CTC Press Conference and Channel 4's 

"War Crimes Unpunished" screened at the 

Canadian Parliament

CTC Press Conference and Channel 4's "War Crimes Unpunished" screened at the Canadian Parliament

The Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) organized a press conference at the Parliamentary Press Gallery on Tuesday April 24th, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. This press conference was held to highlight the unsettling human rights situation in Sri Lanka despite the end of the war three years ago. It was also held in anticipation of the screening of “War Crimes Unpunished", Channel 4's sequel to 'Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields' for the first time on Parliament Hill later that evening at 7:00 p.m.

Following Ms. Vani Selvarajah’s opening statement on behalf of Canadian Tamil Congress, NDP Ms. Rathika Sitsabaiesan and Liberal Party MP Hon. John McCallum spoke at the press conference. All speakers addressed the dire need of support and international attention needed towards the situation in war-torn Sri Lanka and urged people to watch the documentary. Many mainstream media was present for this press conference and Channel 4 DVD’s were distributed to all media personal present at the press conference.

Later in the evening at 7 pm, "War Crimes Unpunished", Channel 4's sequel to 'Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields' was screened for the first time on Parliament Hill at Room 268 La Promenade located at 151 Sparks street. During this special screening, one which was jointly sponsored by Liberal Party MP Judy Sgro, Conservative Party MP Patrick Brown and NDP MP Prof. Craig Scot.

Despite busy schedules on the Hill and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada’s personal appeal to Canadian MP’s urging them not to attend this screening, many elected representatives and their staff from all political parties attended this screening. The joint sponsors addressed the crowd and echoed the sentiment that this was no long an issue between the Tamils and Sinhalese but was merely an issue of human rights – one which needed international attention and action.

The gruesome Channel 4 documentary did just that – it portrayed the stories of the war that remained unheard and unseen to the international community. Viewers were left “speechless” and teary as the documentary concluded. Members of Parliament asked for extra copies of the documentary as they planned on spreading the word to their networks.

Published on: 04/29/12 19:23

INDIAN MP’S VISIT TO SRI LANKA-Tamils’ Legitimate Demands Must be Settled   Immediately

 People's Democracy

T K Rangarajan

THE army must be pushed back to the barracks; the Tamils living in camps resettled in their original inhabitations; accountability fixed of those who indulged in war crimes during the last phase of the war in Summer 2009; and powers devolved to the Tamil provinces as was stipulated by a constitutional amendment after heroic struggles and sacrifices. These were the demands made by an Indian all-party parliamentary delegation that visited Sri Lanka for six days starting April 16, 2012. It was only after a lot of controversy that the visit of the 12 member parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka, led by leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Ms Sushma Swaraj (BJP), took place.

The delegation also demanded of the government of India that it must bring pressure upon the Sri Lankan government through inter-governmental and diplomatic efforts for fulfilment of these demands. 

While the mainline Dravidian parties, the AIADMK and DMK, withdrew their nominees from the delegation, alleging that it won’t serve any purpose, the successful and productive conclusion of the visit on April 21 pushed these parties to the defensive. Their contention was that the members of Indian parliament would not be able to visit the IDP camps and war affected areas to hear the views of Sri Lankan Tamils, but it proved wrong. The itinerary was recast and a tight schedule awaited the delegation when it landed in Ceylon. 

BACKGROUND OF THE VISIT       Full Story>>>

Buddhist Sangha May Hold An Inquiry And Discipline Those Political Un-Buddhist Monks

April 30, 2012By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake -

Dr.Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Sri Lanka has a long and proud tradition of religious co-existence which is attested by the presence of multi-religious sacred sites throughout the island, as well as, its uniquely mixed cultural geography.

The solution to the unfolding Dambulla Mosque crisis must hence build on, protect and nurture traditions of religious syncretism, pluralism and co-existence in the country.

Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims have historically shared public space. After years of conflict when the need of the hour is reconciliation and social integration, segregation or removal of established shrines or places of worship would set a negative precedent that amounts to a form of religious and ethnic cleansing

Katargama, the Madhu shrine in Mannar, and Sri Pada are ancient and famous multi-religious sites of worship where Hindus and Buddhists, as well as, Muslims and Christians have come together for worship for centuries, as evident in the country’s archaeological and historical record. For instance, there is an ancient Sufi shrine in the Kataragama sacred area which houses Hindu and Buddhist deities and related religious complexes.

The British colonial administrator, John Still, recorded in his book, Jungle Tide, which was published over a hundred years ago in 1911, that he witnessed a Muslim father bring his son who was ill to the shrine at Madhu church which was known to be a powerful and healing sacred place. Sri Pada is a multi-religious site in the central hills. In contemporary religious practice a majority of Lankans are pluralist and pragmatic, and tend to gravitate to multiple religious sites to give arms and seek the blessing and favor of various gods while “hedging their bets” so to speak. In Colombo it is not difficult to find a single small street harbouring a kovil, mosque, temple and church each next to the other (e.g. Mayra Place ). Read More

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Sri Lanka Muslims call for protection

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  Sri Lankan Muslims take part in …

Sri Lanka's main Muslim party called on the government on Monday to protect religious minorities after protests by Buddhist monks demanding that a 60-year-old mosque be relocated.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which is a member of the ruling coalition, said it opposed shifting the mosque in Dambulla, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Colombo, saying this would be "disastrous" for the country.

The monks argued that the mosque was inside temple land and should be demolished while the Muslims maintain that they have been offering prayers there since the mid 1940s.

The government said in a statement last week that it had offered three alternate locations for the mosque and had also agreed to finance a new building, an offer firmly rejected by the SLMC.

"We will not agree to any compromise of taking land elsewhere," SLMC leader and Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem told reporters in Colombo. "We are very, very firm on that."

He said "extremist forces" were trying to create religious tensions in a country emerging from nearly four decades of ethnic strife which has cost an estimated 100,000 lives.

"A strong government must protect the weaker minorities," Hakeem said. "We appeal to the government to ensure that they do not allow xenophobic forces to hold the country hostage."

More than two-thirds of the Indian Ocean island's 20-million population are Buddhists while 7.5 percent are Muslims.

The Geneva Debacle of March 2012: The lessons not learnt

The Geneva Debacle of March 2012: The lessons not learnt

Groundviews

The outcome in Geneva last year (March 2011) of the voting on Sri Lanka’s conduct of the war and related human rights record was very clearly in favour of the Sri Lankan government. The line up in the voting and the scale of the majority were such that is appeared that this year too the outcome would be similar, despite some recent wavering by India. But the conduct of the Sri Lankan government in the mean time was so counter- productive that it precipitated the debacle of March 2012. We should have anticipated the disaster but it seems to have taken the Sri Lankan government by surprise.Continue reading »

WikiLeaks: GSL Report On LTTE’s Buying Weapons Of Mass Destruction (Red Mercury) Has Been Assessed To Be A Scam – US

April 28, 2012By Colombo Telegraph –

Red Mercury

“However, it should be noted that there have been illicit trafficking cases where documentation citing Red Mercury has accompanied authentic nuclear material. So although the Sri Lankan report has been assessed to be a scam, all reports of nuclear smuggling should be thoroughly investigated in order to rule out the existence of any material that could be a threat. Embassy should ask Sri Lanka to continue to share similar reports in the future.” a US State Department cable says.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related US diplomatic cable from the Secretary of State section of the WikiLeaks database. The cable was classified as “SECRET” signed on August 15, 2006.

The US State Department  wrote “Ref reported on a document the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister passed to the U.S. Charge reporting that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had made an attempt (in 2002) to procure “Red Mercury,” a chemical claimed to be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The document also identifies a U.S. chemical company in California as the possible manufacturer of this chemical. The Foreign Minister said his government is extremely concerned by the report and asked that the United States provide “technical assistance” in dealing with the report.”

“Red Mercury is a well-known scam material, frequently purported to be important in the manufacture of nuclear weapons but having no applications in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, conventional explosives, or any weapons system despite the claims about its alleged properties. It has been utilized by con- artists throughout the world in scams targeting terrorist organizations and rogue states desiring WMD capabilities. Although numerous reports from U.S. and Russian experts have stated that the existence of Red Mercury is a hoax, contradictory comments from other Russian scientists and various inflammatory television shows and books have helped perpetuate the myth, and Red Mercury continues to be sought by ignorant entities seeking to acquire WMD.” the US State Department further wrote.

Under the paragraph 2, the State Department wrote “ In response to request in paragraph 3 of Ref, Embassy Colombo may advise Sri Lanka that Washington has no credible information that “Red Mercury” is a WMD threat and is unable to identify or locate the U.S. chemical company specified in the Sri Lankan report. Given these factors, we deem the sources cited in the document not to be credible and believe that there is nothing to be concerned about in regard to this report.”

Related stories; Disappearance Of Ekneligoda And The Chemical Weapons Saga

APNewsBreak: UN Finds Cluster Bombs In Sri Lanka

Read the cable below for further details;

Political, economic and social suicide

Buddhism gone berserk

| by Pearl Thevanayagam

(April 30, 2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Dambulla Mosque fire-bomb attack on April 22 is a political, economic and social suicide attempt which will have very serious repercussions just as the country is urged by the international community to mend fences and progress towards reconciliation. When all hell was breaking loose the Muslim, Malay and Burgher communities steered clear of the ethnic conflict except to act as mediators be it in the media, judiciary, police or commissions of inquiry and kept the fragile and fractured isle together barring the odd skirmishes resulting from trade conflicts and suspicions - perceived or otherwise - of acting as moles for both the government and Tamil militants during the war.

The Muslim community have always had considerable influence over the island's economic status since the 1500s when they arrived here from the Middle East to trade in spices and several hundred years later from India bringing in textiles and other exotic goods.

These communities remained calm and carried on with their duties while the warring Tamils and Sinhalese were gouging each others' eyes out in the pretext of nationalism and their respective ethnic identities. It now seems the Muslim community will not be silent forever in the wake of unprovoked attack on their Holy Mosque and are garnering support from fellow Muslims all over the world.The 35 year old ethnic strife has left some metastases in the body parts of the island where pockets of elements touting false national and religious pride are threatening to tear up this island emerging from the wounds of war.

The sacrilege instigated and carried out by the Sinhalese mobs including Buddhist monks on a place of worship should not be taken lightly and fobbed off just another mob attack. This was a calculated crime resulting from religious intolerance and instigated by Sinhala extremist politicians as can be gleaned from media reports. The Muslim community have always had considerable influence over the island's economic status since the 1500s when they arrived here from the Middle East to trade in spices and several hundred years later from India bringing in textiles and other exotic goods. Many chose to set up home here and have remained peaceful and showed a lot of bonhomie in their adopted motherland. The community also produced some excellent scholars and professionals.

Some key politicians are threatening to withdraw support for the government as a result of this unfortunate incident. If the LTTE almost succeeded in seceding a portion of the island for the ethnic Tamils who were deprived of their inalienable rights then it is now the turn of the Muslim population to fight to carry on their religious convictions and their rights as dutiful citizens to practice their faith without hindrance. Islam is a tolerant religion no matter how adversely the West misinterprets. The West did not intervene in the Middle East until it found an opportune time when oil was discovered in the 1930s. The oil-rich lands of the Bedouins became several kingdoms and they began to supply the developed nations with the much needed oil which in turn dictates the strength of their economic indicators. The West's approach to the Middle-East crisis since the '70's has never been totally altruistic. It pitted governments against opposition parties, nations against nations.

Deeds or no deeds it is no excuse to desecrate a place of worship.

The writer is Asia Pacific Journalism Fellow at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, California and a print journalist for 22 years. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com)

Jury still out on international war crimes system

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor looks down as he waits for the start of a hearing to receive a verdict in a court room of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam, near The Hague, April 26, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Peter Dejong/Pool

By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent

WASHINGTON | Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:00am EDT

(Reuters) - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor's war crimes conviction may be seen in some quarters as a victory for global justice, but a backlash against costly, lengthy international tribunals is also underway.

Found guilty of aiding and abetting a host of crimes including murder, rape and torture as well as arming brutal Sierra Leonean rebels, Taylor became the first head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg Trials after World War Two. He will be sentenced on May 30.

Full Article 

Karuna floats Eelam balloon again

G.C. SHEKHAR

Monday , April 30 , 2012  Alagiri (top) and Stalin Chennai, April 29: DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has revived his pet theme — establishing a separate Eelam (homeland) for the Tamils of Sri Lanka. His critics, however, see the move as yet another desperate bid to remain in the political limelight and also as a tactic to divert attention from the succession war between his sons Stalin and Alagiri. On Monday, Karunanidhi will chair a meeting of the Tamil Eelam Supporters’ Organisation (TESO), an outfit he had founded in the 1980s but which had remained dormant since he dumped the Eelam demand for political expediency after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. At the last two public meetings he addressed this month, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister demanded a UN-sponsored referendum among Lankan Tamils to establish an Eelam on the lines of South Sudan, which voted last year to split from the north. What has intrigued observers is the timing of Karunanidhi’s new-found love for the Eelam cause. The LTTE has been defeated, Tamil parties in Sri Lanka are keener to wrest more provincial powers under the Lankan Constitution and fringe groups in Tamil Nadu are more fervent about prosecuting Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa for war crimes. “Eelam remains the long-term goal for parties like us…. But for Karunanidhi, Eelam becomes visible only when he is in the Opposition. The way he remained Delhi’s willing and silent ally while the Lankan army decimated Tamils in 2009 exposes the hollowness behind his present interest in Eelam,” said Mallai Sathya of the MDMK, whose leader Vaiko has been a vociferous votary of Eelam. Between 2006 and 2011, when pro-LTTE parties demanded more effective intervention by India, Karunanidhi, then in power in the state, had declared that the Centre’s line — backing the Lanka crackdown on the Tamil Tigers — was the DMK’s as well. Karunanidhi, whose party shares power at the Centre, even urged pro-LTTE voices to tone down the anti-Sinhala rhetoric lest it fanned anger against Tamils in Sri Lanka. “When Jayalalithaa, during the 2009 Lok Sabha campaign, raised the pitch on Sri Lanka’s war against Tamils and promised to send the Indian Army to save them, the same Karunanidhi had accused her of politicising the issue…. Karunanidhi’s sudden interest in Eelam is nothing but a ruse to divert attention from the sibling war in his own family,” said Seeman, the founder of the group Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam. Congress leaders view his sudden love for Eelam as a possible exit plan out of the UPA. “He probably feels that rather than fight the 2014 (Lok Sabha) elections with a discredited Congress, he might align with other parties like the Left, Vaiko and Vijayakanth,” an MP said. However, the Lankan Tamil issue has never had an impact on elections in the state.

India's intervention sought in empowerment of minority Tamils

April 29, 2012 

File picture

New Delhi:  Congress MPs, who were part of the delegation that visited Sri Lanka recently, have demanded India's intervention in ensuring political empowerment of minority Tamils by implementing the historic 13th Amendment, holding talks with various political parties there.

Four Congress MPs from Tamil Nadu also asked India to demand urgent steps from Sri Lanka to implement recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) with a "clear time-bound programme".

Rajya Sabha member EM Sudarshana Natchiappan, Lok Sabha members M Krishnasamy, NSV Chithan and Manicka Tagore made these demands in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after they returned last week.

"The political empowerment through implementation of 13th Amendment of the Constitution of Sri Lanka made on Rajiv Gandhi's effort, by holding talks with TNA and other Tamil political parties are in urgency to create the confidence of the Tamils to return to motherland," they said in the letter. The 13th Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution envisages devolution of powers to Tamil-dominated northern and eastern provinces.

The MPs also said that Sri Lanka should take urgent steps for implementation of LLRC recommendations with clear time bound programme.

"The Sri Lanka government should send message to the world that normalcy is restored by replacing Army by Police," the MPs said.

They also said that displaced Tamil civilians and refugees in India should be enabled to get back their houses and lands left in Sri Lanka by sending a team of survey and settlement officials from India and identifying the properties and pushing for claim from the concerned refugees.

"Fertile lands and fishermen villages of the north and east were taken away by the Military as 'Security Zone.' This should be handed over to owners and allow them to economically develop the country," the letter said.

The MPs also recommended establishment of centres for rehabilitation of widows, mentally challenged children and differently-abled persons and children.

"India's human resources department should send teachers for English, Science and Mathematics for schools with the cooperation of Tamil Nadu government as Tamil knowing teachers are needed," they said.

The MPs also suggested that Indian universities can have an understanding with institutions in these areas for higher studies.

April 29th, 2012 

US tells Lanka; Unveil action plan in Colombo

In a clear-cut checkmate, the Obama Administration is attempting to make Colombo commit to implement the LLRC recommendations to its own people, before presenting it to officials in Washington DC.

The US Government wants Sri Lanka to unveil its ‘action plan on the implementation of the LLRC proposals in Colombo, one week before the Sri Lankan delegation led by External Affairs Minister G.L. Pieris arrives in Washington DC, Ceylon Today learns.

The Sri Lankan Government’s action plan for implementing the recommendations of the LLRC is presently being drafted by Additional Secretary to the UN Division, Kshenuka Seneviratne in consultation with Monitoring MP for the Ministry of External Affairs, Sajin Vaas Gunewardane and UPFA Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa.

According to highly placed diplomatic sources, the US government wants Sri Lanka to unveil its ‘roadmap’ in Colombo before bringing the action plan to present to officials in Washington because it does not want to be seen as arm-twisting Sri Lanka into doing things that will then fuel tensions about ‘Western conspiracies’ back in Colombo. The Sri Lankan government maintains the same position because it does not want to be seen as bowing to the dictates of foreign powers.

Minister Peiris, who will be accompanied by MPs Gunewardane, and Namal Rajapaksa and Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge to Washington on 18 May in response to an invitation from US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in January this year, for further engagement with US officials on reconciliation and accountability issues. Apart from Secretary Clinton, the Sri Lanka delegation is set to meet with several key members of the Obama Administration, presently overseeing human rights issues in Sri Lanka and other countries.

The Sri Lankan delegation will meet with US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Susan E. Rice and Head of the Office of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights Samantha Power.

The delegation will also meet with US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Maria Otero who visited Sri Lanka in February during their visit to Washington.

Minister Peiris is also scheduled to make a presentation at the prestigious Brookings Institute, a high profile Washington- based think tank.

The US has also told Sri Lanka to translate the LLRC report into Sinhala and Tamil so that a larger majority of the people would have access to the report and they could find for themselves what Sri Lanka’s own commission has recommended for implementation for speedy recovery and reconciliation.

However this has not found favour with the government and the External Affairs ministry was not keen to translate the same paving the way for a few English speaking people to have access to the LLRC report.

Meanwhile, Secretary Clinton is scheduled to visit India and Bangladesh between 6-8 May but it is not immediately clear whether Sri Lanka will feature in her talks with Indian officials during her visit