11th Battalion of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI). He served the 58 Brigade area at Puthukudiyiruppu and Mullaitivu. However, President Sirisena has learnt that he was not involved in operational tasks.

The President said that he had learnt that a UN Panel where a South African diplomat Yasmin Sooka was then a member had named Lt. Col. Amunupura for alleged human rights violations. However, Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe said it was not her but Sri Lanka’s own Human Rights Commission (HRC).
This prompted President Sirisena to remark that there was no point in making scapegoats of officers and that the Commission must look into the national interest. That naturally raised questions on the role of the HRC itself, since it is tasked to probe human rights violations and is, therefore, bound by law to give its findings on human rights abuses.

The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission was in no way involved in Lt. Col. Amunupura’s case. Its chairperson Dr. Deepika Udagama, in fact, was quoted in this newspaper last week as saying so. At the Cabinet discussion, Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said that Sri Lanka should declare, at the upcoming UNHRC session in March next year, that it was withdrawing its co-sponsorship from the United States backed resolution.

President Sirisena, thereafter, called upon Premier Wickremesinghe to go into the matter. This was 72 hours or so before he removed Mr. Wickremesinghe from his job.

A cockeyed view from cockpit

Captain Suranga  M. Samarasinghe, Secretary of the Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka, has responded by e-mail to our report on this page last week headlined “BIA Runway Safety Area Not of Standard: ICAO.” This is what he has to say in a rather harshly worded letter:

“I write with reference to your article “BIA Runway Safety Area not of Standard: ICAO” found in your publication on the 21st of October 2018.
“I wish to place on record that your article contains a gross error in facts and complete recklessness in portraying a non-existent situation with the main aeronautical hub of the country. I have it on very good authority that your article has not been corroborated by a cross-check with any of those with knowledge in the BIA Runway Safety Team (RST) of the Airport & Aviation Services of Sri Lanka (AASL), nor the ALPGSL Sub-Committee that look into any such matters to provide technical expertise. It contains erroneous data based on irrelevant and incomplete technical terminology.

“I also wish to state that my name has been mentioned in this article in a completely wrong context, thereby leading me, along with many others, to question the integrity of the reporting of your Newspaper and the responsibility owed therein, to your Readership.

“Please be kind enough to redact the article with an apology to myself and the Airport & Aviation Services of Sri Lanka for erroneous reporting, before I am forced in good consciousness to seek legal remedies; as your negligent actions in print now have legal ramifications to myself and others.”
Jamis Banda adds: Firstly, Captain Samarasinghe has already circulated the above letter to all members of the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka (AAPGSL).
Well and good, for they should know. I am not sure whether he would also circulate among them my response below. That will help his fellow pilots to know the truth. Or is it a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing?

Here is the full text of an e-mail Captain Ruwan Vithanage, President of the Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka wrote to Captain Rajind Ranatunga, Head of Flight Operations, SriLankan Airlines.

“Dear Capt. Ranatunga,
“With reference to the BIA Runway Safety Team and the technical sub-committee which was appointed to seek a solution to the ICAO finding of a non-standard runway strip at VCBI, Capt. Suranga Samarasinghe will be attending an IFALPA RST Co-ordinator course in BKK from the 20th to 22nd of November 2018. Details of the course are attached below. During this Course, the draft report of corrective measures to be forwarded to the ICAO, will be submitted to the body for their views and necessary changes.

“Capt. Samarasinghe has requested for 3 ROFs from the 20th of November, via SABRE. He will be requesting for SNY slips to travel to and from BKK in due course and would appreciate the 19th and 23rd of November being made available, to meet the travel requirements. He is willing to utilise his annual leave quota if required.

“Your kind assistance and consideration is appreciated.”
That is not all. The invitation for the IFALPA Runway Safety Team course has come from Christoph Schewe, the co-ordinator.
Come, come Captain Samarasinghe. Just because you fly a plane you must have your feet on the ground, if you know what I mean. If you had only checked with Captain Vithanage your own president, and “your good consciousness” would have been cleared. Or are you too like the Yahapalanaya Government where the two heads opposed each other? Perhaps, you have hit some avoidable turbulence.

State media group’s lady boss shows her independence
The lady boss of a state media institution showed that she was not only tough but also independent, like the name of her institution.
It began when a VVIP’s personal security detail first wanted to search her room. They said the VVIP’s progeny would be visiting her office.
She stood her ground and the men withdrew to the ground floor. Sometime later, they came up again. This time, they asked her to come with them and receive the progeny at the entrance. She flatly refused. So the VVIP lady had to walk into her office.
It was all too different when she visited another similar organisation. There the boss got up from the chair so soon that she nearly fell. Then she sang “yes madam, yes madam….”
Both these institutions now seem to have new bosses since Friday night.

MR’s breakfast call to Sampanthan
Breakfast for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday was kiribath and a variety of accompaniments at his official residence at Wijerama Road.
As he enjoyed his meal, Mr. Rakjapaksa asked a Tamil journalist present there to get Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Rajavarorthayam Sampanthan. The scribe got him on his own telephone.
Mr. Rajapaksa asked Mr. Sampanthan whether the TNA would support his government. Making clear that the TNA had no ill-will towards him.
Mr. Sampanthan said he would consult his party and revert to Rajapaksa.

Wigneswaran seeks police security
Both former Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and former Opposition Leader S. Thawarasa have requested police to provide them security even after the council’s term ended on October 24. Taking up the role of a full time Tamil nationalist politician, Mr. Wigneswaran also moved into a rented house in Jaffna as he had to vacate his official residence there. But, he is yet to hand over his official vehicle.

The ceremonial last session of the Council was held on Tuesday. This coincided with eightieth birthday of Chief Minister Wigneswaran and a mega lunch party was held. The next day, at a gathering in a wedding hall in Nallur, he said he was breaking away from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the party which brought him to politics from his retiring days in Colombo and made him a Chief Minister.

The mandate of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) expired on October 24. Many council members have regrets about what the council was able to do while many Northern Province people also ask what the council had done other than passing 444 resolutions. Some former ministers and councillors also regretted their delay in securing duty-free vehicle permits.

The last minute attempt by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran to push through his ‘tax free vehicle’ ended up in futile as the Treasury had issued a directive to suspend the issue of duty-free permits.