Int’l community must exert real pressure on SL

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan-2013-01-21

The outcome of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) fell short of addressing the main issues, particularly the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) said yesterday, but admitted that the Commission report made a good number of practical recommendations. This, it said, had also been highlighted by many internal and international human rights and humanitarian organizations and international organizations such as the UN and EU.  Speaking to Ceylon Today, GTF spokesperson, Suren Surendiran said, “The LLRC did not have the right mandate to investigate such alleged crimes and breaches of international law. The LLRC did not have sufficient mandate to protect witnesses, which discouraged many war victims from coming forward. The involvement of certain individuals in the committee, their credibility and objectiveness was questioned from the very beginning by many, internally and externally. Finally, the LLRC also vindicated and excused the Sri Lankan Military without a proper investigation beyond their mandate and even when many types of evidence, including video evidence, were presented to them.”

Surendiran said it was such a discredited report’s recommendations that the international community wanted implemented as part of the UN resolution that was passed in Geneva last March at the UNHRC. “Part two of the resolution called for Sri Lanka to address the accountability issue in a credible, transparent and independent manner. The third part called on the Government of Sri Lanka to address the political grievances of the Tamils in a responsible and acceptable way to arrive at a political solution,” he said, pointing out that only a fraction of the first part has been considered in the action plan presented by the Government of Sri Lanka, and that there is almost zero progress on part two and three. “None have been effectively implemented. This demonstrates serious contempt and disregard for international norms and resolutions by the government,” he said, urging the international community to stop the soft diplomacy tactics and start acting effectively by putting real pressure on the regime, by introducing various measures available to the international community such as implementing a travel ban on the leaders, economic pressure by delaying IMF loans and calling for an international mechanism to investigate the alleged war crimes, and so forth.

TID squad searches Sritharan MPs office for second time

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 15:31 GMT]
A 6-member team of Sri Lankan ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Department on Tuesday searched the Ki'linochchi office of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivagnanam Sritharan for three hours. The TID squad, led by a Inspector ranked officer, Sarach Chandra, was searching the office inch-by-inch and were looking for computers that belonged to the parliamentarian, news sources in Ki'linochchi told TamilNet. When Mr Jeevanayagam Singarasa, who was in charge of the office on Tuesday, questioned the procedure of the TID, he was subjected to ‘interrogation’ for two hours inside the office. The TID inspector, when contacted by Mr Sritharan over telephone told the MP that the search operation was being conducted under the Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act. 

The TID squad wanted to check the laptop computer of the parliamentarian and was told that the laptop was with the MP in Colombo. 

The TID inspector was insistent on logging on to the computer at the office and took it away amid protests by Mr Singarasa. 

When the MP demanded clarification from the TID officer that any such investigation or search on the office of a parliamentarian should be informed in advance, the TID inspector told him to apporach the headquarters of the TID in Colombo for such clarifications. 

The MP was also told that his personal secretary, Pon Kanthan, was in the custody of the TID. 

The search operation began at 9:45 am went on till 12:50 p.m.