Resurgence of ‘white van’ abductions

12 December 2011

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has called for investigations into the disappearances of two activists, who helped organise a protest in Jaffna drawing attention to the plights of missing people on the island.

The disappearances are just the latest in a string of abductions, which have seen a marked rise in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

The two missing men, Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan, were last seen in Avaragal near Jaffna, as they were making their way to the protest on Friday. Both men were involved in organising a series of protests against disappearances, bringing relatives of the victims from the North to Colombo.

The statement from the AHRC comes on the same day that they released an account into the death of 28-year old Sri Skandaraja Sumanan, who was arrested and taken to Jaffna Police Station, before his dead body was discovered in a canal with over 40 injury marks.

The number of people missing in the North-East has risen sharply, as well as in Colombo, where at least nine people have been abducted in recent months. The majority of victims were all either last seen in Police custody or have been taken away by unmarked white vans. Relatives of the missing have been turned away by the Police and Red Cross, as they try to register complaints.

The recent spate of abductions threatens to plunge the island back into the trend of state-sponsored disappearances that have long plagued the Tamil people.

A 1999 UN study found Sri Lanka to have the second highest number of disappearances in the world, with 12,000 having been detained by security forces. This worrying patternreturned once the Sri Lankan government’s war effort was mobilised after the collapse of the peace talks, as abductions once again began to rise.

See the video by Human Rights Watch entitled “Sri Lanka’s Ghosts” made in 2008, below. 

Also see our earlier posts:

White vans and vanishing men (Jan 2009)

Sri Lanka’s ‘White Van Syndrome’ (Dec 2008)

For the people of the NorthEast, 2007 was a grim year (Jan 2008)

Death from white vans: the logic of terror (Sep 2006)

SRI LANKA: A twenty-eight year old man from Chunnakan, Jaffna was killed in police custody and his body dumped in a river

December 12, 2011

Sri Skandaraja Sumanan, a twenty eight year old man was taken into custody by two persons in civilian dress who identified themselves as officers from the Police Intelligence Services. He was taken into custody at the junction of Punnaly Kattuwan, in front of a barber shop. He sat between the two officers on their motorcycle and was taken to the Jaffna Police Station.

Friends who heard about the incident went to the Jaffna Police Station to see him but they were told that he had been transferred to Chunnakan Police Station. When they went to that police station they could not find him.

Later one of his relatives and the twenty seven year old brother of Sri Skandaraja Sumanan were told by the police that Sumanan was dead and to come to Kilinochchi and identify the body. The police have stated that they found the body in a canal and that it was sent to the Polonnaruwa District Hospital for post mortem examination. The examination was held on November 26, 2011 and the burial was held on November 27th. At the post mortem about 40 injury marks were found and the relatives are of the view that they were caused by torture in police custody.

The police version is that Sumanan fled from police custody and had fallen into the canal where he drowned. The police also stated that Sumanan was wanted for several robberies in the area. This has been denied by the relatives. According to the relatives he was a patient taking treatment from the psychiatric ward at Monthai, Point Pedro.

The relatives state that he had been tortured at the police station and his body was thrown into the canal by the police.

Similar stories relating to custodial deaths are often heard in Sri Lanka. The police always claim that the death was due to persons falling in rivers or waterways while escaping from custody. Or the police claim that they had to shoot the detained person because he tried to snatch some weapons and attack them. It is now a cynical joke, popularly told in Sri Lanka that people who are taken into custody often die in this manner.

Despite of repeated calls on the government by various groups in Sri Lanka and also from the international community the Sri Lankan government continues to ignore calls for proper inquiries and for the imposing of discipline in the police service.

At the 47th Session of the Committee against Torture in their concluding observations the committee made the following recommendation to the government of Sri Lanka:

The Committee urges the State party to investigate promptly, thoroughly and impartially all deaths of detainees assessing any possible liability of law enforcement officers and prison personnel, and provide, where appropriate punishment of the perpetrators and compensation to the families of the victims.

The State party should provide comprehensive data regarding reported cases of deaths in custody, disaggregated by location of detention, sex, age, ethnicity of the deceased and cause of death.

The Asian Human Rights Commission urges a thorough investigation into the death of Sri Skandaraja Sumanan to be conducted by a Special Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Division. Further the AHRC urges the government to heed the recommendation by the CAT Committee cited above and to take appropriate action to implement these recommendations.

Criticism mounts on Indian HR record, US media policy

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 December 2011, 06:11 GMT]

“Nothing but a radical shift in economic, security and social policy is needed to meet India's national and international human rights commitments,” said Miloon Kothari, the convenor of Working Group on Human Rights (WGHR) in India, commenting on the latest WGHR review report that presents a very bleak scenario of the actual state of human rights across India, according to The Hindu, Sunday. Meanwhile, several media and rights organisations are currently engaged in a campaign against the US Congress considering a law on censoring the world’s Internet. The US, long criticising China and Iran over Internet, now embarks upon discussing a law far worse that could target You Tube and WikiLeaks, the rights groups said. The rights groups and media in India and the US were virtually silent when the policies of the powers killed a hundred thousand Tamils in a war that kept witnesses away. 


The WGHR in India came out with its review report in advance of the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Universal Periodic Review on India in May 2012.Full story >>

GoSL-TNA talks: Breaking the impasse

December 11, 2011,

Although I took up this and related issues many a time before, the current impasse in talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has compelled me to address those issues once again as, in my view, the resolution of the national question would be key to Sri Lanka’s future. Two different views have been presented by the relevant parties in explaining the current impasse. According to the TNA, the GoSL delegates have come up with a condition that the TNA should name its delegates to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) if it wants to continue deliberations with the government. If this is true, it is not only a new conditionality for talks to be continued, but it is tantamount to an imposition of new restrictions over the independence of TNA’s right to take decisions on matters that are relevant to it as well as to Tamil people. In such a situation, the impasse is created by the GoSL. The State media has, on the other hand, given the impression that impasse is created by the TNA by making three demands that are unacceptable to the government. They are (1) the re-merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces; (2) powers over state land to the merged provincial government; and (3) the setting up of provincial police force. These three demands are not new and the position of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) on those demands is ambiguous. If the TNA presents these demands as conditions for further talks, then the TNA is to be blamed for the current impasse. However, it is quite legitimate for the TNA to ask these subjects to be included on the agenda to be discussed in its talks with the government. So, the GoSL-TNA talks and the PSC have to be separated although both the fora focus on the same or related issues. Furthermore talks between the GoSL-TNA would contribute to PSC proceedings in many ways if it is really aimed at finding a solution to the national question.

Full Story>>>

JVP presents 13-point plan for reconciliation

December 11, 2011

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The JVP on Saturday (Dec. 10) said that those held for their alleged involvement with the LTTE should have been tried before Tamil speaking judges.

Launching a special political campaign in the Northern Province, the JVP lambasted the UPFA government for keeping LTTEsuspects in the dark as to what was going on in courts.

At a media briefing in Vavuniya on Saturday, the JVP presented a 13-point plan to deal with problems faced by people, particularly those living in the two provinces and those struggling to make ends meet irrespective of their ethnicity. It also envisaged restoration of democratic Read more...

Archaeological evidence to prove ‘Tamil Buddhists’

MONDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2011 
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said in Parliament today that there is archaeological evidence to prove that ‘Tamil Buddhists’ lived in certain areas of the northern province.

TNA MP S.Sritharan said that Buddhist archaeological sites had been discovered in the North after archaeological excavations.

“Some elements try to prove that these were the settlements of Sinhala Buddhists in history. Actually, they were the settlements of Tamil Buddhists,” Mr. Sritharan said.

The TNA MP emphasised the need to preserve Hindu religious sites in the North instead of trying to impose the hegemony of one cultural group on another.

He charged that the statue of God Shiva had been removed from a Hindu temple in the North recently.

“We do not accept attempts to establish cultural dominance,” he said. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)

Call to investigate Sri Lanka disappearances

12 December 2011

Lalith Kumar Weeraraj organised demonstrations on behalf of families of missing people

A human rights group has called on Sri Lanka's government to investigate the disappearance of two activists in the northern city of Jaffna.

Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan disappeared last week. They organised demonstrations on behalf of the families of missing people.

Civil society activists in Sri Lanka say they fear for the lives of the men.

Police in Jaffna say they have no information about the whereabouts of the two men and are investigating.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says that this is just the latest in a series of disappearances in recent months.

The Asian Human Rights Commission issued a statement on Monday highlighting the latest case and calling on the government to ensure that cases of "forced disappearances" are thoroughly and effectively investigated.

'Anonymous calls'

Our correspondent says that for several months Mr Weeraraj and Mr Muruganathan were part of a group that had been organising protests in Colombo, bringing mothers, fathers and wives of missing people from the north to the capital to highlight their desperation.

These families are searching for relatives who disappeared during and after Sri Lanka's civil war, which ended in 2009 after government forces defeated Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland.

A similar rally had been planned by the two men for the northern city of Jaffna on Saturday but before it could happen they went missing - apparently abducted while travelling by motor bike.

Mr Weeraraj had been detained and questioned about his activities and recently told the BBC he was being tracked by state security officials.

An associate of the two, Nuwan Bopage, said that because of the heavy security presence in Jaffna, the security forces must be responsible for the abductions.

But the military spokesman told the BBC that, according to his information, the security forces were not involved. The military was ready to help the police trace the missing men, he said.

The police said they had no information but were investigating.

Mr Weeraraj's father is quoted by colleagues of the men as saying his son had received anonymous phone calls saying he would be "eliminated" from politics if he continued his political involvement in the north.

'White van' abductions

Separately, there are reports of at least nine other men being abducted within the past couple of months, all of them in or near the capital.

The local Sunday Times newspaper quoted eyewitnesses as saying they were bundled away in white vans - unmarked vehicles of a type used for many unexplained past disappearances.

The newspaper says one person was released, one was found dead and the others are unaccounted for. The report quotes opinions blaming the incidents on state-sponsored hit squads, drug cartels or contract killers.

Our correspondent says it appears to mark the reappearance of a trend of abductions that had diminished since the war ended two years ago.

Abducted JVP organiser in Jaffna feared killed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 December 2011, 18:02 GMT]
Lalith Veeraraj, the Jaffna district organiser of the Movement for People’s Struggle, a JVP dissident group and his friend Kugan Murugananthan, who were reported missing in Achchuveali on Friday are feared killed, according to the MPS faction of the JVP which staged a press conference in Jaffna on Saturday. Lalith Veeraraj has been involved in bringing out the news regarding the missing persons, political prisoners and abductions in Jaffna, Ki'linochchi, Mullaiththeevu, Mannaar and Vavuniyaa during the past months and had been warned several times by the SL intelligence operatives not to get involved in the missing persons issue. 

Mr. Veeraraj and Mr. Muruganathan, left the house from Aavarangkaal Sivan temple area around 5:00 p.m. in a motorbike with registration number NPGT-7852. 

Now, his party officials say they were receiving phone calls from within the SLA establishment saying that Veeraraj has been assassinated, according to Chamira Koswatte, the convenor of the Movement for People’s Struggle. 

Mr. Veeraraj was working on staging a press conference for the JVP dissidents group. But, the press conference itself on Saturday turned out to be a meeting on his disappearance. 

Regardless of his party affiliation with the JVP or now the dissident group, both of which fail in recognising the Tamil national question, Mr. Veeraraj and his friends were voicing for the rights of the missing persons and was maintaining good contacts with Tamil parliamentarians on the missing persons issue. 

Some time back, when he went to discuss with Mrs. Pathmini Sithamparanathan, he was attacked by a gang believed to be an squad operated by the SL military intelligence. 

Mr. Veeraraj is born to a Tamil father and a Sinhala mother.

Houses checked without an emergency

The army and the police have carried out a search of houses in the Modera area in Colombo on December 6th without emergency the imposition of emergency regulations and they had reportedly checked the interiors of the houses as well.

When inquired, Police Spokesperson SP Ajith Rohana said the search was carried out following information received of weapons and drugs being hidden in houses in the respective area and that the army had agreed to assist the police in the issue.

The spokesperson said that every house was checked in the joint operation to see if there were any suspicious activities taking place in the houses according to the information received.

When further inquiries were made from Military Spokesperson Brigadier Nihal Hapuarchchi, he said the army had joined the search operation on a request made by the police.

He noted that the army had not participated in the actual search of the houses, but assisted the police personnel involved in the search by providing them with the required security.

London Chief Buddhist Thero Charged For More Rape

• Pahalagama Somaratana Thero

Pahalagama Somaratana Thero with President Rajapaksa

Pahalagama Somaratana Thero, chief incumbent of Thames Buddhist Vihara, Croydon, has been charged with another eight counts of sexual abuse on Friday, November 11 the London Metropolitan police told Colombo Telegraph.
According to the metropolitan police these eight indecent assaults on a female under 14 took place between 01/01/1985 and 31/12/1986 at an address in Croydon.
Phalagama Somartana, 65 (27/5/46) of Dulverton Road, Croydon appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates’ Court on Friday, September 23 charged with rape of a female under 16 between 01/01/1977 and 31/12/1978 at an address in Chiswick and indecent assault on a female under 16 between 01/01/1977 and 31/12/1978 at an address in Chiswick.
The 65-year-old Pahalagama Somaratana appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 2 December and was bailed to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on 20 December.
Courtesy: Colombotelegraph

Sunday Leader Editor Threatened Again

Threatening letters continue to be sent to the Editor of The Sunday Leader following the verdict in the ‘White Flag’ case.
The latest threatening letter was received at the Leader Publications office in Ratmalana. The note was addressed to the Editor-in-Chief Frederica Jansz threatening both her family and herself, in foul language. The note was typed and vowed revenge on both Ms. Jansz and the Rajapaksa family.
This is not the first instance of such a letter being received by the Editor. Last October a threatening note was sent to her residence. On this occasion the note was handwritten using abusive language.
Following that threat, the Paris based Reporters Without Borders had written an open letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa urging him to take whatever measures are necessary to protect her and to ensure that those responsible for the death threats against her are arrested.
The threatening letter Jansz received was prompted by her 2009 interview with Sarath Fonseka, in which Fonseka accused Defence Minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of ordering soldiers to kill LTTE cadres who wanted to surrender.
“We therefore urge you to give orders for these threats to be properly investigated and to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that they stop. The Sri Lanka authorities should also be ready to provide proper protection to Ms. Jansz or any other journalist if they desire it,” RSF had said.

No, no, no, govt. tells TNA

By Kamani Hettiarachchi

The government informed the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) last week it was unable to agree to any of its three major proposals which ranged from merging the North-East to handing over of police power and state lands to Provincial Councils.
Another round of talks between the UPFA and the TNA aimed at finding a permanent solution to the North-East issue was held on December 6 at the parliament complex. The above mentioned decision was formally announced to the TNA delegation at this meeting.

Finding a solution

It was President Mahinda Rajapaksa who took the initiative to invite the TNA for talks with the government as a means of finding a solution to the long drawn out ethnic issue in the country. The first round of such talks took place on Jan 10 this year.
The government delegation was led by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, while the TNA delegation was headed by party leader R. Sampanthan.
Among others in the UPFA delegation were Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris and MPs Sajin Vaas Gunawardena and Prof. Rajiva Wijesingha.
Among those representing the TNA were MPs Mavai Senathiraja, Suresh Premachandran, M.A. Sumanthiran and K. Kanageeshwaran.
When contacted, TNA MP Sumanthiran said that in keeping with the all-party concept suggested by the president back in 2006, and with the sole and sincere motive of devolving power within a united framework of Sri Lanka, his party had  agreed to hold talks with the  government.
Both the TNA and the UPFA delegations then held talks on December 3 of this year. The government delegation requested the TNA delegation to put forward their proposals in writing. 
TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran said that as per that request of the government, his party would be forwarding an official set of proposals in the form of a discussion paper by December 19.
He said the two parties had also met in this connection on September 16 and afterwards they had decided to meet on December 6, 14 and 15.

Rejection

However, when the two parties met in parliament, the government delegation informed them that they could not agree to the three suggestions of the TNA.
When contacted Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that as the official media spokesman of the said talks was MP Sumanthiran, it was best that his views are sought in this regard.
MP Sumanthiran stated that though the government rejected their proposals, it had promised to look into them again before the next round of talks.
Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella stated that even though the government rejected the three major proposals, they had agreed to the rest of the suggestions put forward by the TNA. 
The next round of talks will take place on December 14-15.

38 arrested on Int. Human rights day in Jaffna who demanded the retrieval and return of those who disappeared

Sunday 11 of December 2011

(Lanka-e-News,10.Dec.2011,11.55PM) The Director of the Association of missing persons , Sundara Mahendran speaking to Lanka e news said, 38 persons who left Colombo to participate in the protests procession to mark the International human rights day , today (10) ,demanding to search and retrieve the individuals who have gone missing , were arrested by the police to preclude them from attending the protest demonstrations. All 38 who were arrested are relatives of those who disappeared . This group had left Colombo yesterday with a view to taking part in this protest procession This arrested group are now detained at the Jaffna nurses training Institute. A large number of relatives of those who disappeared participated in the protest procession in Jaffna today.

------------------------------------- When will dry Tamils’ tears? What have  been done for tamils by Mahinda

(Lanka-e-News -11.Dec.2011,4.00PM) According government, already more than two years had been passed after marking victory against the L.T.T.E. And also all are murmuring a slogan of after the defeating L.T.T.E this country is taken towards “Wonder of Asia”. After defeating the L.T.T.E, President Mahinda asserted that this is the time to unite all nations in spite of factions for a united country.

However, at that time, even though Mahinda was murmuring peace loving words but now those have become false promises to Tamils who are living in the particularly newly liberated areas in the north. Indeed, people who are living in northern war affected areas have dragged into an elegiac situation by discriminating them in two ways in physically and mentally. And also media also shakes hand with the government to cover the north areas from a black curtain.      Full story >>

MaRa regime’s lawlessness spreads beyond the seven oceans !- fake consulate ‘boutiques’ opened

(Lanka-e-News,10.Dec.2011,11.55PM) The MaRa regime’s brutal lawlessness had spread beyond the Sri Lanka Island boundaries, and had infiltrated into the other countries as well , thereby posing problems to those countries too, according to reports reaching Lanka e news. Adducing evidence to substantiate his claim the new Ambassador to Italy Asitha Perera related thus: According to Asitha , the S L Consul offices established in the far off places in Italy are illegal .Consul offices have been established outside the city of Rome in Milano , Verona and others .These offices are not in accord with the laws governing the Diplomatic missions. Just ordinary SLFP party offices have been named as Consul offices , and the tasks which should be carried out by the Diplomatic missions are being taken over by a group of ‘Brokers’ in these offices at much higher costs. Asitha therefore stated , he does not take responsibility for these so called consulate offices . Asitha Perera made these obnoxious disclosures when he attended the two day mobile diplomatic mission services held on the 25, 26 November in Milano. About a thousand Sri Lankans attended these services in Milano. All these illegal offices were opened by the notorious former Ambassador of SL to Italy , Hemantha Warnakulasooriya. He had via the opening of these fake offices collected much higher sums for the services rendered by them . For example , if a Milano resident has to obtain a birth certificate , he must visit the SL Embassy in Rome. His traveling expenditure is Euro 200. The fake consul office , on the other hand performs that task by charging an additional Euro dollars 15. They do the stamping etc. which is usually done by the Embassy. Though this task is performed after charging 15 Euro dollars more , the entire process is absolutely illegal. When a rubber stamping which ought to be done by a lofty Diplomatic mission is done by an ordinary ‘boutique’ , what will be the outcome? Owing to some groups which are only concerned with bootlicking and fawning on the regime at the expense of true national interests , the entire international image of the country is being tarnished. If a consul office is to be run , it must be maintained with the approval of the SL Govt. and the Italian Govt. duly and legally. But these are illegal offices which have sprung up in places of the ordinary SLFP offices in various regions , in a bid to provide livelihood to SLFP ers. Hemantha Warnakulasooriya who was the former ambassador , being a Lawyer ought to have been aware of these glaring illegalities. But he had allowed these illegalities to go unnoticed in order to provide livelihood to SLFP ‘predatory’ stooges. It is an open secret that the extra 15 euro dollars collected from each service went to line the pockets of Warnakulasooriya , the former Ambassador .Incidentally it is one of the fake consul offices which defrayed the tour expenses in entirety of Buddhika Pathirane UNP M.P. , the son in law of Warnakulasooriya who spent Euro dollars 4500 on this tour. The Italian Govt. has ordered that these illegal Consul offices shall be closed down .Already some have put up their shutters. (In the photograph is a bogus receipt issued by the fake Consul office)

NORWAY IN SRI LANKA: A TALE OF THE FAILED PEACE PROCESS

   



J Jeganaathan
Research Officer, IPCS
email: chamujegan@gmail.com

In September 2011 the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) - a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a report titled Pawns of Peace-‘Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2003’. This report probes two important questions: what went wrong with Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka? And what lessons does the failed Sri Lankan peace process offer to conflict resolutionists? The report fascinatingly correlates the peace process in Sri Lanka and Norway’s multiple roles as a diplomatic broker, arbiter of the ceasefire, and as a humanitarian and development funder from 1997-2003. This article reviews the findings of the report in the context of lessons to be drawn by international players.

At the outset, the report states that Norway’s role in the Sri Lankan peace process is by and large a failed mission in terms of bringing an end to the civil war. However, this is too simplistic an assumption as Norway’s role in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict is quite complex. Even though Norway was invited by the Sri Lankan government and LTTE for a mediation role and its peace initiatives were appreciated as well as acknowledged by external players, its efforts to achieve mutual resolution were derailed. These effots should not be overlooked for two reasons: internationalization of the ethnic-conflict in Sri Lanka and marginalization of big regional players such as India, whose intervention in Sri Lanka had been a complete failure. Until 2003 the peace process was effectively handled by Norway and it was only after the ‘Col Karuna’s split’ that the peace process started gradually depreciating. It was an unexpected development for the Norwegians.

At the same time, the report downplays India’s crucial role in weakening the LTTE that inadvertently contributed to the attrition of the peace process. Indisputably, India is an intervening factor in the Sri Lankan ethnic-conflict which has major geostrategic and geoethnic stakes. For instance, it was the geopolitical interest that drove the then government led by Indira Gandhi to nurture the LTTE as a strategic fence against US dominance in its backyard. The same factor influenced the nature and outcome of the war in 2009 leaving India in a catch-22 situation when China and Pakistan made strategic inroads. Moreover, ever since Norway initiated the peace process, India was nonchalant towards it, and reluctant to move beyond the Sri Lankan Accord. This stand was reinforced when the UPA government came to power in 2004. It seems that personal grudges played a major role in India’s policy against the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. This is substantiated by Brahma Challeney, a leading strategic commentator, who argued that India failed to contain Chinese and Pakistani strategic inroads into Sri Lanka.

In addition, the report makes explicit claims that “the return to power of the Indian National Congress in 2004 and declining influence of Sri Lanka on Tamil Nadu politics mean that there are fewer inhibitions on a military solution to the conflict. India thus continues to advocate for the accommodation of Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka, but does not apply any pressure against the Rajapaksa government in relation to the military option.”

Overall, the report derives five broader lessons for peace building based on the Norwegian experience: Peace processes produce unforeseen and unintended consequences, the balance between hard and soft power, ownership approach, aid cannot be a substitute for politics and exhibits an ‘Asian model’ for conflict resolution

The most startling derivation is the failure of the liberal peace-building model of conflict resolution and the far-reaching implications of the Asian model, which, according to the report, is built on Westphalian notions of sovereignty and non-interference, a strong developmental state and a military solution for ‘terrorism’. What this report reveals about the Tamils, the intended beneficiary of the conflict, is that they became pawns in geopolitical strategic rivalry between India and China; and the Rajapaksa government exploited this situation. India will be very comfortable with the Asian model of peace-building even though it believes in liberal values because of its domestic constraints. But, in the long-run it will have an adverse impact on its human rights records.

In sum, what can India learn from the Norwegian experience? It is unfortunate that India did not have any such evaluation report after its unsuccessful IPKF mission in Sri Lanka even though it paid a huge cost. The report denotes that India should learn to derive lessons from its foreign and security policy failures.  India should also have a similar evaluation report on its IPKF mission as well as on its policy during the last Eelam war. The Norwegian experience also forewarns India to think about a balanced approach combining hard and soft power resources while engaging in any peace process. If India is reluctant to learn any lessons from its own failures as well as from the Norwegian experience, it will never be able to formulate an effective foreign and security policy strategy towards Sri Lanka.

HR activists abducted in North

Sunday December 11, 2011

Police abort demo by missing persons’ next-of-kin

By Chris Kamalendran

Two activists from the Movement for People’s Struggle (MPS) were abducted from a suburb in Jaffna on Friday evening, a day ahead of International Human Rights Day yesterday. The Movement’s Jaffna District organiser, Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Murugappan Kugan were grabbed at Avarankal Road in Jaffna, while riding his motorcycle home, MPS spokesman, Udul Premaratne said. He said the victims had also on previous occasions been threatened and warned against getting involved in local politics. Later, a complaint was made at Atchuveli Police, while Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had also been informed, he added. The police have begun a detailed investigation into the incident and are optimistic of an early breakthrough, Head Quarters Inspector (HQI) Saman Sigera told the Sunday Times. Meanwhile, at least 50 activists from the South were briefly detained by police, when they attempted to participate in a demonstration held to mark International Human Rights Day in Jaffna town early yesterday. The group made up of parents, children and relatives of persons missing during and after the north-east conflict, were briefly detained near the Jaffna bus terminal. The demonstration was planned to be held outside the Jaffna Nurses’ Training School. The police are also alleged to have grabbed th

‘Breaking the Silence’ comes to King’s College London

Students from King’s College London Tamil Society held an exhibition last week to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide of the Tamil people and called on fellow students and lecturers to sign a petition calling for an independent investigation into war crimes.

Held in partnership with seven other London university Tamil societies, the exhibition of banners, posters and leaflets created by the university students was on display at the student union on Guys campus in London Bridge.

Having recently become one of King’s College London’s selected “Platform Campaigns”, this was the Tamil Society’s first campaign event of the year.

Set up on a busy Tuesday afternoon with the student union decorated in red and yellow bunting, the exhibition attracted hundreds of students throughout the day who stopped to sign petitions online and learn more about the genocide on the island. Many students also signed postcards to be sent to the England and Wales Cricket board, calling for a boycott of Sri Lankan Cricket, until human rights abuses have been addressed.

KCL Tamil Society members guided students round the exhibition, wearing T-shirts with Edmund Burke’s famous quote,

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”

As students made their way through the exhibition of posters, they also stopped to watch a moving video being played, with excerpts from news reports and a slideshow of images depicting the suffering of the Tamil people during the war.
The video, created by Tivyan Wignes, can be seen below:

Students also added their thoughts onto a “thought board”, which swiftly began to fill with words such as “Holocaust”, “Heart wrenching” and “Freedom”.

See our earlier posts:

City University hosts ‘Breaking the Silence’ (Dec 2011)

Imperial's Tamil society launch 2011's 'Breaking the Silence' (Nov 2011)

Two activists missing in Jaffna

'We want our loved ones. Find our children' - Demonstrators

Jana Aragala Viyaparaya (People’s Struggle) of JVP says two of its activists are missing in Jaffna.

National Coordinator of the Jana Aragala Viyaparaya, JVP MP Ajith Kumara told BBC Sandeshaya that the activists were in Jaffna to organise an event to commemorate the International Human Rights Day.

Lalith Kumara Viraj and Kugan Murugananthan are the two members of the Jana Aragala Viyaparaya. Lalith Kumara Viraj is also the political organiser of the JVP in the Jaffna district.

“Around five pm on Friday, they left Kugan Murugananthan’s house in Aavarangkaal in Jaffna on a motor bike and since then they are missing”, parliamentarian Ajith Kumara said.

MP, Ajith Kumara told BBC Sandeshya that he had lodged complaints with the Defence Secretary, Inspector General of Police, the Deputy Inspector General of Police – Jaffna Division and Jaffna police.

Around five pm on Friday, they left Kugan Murugananthan’s house in Aavarangkaal in Jaffna on a motor bike and since then they are missing   JVP MP Ajith Kumara

Police spokesman Superintendent of Police Ajith Rohana told BBC Sandeshaya that investigations have begun on the basis of available information.

“There is no information where they had gone and the only information they have is that they had left on a motor bike” he added.

International Human Rights Day

The International Human Rights Day was held in Jaffna with demonstrations organised by Tamil National Alliance, Democratic Peoples Front, the Civil Monitoring Committee of missing persons and other civil right campaigners.

Former Jaffna District TNA MP, M. K. Sivagilingam said that there were police interference to the demonstration at the Jaffna Bus stop, and it was delayed by three hours. The demonstration was delayed by three hours.

Release political detainees

Parents and relatives of the disappeared Tamil persons who were among the human rights activists called upon the government to reveal the where about of their loved ones.

“We want our loved ones. Find our children”, the protesters chanted.

Demonstrations were also aimed to pressurise the government to release the political prisoners in custody.

They also called upon the government to halt the land grabs in the north, repeal emergency laws and abolish the eighteenth amendment.

Missing persons' parents stage protest amidst harassment by SL military in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 December 2011, 10:12 GMT]
For the first time in Jaffna, kept under the iron fist of occupying SL military, parents and relatives of the missing persons, braved SL army barriers and harassment by the occupying soldiers and riot police and staged a protest in front of Jaffna Bus stand on Wold Human Rights Day seeking global attention on the plight of those reported missing since the end of Vanni war in 2009. The SL military and police blocked the organisers from Colombo, the Civil Monitoring Commttee of missing persons, at Veampadi in Jaffna, for hours blocking them from reaching the site of the protest. The protestors managed to intuitively stage the rally without the organisers, political observers in Jaffna said. In the meantime, a JVP man based in Jaffna, Lalith Weerathunge, who was on his way to the protest site has been reported missing at Aavarangkaal. The SL Police attacked reporters covering the protest. 

Tension prevailed in the city of Jaffna as the SLA personnel were deployed at several checkpoints questioning and harassing people asking the travellers where they were heading. Each and every traveller on Point-Pedro Jaffna Road were stopped and checked at 8 check posts by the SL military reminding the days of 2007. 

When people gathered at the site around 10:00 a.m., the Police officers present at the site dispersed the demonstrators saying that they had no permission to protest. Former parliamentarian S. Kajendren of TNPF, came to the protest site and argued with the Police saying that people had the right to stand along the road side and stage a protest on Human Rights Day. As TNA MP Vinyagamoorthy, former MP Sivajilingam and TNA MP Mavai Senathiraja managed to reach the site, the SL police had to end the harassment at the site of the venue. 

Around 50 persons who had come from South, representing various parties and the organising committee, were blocked at Nelliyadi and were only allowed to attend the protest at the last minute after they staged a protest at Nelliyadi. The organisers and parties were not allowed to bring in their placards. 

Several parents of the persons reported missing since the end of genocidal war on Vanni in 2009, said they had witnessed their kith and kin, now reported missing, reach the Sri Lanka Army controlled territory. There were parents of missing who had been taken away from the barbed-wire detention camps in Vavuniyaa. A number of persons have also been abducted after their release. 

One of the main demands of the protesters was to pressurise the Sri Lankan state to publicly release the names of those under their detention.