India and its near-abroad -Your friendly big brother

Feb 18th 2012 | COLOMBO AND DELHI

Wary of China, India tries to charm its neighbours

INDIA’S foreign minister, S.M. Krishna, gushes about the close “civilisational, cultural” ties his country shares with Sri Lanka. He notes how India is the biggest trading partner and source of tourists for the island nation, plus one of the largest investors. It dishes out pots of aid, including roughly $300m for 50,000 Tamils, displaced in a brutal civil war that ended in 2009, to build houses near Kilinochchi and Jaffna in Sri Lanka’s north. And India is building a power station, and renovating railways and a port.

Memories in Sri Lanka of India’s troubled role in the long and bitter civil war appear to be fading. Meanwhile, India, officially, does not worry about signs of its neighbour’s dalliance with China. That is despite the news last month that Chinese investors took 85% control of the project extending Colombo’s main commercial port, which handles goods traded almost entirely with India. “Sri Lanka is sensitive to the security concerns of India,” says the foreign minister, reassured. 
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Gota is devil incarnate: He merits punishment –mechanism to be followed by forces before shooting at civilians- by a Major General

(Lanka-e-news -17.Feb.2012, 6.00PM) A patriotic Major General of rectitude and integrity whose name cannot be disclosed for obvious reasons told Lanka e news, that because of the imprudent , impudent, illegal and utterly cruel instructions given by Gotabaya who parades as a chief of the (cheap) State intelligence , an innocent life was lost in a ghastly murder committed by the Forces . The order given by Gota was absolutely illegal , obnoxious and unpardonable under the military laws and the civil laws of the country, he added.

This demonic Defense Secretary is of the view that he can use the army as a his murder squad to do his bidding when hired by him , flouting all laws and regulations, locally and internationally. This monster of a defense Secretary by his orders and actions yesterday confirmed this truth unequivocally by the shooting at and killing of innocent civilians. This defense Secretary or rather “offense Secretary” of Sri Lanka instead of using the Army to fight against enemies of the State is exploiting and hiring them for the most nefarious purposes – hiring them to fight against patriotic and law abiding citizens of his own motherland only to protect himself and his MaRa family who are committing all the worst atrocities on the innocent and docile people, the Major General asserted.

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Sri Lanka’s National Reconciliation Efforts Must Address Journalists’ Concerns

17 February 2012

Journalists in Sri Lanka began a campaign on January 25 in memory of colleagues who fell in the quarter-century long civil war in the island nation. This day of protest united all Sri Lanka’s principal professional journalism bodies  and was planned as a reminder to those in power that the vital task of national reconciliation requires more than token gestures. 

The campaign was also aimed at dispelling the climate of impunity for attacks on the media which was a feature of the years of ethnic strife, and at allowing a free voice for human rights defenders who stand up for a fair and just society.

Government spokespersons began to mobilise their own campaign of hostile rhetoric soon after the alliance of professional bodies announced plans for the January 25 observance.

IFJ sources in Sri Lanka report that in the second week of January the government-owned TV channel launched an attack, bristling with unseemly aggression, against the Free Media Movement (FMM), a voluntary body which some of Sri Lanka’s finest journalists have been associated with for close to two decades. While playing old footage of these journalists and activists from past campaigns, the TV channel ran a commentary on its main news programmes, attacking them in virulent terms.

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Amnesty International and the Tamil community in Canada

 Amnesty Canada Media Contacts

For further information, please contact:

John Tackaberry,
Media Relations,
Amnesty International Canada
613-744-7667, ext 236

Overview

There have been a number of recent media articles in Sri Lanka recently suggesting that Amnesty International’s impartiality had been compromised because the Canadian Tamil Congress chose to make Amnesty International Canada a beneficiary of funds raised at their third annual Walk-a-Thon held in Toronto in September 2011. The Walk-a-thon is an annual event which offers individuals an opportunity to support organizations in Canada involved in social, health and justice causes and to make a contribution to Canada’s social fabric. Previous recipients in 2009 and 2010 were the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society. These donations in no way impair the independence of Amnesty International – which is nonpartisan and works on human rights issues around the globe. The contributions were offered with no conditions or qualifications. The funds raised from the 2011 Walk-a-thon amount to less than ½ of 1% of the funds raised by Amnesty International Canada’s English Branch in 2011.

Full Text

There have been a number of recent media articles in Sri Lanka recently suggesting that Amnesty International’s impartiality had been compromised because the Canadian Tamil Congress chose to make Amnesty International Canada a beneficiary of funds raised at their third annual Walk-a-Thon held in Toronto in September 2011.

The Walk-a-thon is an annual event which offers individuals an opportunity to support organizations in Canada involved in social, health and justice causes and to make a contribution to Canada’s social fabric. Previous recipients in 2009 and 2010 were the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society. Funds raised come from hundreds of individuals taking part in the event and from numerous sponsors, including small businesses within the Tamil Canadian community. The funds raised from the 2011 Walk-a-thon totaled approximately CDN$50,000. 

These donations in no way impair the independence of Amnesty International – which is nonpartisan and works on human rights issues around the globe. We receive financial support from a broad range of individuals committed to the protection and promotion of human rights. 

These hundreds of contributions were offered with no conditions or qualifications. They were not earmarked to support our programming on Sri Lanka and will in fact be used to support a variety of ongoing global initiatives, including our work to end violence and discrimination against Indigenous women in Canada; campaigning with respect to serious human rights violations in Colombia; research and advocacy efforts in response to the protests, transition and deepening crackdown in countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa; responding to crises in such African countries as Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Somalia; and much more. 

In 2011, Amnesty International Canada’s English Branch raised approximately CDN$11.2 million. These contributions amount to less than ½ of 1% of those revenues; that percentage is far less when looking at the total global contributions we receive from our millions of members worldwide. Amnesty International Canada appreciates having been chosen to be a recipient in 2011. We are impressed at the hard work and generosity of the hundreds of individuals who contributed.

Arbitrary Detention in Sri Lanka: Internment, Rehabilitation, and Surrenderees in the Prison System

*groundview journalism For citizens

14 Feb, 2012 Calleigh McRaith

Photo courtesy GlobalPost. Stephen Hird/Reuters.

In January 2012 I traveled to Sri Lanka with a group of fellow students from the University Virginia School of Law.[1] We wanted to learn about legal issues in other countries, and we arrived in Sri Lanka eager to hear views from government officials, NGO workers, and local citizens. I chose to focus on arbitrary detention in a number of settings including the internment of IDPs from May to December 2009, the rehabilitation of former LTTE members, and the labyrinth of Sri Lanka’s prison system, including many who have disappeared while in custody or are being held without charge. The following is a brief summary of the testimony gathered from nearly three weeks of interviews in Sri Lanka. My interviews took place primarily in Colombo and the Vanni. A more in-depth exploration of arbitrary detention in Sri Lanka based on these interviews, including a substantial examination of Sri Lanka’s obligations under Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, will be published in May 2012. Please contact me if you wish to be notified when the final paper is published or if you would like to be interviewed on this topic.

1.     Internment

The first type of detention I looked at was the internment of IDPs from May 2009 to December 2009, immediately following the war. This form of detention has received a fair amount of international coverage, but beginning in December 2009 most of the IDPs were allowed to move about more freely and attention to this issue receded. An argument could be made, however, that the IDPs are entitled to some type of compensation for the time they were detained if such detention was in violation of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Article 9, as Article 9 states, “Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation.”[2] The information below came from interviews with IDPs who were held against their will in the IDP camps from May to December 2009. Seven of the interviewees are still living in Menik Farm, one of the IDP camps, because of land issues that have prevented their resettlement. The rest were released in December 2009 and have moved in with family members or returned to their home villages.Continue reading »

Military war crimes inquiry 'eyewash'

Human rights watchdogs as well as the largest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka have rejected a court of inquiry appointed to investigate alleged war crimes by the country’s armed forces.

New York Based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the court of inquiry as a delaying tactic in the face of mounting international pressure.

In a statement, the army said its commander, Lt-Gen Jagath Jayasuriya, had appointed a five-member court of inquiry (CoI) to examine two separate reports; that of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by the president, and a documentary by the British commercial TV station, Channel 4.

Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, was commander of the security forces in the Vanni, during the last few years of the war.

“The Sri Lankan army’s announced inquiry appears to be a transparent ploy to deflect a global push for a genuine international investigation, not a sudden inspiration nearly three years after the war,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch on Thursday.

An inquiry appointed by the commander, a colleague of senior officers implicated in serious abuses, and who oversaw the war cannot possibly be expected to be an independent and impartial finder of facts, Human Rights Watch said.

	President paying tribute to the military for defeating the LTTE

JHU Welcome CoI

However, a Sinhala nationalist partner of the Sri Lanka government, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has welcomed the move to appoint a military court of inquiry based on the recommendations of the LLRC.

JHU spokesman Nishantha Warnasinghe told BBC Sandeshaya that Sri Lanka has the mechanism to address accountability issues.

“We oppose the court of inquiry if it was appointed due to pressure by the United States,” he said.

On Monday the US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake, on a visit to Colombo, said Washington believed "there should be an investigation into war crimes”.

International investigation essential

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) described the appointment of the CoI as ‘eyewash’.

“An independent international investigation will eventually become necessary,” said MA Sumanthiran MP.

Although, there are ‘some recommendations’ by the LLRC that the government can be entrusted to implement, issues of war crimes and accountability can only be addressed by an independent investigation, he added.

Amnesty International (AI) said that the Sri Lankan government has been prompted to appoint the CoI. in the face of mounting evidence emerging for an international inquiry on human rights violations.

Researcher of AI Yolanda Foster called the establishment of the CoI as a “dramatic U turn by Sri Lanka’s security establishment" that denied any human rights violations in 2009.

LLRC recieved many complaints of abductions and forcible dissapearances

Gota directly gave orders for the murder in Chilaw: High ranking police officer exposes the truth

(Lanka-e-News -16.Feb.2012, 6.00PM) A high ranking police officer with patriotic traits whose name cannot be disclosed told Lanka e news that Gotabaya Rajapakse is directly responsible for the murder of Warnakulasooriya Arachchige Anthony Fernando who was shot at and killed at Wella district, Chilaw yesterday, by the combined operation of army and the STF. The powers given to the army and the STF to shoot by Gotabaya is absolutely illegal , and therefore , he is moving heaven and earth to justify the killing of innocent Fernando, the high ranking officer added. This high ranking police officer who is well conversant with laws and norms relating to duty , stated that the police did not do any shooting in yesterday’s killing , and they were not in possession of firearms. The police only used tear gas to control the protests , but it was the STF and the army who shot and killed , and orders had not been taken from the district police chief for this shooting , he pointed out. No emergency regulations were invoked , and in the circumstances , the President can introduce it by a fresh gazette notification and enlist the army to maintain peace and calm. But such army groups enlisted shall obey orders from the SSP or the District Secretary of the district. But at yesterday’s shooting no such orders had been followed , and hence the killing was most outrageous and also portends grave danger to people’s security , the high ranking police officer expressed with alarm. The orders for shooting had been given directly by Gotabaya Rajapakse flouting all regulations flagrantly . In order to cover up this ghastly murder and cruel shooting , the CID officers who have arrived at Chilaw yesterday night are now engaged in distorting the picture by concocting all kind of false stories and reports , he further pinpointed. The Mayor Hilary Fernando and the Father of the church told the people who assembled at the church since yesterday morning that the Govt. is going to withdraw the relief paper in respect of fuel , and is going to sell fuel at the earlier prices. The fishermen had replied that previously too the cards which were issued for fuel relief were unavailing a day after the issue. After the discussions , the fishermen have begun travelling towards the Chilaw town. The police had placed barriers and inquired from the protestors ‘what have you got in your hands’. The marchers have raised their arms and shown they have nothing in their hands. The police have then tear gassed tem and asked them to disperse. The protestors have retaliated by retrieving the ‘tear gas’ and thrown back at the police. At that moment , the army and the STF who were among them have started firing ruthlessly.  The IP D. S. Dissanayake who was in charge of the barricading had phoned the SSP of the area R A D K Ranasinghe and conveyed the developments . ‘Sir , they did not heed us. They told they have orders to shoot and began the shooting’, the IP had told nervously. Gotabaya , notorious for atrocious killings and associated with the white Van syndrome is now trying to conceal this whole merciless killer operation via a conspiracy with the use of the CID. The vile tale that is being concocted by them is : the fishermen carrying swords and weapons were attempting to abduct the sister of the Chilaw province High court judge Malini Gunaratne, and consequently shooting was necessitated. Because the crowd of people who were trying to move from Wella district to the Town were diverted , they had gone in the direction of Ridhi Wella district . Though the justice Malini Gunaratne’s residence is situated on that road , these crowds have not made any attempt to abduct the sister of the Judge. This allegation was an absolute lie. This is a falsehood created by the CID officers to cover up the murder and ruthless shooting. As usual the regime is expected to announce this concocted lie via its media tomorrow. A crafty unscrupulous police officer Pujitha Jayasundara has been enlisted for this purpose. Through this officer a sum of Rs. five lakhs had been given to the family of the deceased , it is learnt., and by now , a curfew has been clamped on Chilaw district. The victim , of this ghastly murder Warnakulasooriya Anthony Fernando is a father of three children. His wife is working abroad. Among those who came for this shooting spree were two Captains and a Lieutenant. An IP and an ASP of the STF had also been among them. Nearly 150 officers have particiapetd in this cruel operation. By a special reporter

Prices rise as Mahinda Economics unwinds

Tamil Guardian 16 February 2012

Electricity and fuel prices have shot up as Sri Lanka’s economy adjusts to the sudden drop in the value of the rupee after the Central Bank acceded to IMF pressure and abandoned – for now - its long standing policy of artificially propping up the local currency. Diesel and kerosene prices rose 36 and 49 per cent respectively whilst electricity rates for domestic consumers are to rise by 40 per cent. Bakeries are threatening to increase theprice of bread, a staple - especially for the working poor. In the past two weeks the rupee has lost 5.7 per cent of its value against the US dollar. Consequently the prices of fuel and other imported commodities have risen. At the same, the Central Bank is finally signalling an end to cheap credit from Sri Lanka’s increasingly state controlled banks – another key demand of the IMF. Cheap state directed credit was an important factor in fuelling import demand - see our earlier post here. These changes will hit hard President Mahinda Rajapakse’s support base – namely the middle and lower middle class, urban and rural voters in the Sinhala majority areas. The UNP is already talking of an anti UPFA alliance with the TNA and JVP. However, economic difficulties may strengthen rather than undermine Rajapakse’s impeccable Sinhala nationalist credentials. Losing value The rupee’s loss in value reflects Sri Lanka’s precarious international trading position, a fact masked by the Central Bank’s repeated interventions. In 2011, for example, the cost of Sri Lanka’s imports (US$ 18.4 billion), including crucially oil and food, was a staggering 190 per cent higher than the value of its exports (US$ 9.6 billion). See Central Bank figures here. As a consequence of this imbalance there are always more people wanting to exchange rupees for dollars than the other way. Hence the fall in the rupee’s value against the dollar. The drop would make it harder for ordinary people to buy food, fuel and other things. Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has until this month tried to prevent the decline of the rupee by selling US dollars. In the latter half of 2011, for example, it sold US $ 2.5 billion to this end. However, this policy was running down the Central Bank’s ‘reserves’ of dollars – made up mainly of worker remittances and, interestingly, credit lines from the IMF and others. As dollar reserves continued to run down, the Sri Lankan central bank was forced earlier this month to abandon its policy of propping up the rupee. The consequent surge in prices has already triggered popular protests. One person was killed and eight others critically wounded by police firing Wednesday at a demonstration against the fuel price hikes. An end to cheap credit? In yet another reversal of earlier policy the Central Bank also worked to limit the loans being made by commercial banks. Sri Lanka’s banks have come under increasing state control and have been directed by their political masters to extend credit, particularly to the Rajapakse government and its supporters. In 2011, the amount of credit extended by Sri Lanka’s banks to the private sectorincreased by 32.5 percent. Moreover, this expansion of cheap credit also fuelled import demand, accelerating the cycle. The government’s policy reversals are likely to have an impact Rajapakse’s support base – namely middle and lower middle class urban and rural voters from the Sinhala south. They have been the main beneficiaries of expanding private sector employment, fuel and electricity subsidies as well as enjoying cheap credit and subsidized imports. See our earlier posts:  Bank lending and ethnicity Fears for the economy and of the state 'Learn Tamil, don’t employ Tamils' Implications But as Rajapakse’s Sinhala nationalist base is exposed its economic reality it is unclear where its anger will be directed. The international community and sections of the UNP may hope for an anti Rajapakse mood. However, it is equally likely that the average Sinhala voter and consumer will instead blame – as they have done several times in the past - the Tamils and or the international community for their economic misfortunes. But this has always been the case. Sinhala nationalism has for far too long been subsidised – and thus fuelled – by the international community’s optimistic tolerance of Colombo’s ethnically shaped economic and fiscal policies. It is time the price of Sinhala utopia is paid by its main beneficiaries, rather than its victims.

CPA conference in Cmb this year

THURSDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2012
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference which is to be held in Colombo this year will be an opportunity for Sri Lanka  to display to the world whatever progress it had made in reconciliation and reconstruction after the war, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Chairman Executive Committee Sir Alan Haselthurst said yesterday.
Sir Hasethurst said the visiting delegates would be able to disseminate what they gather on Sri Lanka to the rest of the world especially through their visit to North.
It was announced that the Delegates from 54 commonwealth nations are to visit the North in order to get first hand information on the progress of reconciliation and reconstruction process in the area.
Voicing its opinion on the complaints lodged by the opposition MPS in Sri Lanka, CPA Executive Committee Chairman said  it is not possible to find a perfect democracy today.
Sir Haselthurst came up with this point in response to a question raised by the journalists on the matter.
However he said CPA would help any member state to enhance its democracy in their respective Parliaments.

He in the meantime refrained from elaborating on the matter especially with regard to former MP Sarath Fonseka who is serving a jail sentence currently. “It is not the moment to speak on individual personalities,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakody told media yesterday that the delegates who would be visiting the country to attend the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in September this year would be given an opportunity to visit any place in the country including the North in order to get first hand information on reconciliation.
“These delegates will be able to determine whether the information they had already received about Sri Lanka through different  sources  are true or false through this visit,” he said.
Mr. Weerakody said the government would encourage all delegates to get a complete picture on what is actually going on in Sri Lanka at the moment. “This is something which is very appropriate and crucial considering the way Sri Lanka is perceived by the international community,” he said. 
He also explained that it would be a boost for the country’s tourism sector as well and added that the tourism authorities would come up with special tourism packages for the visitors.
A CPA delegation is currently in town for a pre conference visit to look into how the preparations are done for the CPA Conference which is to be held in Colombo from September 7 to the 15. The visiting delegation expressed confidence that the conference would be a resounding success. (Yohan Perera)

Document - Sri Lanka: Man abducted days before court hearing: Ramasamy Prabaharan

UA: 51/12 Index: ASA 37/002/2012 Sri Lanka Date: 15 February 2012 URGENT ACTION 

MAN ABDUCTED DAYS BEFORE COURT HEARING 

Ramasamy Prabaharan, a Tamil businessman who brought a case against Sri Lankan police for torture, unlawful arrest and detention was abducted on 11 February at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, by armed men. He was due to appear in court on 13 February. There are fears for his safety.

 On 11 February a group of around seven armed men in plain clothes took Ramasamy Prabaharan into their custody at his house in Colombo, the capital. The men grabbed him by the neck and dragged him into a white van parked nearby before speeding away. Ramasamy Prabaharan’s family members shouted for help but no-one came to their aid. Later that day, the family received a ransom demand via his mobile phone but they have not heard anything since. Ramasamy Prabaharan’s whereabouts and fate are unknown. 

The family registered the incident at Wellawatte Police station (incident number 224/222/GCIB). It is the responsibility of the authorities to establish his whereabouts, ensure his safety and reveal the truth of what has happened to him.

 Ramasamy Prabaharan was previously detained, on suspicion of being a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. He was detained for 28 months and suffered extensive torture before being released in September 2011 due to lack of evidence. Ramasamy Prabaharan is currently pursuing legal redress for torture inflicted on him while in state custody. 

At the time of the abduction, Ramasamy Prabaharan had filed a fundamental rights application with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (application no S/C FR 963/2009) against senior police officers, the Attorney-General, and eight others, alleging torture and unlawful arrest and detention. The Supreme Court had granted leave to proceed and the hearing had been scheduled for 13 February. Ramasamy Prabaharan was abducted two days before the fundamental rights petition was to be heard in the courts. 

Please write immediately in English or your own language: Call on the authorities to urgently establish the fate and whereabouts of Ramasamy Prabaharan; Seek assurances that Ramasamy Prabaharan is safe; If he is detained, he should have immediate access to a lawyer, his family and an independent court and not be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 28 MARCH 2012 TO: His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa Presidential Secretariat Colombo 1 Sri Lanka Fax: +94 11 2446657 Salutation: Your Excellency Inspector General of Police N K Illangakoon New Secretariat Colombo 1 Sri Lanka Fax: +94 11 244 0440 Salutation: Dear Inspector General And copies to Secretary Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission: No. 108 Barnes Place Colombo 07 Sri Lanka Fax: +94 11 268 9558 Email: sechrc@sltnet.lk Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below: Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION MAN ABDUCTED DAYS BEFORE COURT HEARING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Sri Lanka’s long war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ended in 2009, but its legacy of human rights violations continues, including ongoing reports of enforced disappearances. Special units within the security forces and groups linked to the security forces have a history of involvement in abductions in Jaffna, eastern Sri Lanka, and increasingly in other parts of the country including Colombo. Many families in touch with Amnesty International report that members of the security forces have sought to extort money from them in return for the release of loved ones. Name: Ramasamy Prabaharan Gender m/f: M UA: 51/12 Index: ASA 37/002/2012 Issue Date: 15 February 2012

Visiting Sri Lanka; 3 years after the civil war

 India Breaking News

T E Narasimhan 
Nearly three years after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam lost the war, T E Narasimhan visits north Sri Lanka to find a country limping back to normal.

The roads here are sturdy and clean. Japanese cars and motorcycles -- Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Yamaha and others -- zip on them at great speed. The colonial buildings are magnificent.

At 152 metres, the World Trade Centre is the tallest structure in the island country. The malls are home to brands such as Nike, Marks & Spencer and Hermes. The hotels include an Aman, a Taj, a Hilton and an InterContinental.

The four casinos (MGM, Bellagio, Ballys and Stardust, their names copied from Las Vegas) are popular for roulette, poker, blackjack and baccarat. There are discos for the young and energetic. The city sleeps little. This is Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

But just a few hours' journey away, the northern parts of the country shut down by 8:00 pm. There are few billboards in the towns; most of these advertise mobile telephony services like Mobitel and Dialog.

The roads, except in towns like Trincomalee and Jaffna, are a shambles. India-made auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers (TVS and Bajaj) ply on these roads. Large parts of the area are yet to be electrified.

An award-winning documentary made by well-known film-maker Vinodth has a six-year-old surprised to see an electric bulb in a shop. "How does the light travel towards the earth," he asks his mother. All he'd seen in his growing up years had been the wick in lamps send a faint glow skyward. Clearly he had no idea what electricity was.

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Image: Colombo's tallest buildings, the 39-storey twin towers of the World Trade Center, rise over the financial centre of Sri Lanka's capital
Photographs: Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi/Reuters

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Sri Lanka: Pressure mounts on Sri Lankan government

16-Feb-2012

Guest Column: Dr Kumar David 

Indian External Affairs Minister Krishna’s visit to Colombo came to nought, as I had said earlier (paper No. 4865 dated 16 January 2012 "Sri Lanka: Can Krishna succeed where Brahma has failed?" (http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers49/paper4865.html).  Eventually, Minister Krishna and President Rajapakse ended up completely contradicting each other. Or was it prearranged; there are conspiracy theories in town. The outcome is that realising Delhi’s ineffective opinion here is moving on its own, though there is still some expectation Washington may force action on some LLRC recommendations. 

A statement signed by 40 professionals and intellectuals who represent the conscience of the nation will interest SAAG readers. Unsurprisingly, many liberal intellectuals were unable to support the statement, declaring it “too strongly worded”. An abridged version follows; names of signatories are omitted, the point is the message, not the messenger.   

Practical steps to meaningful reconciliation
(A statement by 40 Sri Lankans)         Full story>>>

MaRa regime plunders people generally , police plunders outrageously: 20 lakhs robbed by police

  (Lanka-e-News -16.Feb.2012, 6.00PM) Two police officers have forcibly plundered Rs. 20 lakhs approximately belonging to an individual residing at Thihagoda, Matara. Lanka e news is in receipt of information that the Nihagoda police is seeking to suppress this crime committed by its own officers who instead of enforcing the laws have shamelessly violated them.

The victim who was employed abroad has returned to the Island , and was living alone. These two police officers have intruded into the victim’s house in the night , attacked him and wrested the cash and jewelry and fled. The victim had identified these two policemen as officers of the Tihagoda police . Even though the complainant has stated this to the Nihagoda police and made a complaint , the police has taken no action and is trying very hard to suppress this heinous crime , reports say.

The victim who was assaulted and robbed is now hospitalized , and taking treatment.

‘India needs to review its Sri Lanka policy’

17 Feb 2012
 By Paul Newman

Posted 16 Feb 2012
Vol 3 Issue 6

Even as the United States has announced its decision to support a resolution against Sri Lanka at the upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council session on the issue of human rights violations, speculations are rife on the possible stand that the government of India would take on this matter.

At the 11th session of the UNHRC in May 2009, India played a vital role in lobbying for Sri Lanka when 17 countries put forward a resolution that deplored abuses by both the Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tigers, while urging the government to cooperate with humanitarian organizations, provide protection to displaced persons, respect media freedom, and investigate attacks against journalists and human rights defenders.

The continued attacks by Sri Lankan navy against Tamil Nadu fishermen is straining Indo - Sri Lanka relations (Photo courtesy: Tehelka)

Batting for Sri Lanka, India projected the issue as ‘West Vs the Rest,’ claiming that the western countries adopted different yardsticks on the issue of terrorism, and raked up human rights issues against third world countries when they fought terrorism in their soil.

The strategy worked and it garnered the votes of the Latin American, Islamic and erstwhile communist countries in favour of Sri Lanka.

Later, the UNHRC passed a fresh resolution praising the Sri Lankan government’s actions, condemning the Tamil Tigers, and ignoring the allegations of violations of human rights and humanitarian laws by government forces. The resolution was passed by 29 votes to 12 votes with 6 abstentions.

India’s stand on Sri Lanka is supposedly influenced by our geo-political interests in the region. But how successful has India been in getting Sri Lanka to adopt a pro-India line?

Last month, India’s External Affairs minister S M Krishna concluded his so called “successful trip” to Sri Lanka after doling out hundreds of crores of rupees aid to various projects in that country.

Krishna declared that he had sorted out the issue of repeated attacks by the Sri Lankan navy against Tamil Nadu fishermen.

He also said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had agreed to implement the 13th amendment of their constitution which would lead to devolution of power to the Tamils.

Barely a day after his ‘successful visit’, the Sri Lankan navy attacked Tamil Nadu fishermen, who had ventured into the sea in about 600 boats. About 200 boats were damaged in the attack. Reports said the Lankan navy pelted the fishermen with stones and chased them away.

Such attacks are still continuing, with no solution in sight. It is a shame that a country of the size of Sri Lanka can defy the mighty Indian State and get away with it.

If the attack against the fishermen was a snub to New Delhi, Rajapaksa’s clarification that he had not promised anything to Krishna on the implementation of the 13th amendment and that any new proposal for settling the ethnic issue should come from the Sri Lankan parliament and not any foreign source, was an act of open defiance.

It is time India gets its act together and reviews its policy on Sri Lanka. Will we see a change in India’s position vis-à-vis Sri Lanka at the UNHRC session in Geneva later this month?

The ball is in New Delhi’s court.

The Sri Lankan Rupee’s Perilous Descent + Israeli Interests Under Fire

Thursday, 16 February 2012 

BMI’s prediction of a second devaluation of the Sri Lankan rupee played out on February 14, with the currency ending the day at LKR120.13/US$ – marking a 5.4% drop from when we called such a move in our online service on January 30. At one stage on February 15, the rupee diced with a record low of LKR120.50/US$, a level last seen in early 2009, when Sri Lanka was facing a crippling financial crisis and required an IMF bailout.

Given the extreme volatility over the past few days, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) will likely try to keep the rupee at its current levels to foster stability. Indeed, the CBSL managed to keep the rupee fairly stable for close to three months after the first devaluation in November 2011. As we closely watch the rupee’s movements over the coming days, we reiterate that fundamentally, our bias is for continued LKR weakness. Sri Lanka’s balance of payments position remains under pressure from a bleak external demand picture (in particular, Europe’s economic woes), a deteriorating terms of trade (because of subdued cotton prices and the rising cost of oil imports), and insufficient remittance inflows to cushion the blow of a rising trade deficit.

As the chart above shows, the latest depreciation of the rupee is comparable to its collapse in late 2008-early 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis. The rupee subsequently recovered from mid-2009 onwards, as ‘Sri Lanka mania’ took hold among some investors following the decisive defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels, thus ending the three-decade civil war, and paving the way for the island’s reconstruction. But this optimism has now petered out. According to Bloomberg data, Sri Lanka’s rupee is the worst-performing currency in the world thus far in 2012 after the Iranian rial, Gambian dalasi, and Syrian pound. Hardly good company.

Israeli Interests Under Fire

Over the past few days, Israeli diplomatic personnel in Georgia and India have apparently been targeted for assassination, and a man with an Iranian passport in Bangkok injured himself when he accidentally detonated a bomb in his home. In January, an alleged plot to assassinate the Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan was foiled. There are several question marks surrounding these plots. For a start, Iran might be reluctant to carry out an attack in India, which is friendly with Tehran. In addition, the Bangkok blast has the hallmarks of amateurism, and it would be odd if Iranian agents actually carried real Iranian passports.

Although investigations are still in progress, Israel is bound to see the hand of Iran – either directly, or through proxy groups – behind these plots. For its part, Tehran sees the hand of Israel behind the assassinations of several of its nuclear scientists. With a covert war of assassination seemingly in progress, there is a risk that one side may overplay its hand. This could increase pressure on Israel to attack Iran.