Ms. Sunila Abeysekera from Sri Lanka to receive Didi Nirmala Deshpande South Asian Peace and Justice Award

Saturday, 25 May 2013

The Jury appointed by Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) to decide the nominations for first Didi Nirmala Deshpande South Asian Peace and Justice Award for 2013 announced on Friday to confer the award on Ms. Sunila Abeysekera, a leading women’s human rights defender in Sri Lanka and South Asia, and a major player in the global women’s movement.

To give the award as a mark of abiding respect for Didi Nirmala Deshpande and a permanent tribute to her service to humanity, Pakistan Labour Trust (PLT), an associate of PILER, had instituted the award, which carries an amount of Rs. 1 million or US$ 10,000.

Sunila is currently based at the Institute for Social Studies in The Netherlands as the recipient of a Scholars At Risk fellowship. These fellowships are awarded to individuals who face potential violence in their own country as a result of their human rights work. Her work has been recognized through many awards, including UN Human Rights Prize from Kofi Annan and the 2008 Human Rights Defender Award from Human Rights Watch.

Sunila has lived a courageous life on the forefront of many social movements, fighting relentlessly for justice and human rights--for women and on behalf of all those who experience identity-based discrimination, persecution and marginalization. She has nurtured and supported countless women and men of all ages the world over, inspiring many-both directly and by example-to challenge abusive authority at the local, national and international levels.

Her work highlighting state and non-state violations during the last years of Sri Lanka’s ethnic war in 2009/2010 compelled Sunila to leave the country, and she is currently living in the Netherlands.

Sunila was diagnosed with late stage cancer in the Netherlands in November 2012 and has been receiving treatment there. What Sunila is facing now is the lot of many other activists--whose lives fighting for social justice often precludes their ability to focus on their own well-being and financial security.

While announcing the award, Executive Director of PILER Karamat Ali congratulated Ms. Sunila for the award which has been instituted in memory of Didi Nimrmala Deshpande, a crusader for peace and friendship between Pakistan and India.

An enlightened soul, Didi began her tryst with destiny in 1952 when she joined the land donation ‘bhoodan’ movement led by the renowned Gandhian Acharya Vinobha Bhave and traveled more than 40,000 kilometers on foot, covering the length and breadth of India, asking for land donations. In the process she acquired a deep insight into the miserable conditions of the rural poor and the myriad problems they faced. This experience later on led her to establish the Akhil Bharat Rachnatmak Samaj – a Federation of Gandhian Institutions and Social Workers – and dedicate her entire life to the service of the poverty-stricken and the most deprived and marginalized sections of society, without distinction of caste, creed, religion, race, colour or gender.

Released by:

Shujauddin Qureshi

Co-Manager Programmes (Advocacy and Networking)

Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER)

Gulshan-e-Maymar, Karachi-75340

Ph: +(92-21) 36351145-7

Fax: +(92-21) 36350345

Cell: +(92)300-3929788

URL: www.piler.org.pk

FUTA rejects new Colombo VC

By Aisha Nazim-2013-05-25 

Aggravating a simmering dispute over the appointment of a Vice Chancellor for the University of Colombo, university dons and the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA) have refused to accept the appointment of
Dr. Kumar Hirimburegama, spouse of the Chairperson of the University Grants Commission (UGC), as the new Vice Chancellor.

Dr. Hirimburegama's appointment as Vice Chancellor was announced on Thursday evening by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
FUTA claims the appointment was clearly politically motivated in the light that other candidates, who had applied for the post, were more suitable.

The academics employed by the University of Colombo will not accept Dr. Hirimburegama as their Vice Chancellor, FUTA President
Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri said.
"We can assure you that we will not accept this appointment. We will boycott meetings that will be chaired by him and refrain from responding to official correspondence," Dr. Devasiri told Ceylon Today.“We will also give him some time to step down. Though it technically is a legal appointment, it is not a proper appointment. And we will definitely continue our struggle against this,” he added.

Dr. Devasiri said the Colombo University Teachers’ Union will be convened on Monday (27) to decide on further course of action.
He pointed out as there was a more suitable candidate for the vacancy, the appointment of Dr. Hirimburegama as the Vice Chancellor was ‘most unsuitable,’ especially as he is the spouse of the current UGC Chairperson.
However, the Ministry of Higher Education maintained to Ceylon Today the final decision of the appointment was up to President Rajapaksa, who would select the most suitable of the three candidates to fill the post.

Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Nandimithra Ekanayake, denied political motivations in backing the nominees. Ministry Spokesperson, Mangala Janaka, said likewise.
UGC Chairperson, Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama, was unavailable for comment.

Not Foreign Conspiracies But Our Own Failures

By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena -May 26, 2013

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

In his address to the nation on ‘Victory Day’ this month, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s assertion that ‘grease demons’, the Independence of the Judiciary, media freedom and human rights were all part of sinister foreign conspiracies to bring the nation to its knees, calls for measured scrutiny.

Somewhat bewilderingly meanwhile, a reference to ‘the Arab Spring’ was also thrown into this mix. One is not quite sure of the Presidential reasoning. Is a Lankan spring by pro-democracy activists, (as improbable as that may sound), to be regarded as part of this same alleged conspiracy? Certainly, it does not take remarkable prescience to guess the answer to that particular question.

Basic functions of the State

But the point is simple. While a ministerial minion hysterically screaming the same may be attributed to the Government’s perennial suspicion of foreign conspirators behind every proverbial bush, the Head of State is presumed to be subjected to higher standards of accountability. The core points of the Presidential assertion relate to the basic protections that the State is obliged to provide to its citizens, namely law and order through a proper working of state agencies, expression and information through free media and an independent judiciary.

These are not luxuries afforded to citizens but rights. If a Government is unable, through omission or commission, to ensure these rights, then the contract between the Government and the people is dissolved. Thereafter, what prevails is not a democratic process even though farcical elections may take place. The breaking down of the social contract is but a convenient euphemism (and the most fundamental justification) for a people’s revolution.

Selective application of legal machinery

Applied practically to the crisis of the Rule of Law that we face today, let us look more closely at the Presidential reference. When men daubed in grease engaged in attacking houses as well as women in selected parts of the country (generally excepting the South) involved a breakdown of law and order in its most essential form. When chased by enraged villagers during a time of widespread panic in villages as far flung as Komari and Akkaraipattu in the East as well as in the Northern peninsula and the Central Province, the attackers commonly fled into police stations and army camps in the vicinity. So inferentially and by a process of logical reasoning from the claim in the Presidential Statement, were these police stations and army camps also part of this same foreign conspiracy? Or (taking it to the other extreme) were these attackers part of a general collective delusion on the part of Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim people all over the affected areas of the country? In what precise way were foreign conspirators involved?

These are questions in the public interest. Most importantly, these attackers disappeared as mysteriously as they appeared, without the state agencies properly investigating or prosecuting offenders. Thereby, was not a key duty and responsibility of the State bypassed? And when a protestor distributing leaflets asking that persons not affected by the war should not get new houses in the East during a function presided over by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa is arrested as was the case this week in Batticoloa but when parliamentarians accused of murder and political favourites are protected by government patronage, is not the law violated?

Where do victims go to?

Some days ago, a reader of this column sent in a relevant query as to whether the Attorney General is subject to judicial review when he/she acts or fails to act in violation of the constitutional role. Assuredly, the state prosecutor exercises a discretionary power which, as the Supreme Court rightly said more than decade ago ‘is neither absolute nor unfettered’ (Victor Ivan v Attorney General, (1998) 1 Sri LR 340). Rather, these powers are held in trust for the public, to be exercised for the purpose for which they are conferred and not otherwise. Supervision therein lies in the hands of the Court. However, when the functioning of the Court itself is interfered with, where can the citizen turn to?

So when the Chief Justice of the country is dragged before parliamentarians and grossly humiliated prior to being thrown out of office and replaced by a Government favourite, is it not the duty of all right thinking people to protest? If foreign governments express concern at this turn of events, how is that translated into a foreign conspiracy? When Sri Lankan journalists are assaulted, killed and when the entire media is unmercifully fettered to an extent that is unprecedented since independence, do we not have a right to talk about this?

Breakdown of the social contract

Some may think that these questions, may be better suffered in silence as befitting ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ now being thrown at us. And in line with that famously painful soliloquy crafted so timelessly by the Bard, there are few who will, even rhetorically, be willing to confront this ‘sea of troubles’, with no firm guarantee that by opposing, such troubles will be ended. Yet, what the Sri Lankan people face is a basic breakdown of public trust. The consequences therein are enormous for our democratic functioning even though we may pretend to ignore this, ostrich-wise.

It is the duty of the State to investigate. It is the duty of the State to prosecute. It is the duty of the State to protect. These manifold obligations cannot be just brushed away under the glib excuse of foreign conspiracies. And as much as it may be parroted, such talk does not fool Sri Lanka’s rural audiences, whose silence should not be seen as unreserved support for this Government.

What we lack is a credible political opposition which can harness dissent from the cities to the villages, not necessarily to effect regime change but to bring about a fairer balance in political power. In sum, this is our most profound problem, not foreign conspiracies, even though that may be perceived to be a stirring theme on occasion by our politicians.

Net worth of CPC erodes by Rs. 200 bn in two years – UNP

Badly managed,corrupt state enterprises will destroy banking system

by Zacki Jabbar-May 24, 2013, 12:00 pm 

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporations (CPC) net worth had eroded by an estimated Rs. 200 billion in the past two years, an Opposition legislator said yesterday.

With loss in capital alone accounting for Rs. 200 billion, the CPC was bankrupt and would cease to be a going concern, unless the Treasury came to its rescue once again as it had done time and again in the case of SriLankan Airlines, Mihin Air and the Ceylon Electricity Board, Financial Analyst and UNP MP Eran Wickremeratne told The Island.

The CPC has not tabled its audited accounts in Parliament since 2009. Recent contaminated fuel imports alone had resulted in losses of over Rs. 300 million, Wickremeratne said, adding that fuel had been sold to a private company at a loss in excess of Rs. 450 million.

Wickremeratne noted that the Auditor General had questioned the violation of standard tender procedures. In one instance the tender had been advertised on Friday and closed the following Monday, he said.

The staggering losses due to low quality fuel imports, corruption and hedging contracts, the MP said, should be investigated by the Cabinet of Ministers without leaving it to a three-man team appointed by the subject minister.

The open tender procedure had been violated in the past on the grounds that government to government transactions gave a better return to the country. But that was not true. It was an open secret that payments to overseas public officials to procure business was practised in many countries. The only way to save foreign exchange was to have a transparent and competitive bidding process, he observed.

Wickremeratne said that poor management, corruption and losses in state owned enterprises were like cancers, and they put the country’s banking system also at risk.

The Bank of Ceylon’s foreign currency letters of credit and loans exposure to the CPC was in excess of 60 percent of the total foreign currency exposure of the bank. Unless the government plucked up the courage to restructure the state owned enterprises which would include tackling rampant corruption amongst its own ranks, the badly managed and corrupt state owned ventures would eventually destroy the banking system, he warned.

Time For ITAK To Present Its Manifesto

By Kumar David -May 26, 2013 

Prof Kumar David

There is a fifty-fifty chance that the government will dish out some cock-and-bull excuse and rescind the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections. Nothing can be put beyond its craft and cunning, its sordidness and duplicity. But this leaves us with a fifty percent chance that elections may be held and if so the TNA/ITAK will win; so says everybody I have spoken to, even government henchmen. It is indisputable that this is why the government desires to scuttle the elections if it could get away with it. Authoritarians are totalitarians in that they cannot survive without the total control of power; even one pocket of resistance is fatal for autocrats.

The regime’s instincts are right, and conversely therefore, it is precisely for this reason that it is imperative that the Tamil alliance wins control of the NPC. This is a significant foot in the door; it opens a way to confront the would-be dictators. Every chink in the armour – electoral defeat, economic setback, or spotlight on graft and abuse – is another abscess through which to drive the dagger and twist the blade. An independent PC with a mind of its own, not kowtowing at the beck and call of the Rajapakses, is not a chink but a gaping tear in the armour. The value of defeating the government at the NPC elections cannot be exaggerated, not only for the denizens of the province, but nationally.

It is true that elected provincial councils, provincial administrations, and chief ministers, are statutorily emasculated. Decision making can be wrested away and exercised by a governor who is no more than a puffed up yes-man of the president. It is also true that PCs are miserably funded and after Divineguma their resources further depleted. In these circumstances it is unsurprising, but short-sighted, that some minor parties want the TNA/ITAK to boycott the elections. It is short sighted for three reasons; first, control of the NPC will give the Tamil alliance pole-position in prosecuting the fight for autonomy and against dictatorship; statutorily impotent but politically potent! Secondly, the current regime must be prevented from grabbing this political instrument away from elected representatives of the people. It would be disastrous if the regime, this one in particular, grabs the NPC.

The third reason why a boycott is plain lunacy is the international dimension. Tamils cried themselves hoarse all over the world that they were denied an instrument of self-administration and demanded an elected council. Now when the ship is steering into harbour, how ridiculous to jump overboard! Internationally, it would be a gross contradiction if the Tamils pull out of the NPC elections. Retaining some influence over police and land powers and resisting the army’s land grab whose motive is to change demography in the North, also require international and Indian support.

It takes a Tamil to see through another Tamil. The ITAK leadership no doubt espies that the real motive of those Tamils who call for a boycott is envy. They cannot win, so their ruse is to talk the ITAK out of it as well. I also learnt that when an ITAK leader addressed a gathering in London last month, some Tamils faulted him for speaking up on behalf of Muslims and on broader national issues. “You must stick only to our concerns” was the refrain. Is it only the Jaffna Tamil who is so self-centred that he shrieks in Geneva and all over the world demanding attention to himself, but rejects intercession for others?

There is friction about distribution of nominations, since legally it is not possible to register a new party before September. The TNA is an umbrella of five groups with just one mass party, the Illangai Thamil Arasu Katchi (former Federal Party). Acronyms (leaders) of the others are PLOTE (Sidharthan), TULF (Anandasangaree), TELO (Adakalanathan) and EPRLF (Premachandran). They will be decimated, notwithstanding their presumed standing in the Vannie, if they contest without hanging on to ITAK coat tails. The election will have to be fought under the ITAK name and Veedu (House) symbol, but keeping the TNA concept in the foreground and offering a few nominations to each to the other four will impart a sense of Tamil unity.

The Chief Ministerial nominee is also pending. Sampanthan and Sumenthiran cannot be released from Parliament where they serve vital functions. Former judge Vigneswaran’s name has croped up, I am told he is a good man, but he lacks grassroots standing or political experience. This leaves Maavai Senathirajah as the likely nominee; Premachandran is out of consideration as he is from a minor party.

The programmatic side

There will have to be two sides to the TNA/ITAK manifesto; one, a programmatic side, and the other, perspectives on how to drive for greater Tamil autonomy and sway this towards the fight for democracy at large. While it is not my task to give gratuitous advice to the leaders, I do have my views on a programme for regional governance in the North and East. There are four areas the Northern Provincial Administration must prioritise; education, agriculture-fisheries, transport-communications, and normalisation of law and order.

Historically, education has been the jewel in the crown of Jaffna society; it must be restored to a position of excellence; society is crying out for it. The building blocks are available – motivated students, the raw material from which a reputable teaching profession can be refashioned, and brick and mortar if not academic excellence at Jaffna University. A lot can be done. Schools must be the centre of education and the tuition pandemic rooted out. English language fluency (not just proficiency) must be implanted and ingrained. Diaspora and overseas funding can be channelled into quality education; money will flood in if an effort led by the people and their democratically elected representatives is in place.

Agriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry and toddy tapping are devolved subjects under the PC system. I have read of “the chaos created by devolving agricultural planning and production to provinces along with dismemberment of the original Department of Agriculture” (Cecil Dharmasena, Island, 6 May 2013). The clock cannot be turned back and centralisation restored, but if there is one place where chaos can be overcome and a vibrant system of agricultural support established, it is the Northern Province. In the same piece Dr Dharmasena waxes eloquent on the “dedicated and hard-working northern farmers whose Farmer Cooperatives were exemplary institutions”. These organisations provided information on production, helped with credit and kept a check on marketing. The new NPC administration has its work cut out if it is to measure up to these challenges.

Public transport is in a state of breakdown; literally in respect of the railway. It is scandalous that four years after the war, a fast modern railway is not up and running. There is no excuse as it creates great inconvenience for passengers and imposes an overhead cost on economic activity. I am surprised Tamil leaders of all political hues are silent when it is manifestly absurd that the railway is not functioning; 43 km to Madhu after 4 years is a caricature. I attribute the worst motives to the control freaks in military and government. In the meantime, we fabricate billion rupee white elephant airports in the President’s backwoods home town that not a cat wants to arrive at or depart from!

If the new NPC administration does a good job in the North – Basil can lay roads, but cannot enthuse people or deliver a programme as outlined – the Central Government will put obstacles in the way at every step. Have no illusions about the Rajapakse regime and its chauvinist coalition entourage as all nationalists are imbued with jealousy.  They will fight progress, especially law and order. The NPC will have to conduct a prolonged campaign to end military intimidation, remove troops from the streets and have them confined to barracks, end land grabs, and stop the military throwing its weight around. There is no terrorist threat now; this is balderdash spouted to retain the jackboot on the public neck.

There must be no let up in the demand that police powers in Tamil areas be placed in the hands of an elected provincial administration. There can be no impartial law enforcement when a police force staffed by one community and steeped in its ideology holds the whip over another community. There will be enough and more abuses of power by the state for the NPC to capitalise on and keep up pressure. Success is possible if there is tenacity.

Transitional struggles

I spoke of two sides to the manifesto, a programmatic side as outlined above and transitional perspectives towards a democratic state configuration. The two paragraphs concluding the previous subsection introduced the transitional aspect. There are two sides, in turn, to this aspect; one, the campaign to restructure and devolve substantial power to the Tamil people enabling them to manage their own affairs, and second impeding the dictatorial encroachments of the Rajapakse regime. The first is a general issue, commonly referred to as ‘the political solution to the national question’. This is not specific to the Mahinda regime and will need to be sorted out whoever is in power at the Centre. The second is a very specific matter relating to this regime hell bent on autocracy and a corporatist dictatorship.

The manifesto that I dream of, no doubt the TNA is not much interested in my daydreams, will make reference to both sides. It will spell out how, once it forms the NPC Administration, it will use it as a platform for campaigning for a devolved system of governance for Tamils; the NPC is not an end in itself but a step to substantial devolution. The other aspect is cooperation with democratic movements in the South, that is Sinhalese and Muslims, to defeat the ambitions of the Rajapakse siblings. The two struggles are inseparable; progress along either path creates opportunities and strengthens the other. 

My Esteem for the Buddha: An open letter at Wesak to my Buddhist Sisters and Brothers

My Esteem for the Buddha: An open letter at Wesak to my Buddhist Sisters and Brothers

Photo courtesy Reuters

Groundviews

25 May, 2013 Bishop Duleep de Chickera

My good friend, the Ven. Bellanwila Wimalarathana wrote a letter to Christians on his understanding of Christ at Christmas last year.  This has prompted me to reciprocate with this letter to you at Wesak.

A seekers vision

I write in my personal capacity as a disciple of Christ, a student of Buddhism and one who perceives the universal wisdom and values in world religions as gifts for all and not just the adherents of a respective religion.

This is not an attempt to teach you what you know better than I; but an expression of my profound respect for the Buddha and the potential I see in the Dhamma for compassion, contentment and coexistence for all life. I know you will be patient with any shortcomings in my perception of Buddhism.

Compassion for all life

I have never ceased to be stirred by the Buddha’s compassion for all living beings; and not humans only. This all inclusive compassion makes sense, since compassion for humans only, if accompanied with disrespect for other forms of life upsets the balance in an interdependent life system. Consequently compassion for humans only, is short sighted and counter-productive; it inevitably induces chaos for all forms of life, including humans.

Within this wider framework however this teaching has a direct impact on critical human relations such as ethnic discrimination, inter-religious tensions, economic injustice, political intolerance and the collapse of ethical norms that we wrestle with today. Since compassion according to the Buddha is never selective and will not endorse divisive and oppressive systems, it is full of potential to transform these exclusive and destructive trends into a just and integrated system for all life.

Liberation from Tanha

From my early adult days I have found the Buddha’s analysis of the cycle of life in the four noble truths, most enlightening. His discernment of Tanha as the cause of suffering is a precise explanation of the human dilemma. The inordinate greed for power, dominance, wealth and material resources that motivate many, leads to aggression, suppression and suffering which eventually destroys all; the greedy, the content and Mother Earth. 

The objective of life is consequently to overcome Tanha. This path ranges from the simple life style, which demonstrates contentment; to detachment, that state of selflessness which rises above the enticement of the market, the arsenal and a false sense of prestige and is undoubtedly a sign of true liberation.

The fullest manifestation of selfless detachment is demonstrated in total renunciation; the ability to point to the way by getting out of the way. This profound insight into self-emptying is an indispensible lens for personal and social evaluation which our leaders and people cannot afford to ignore.

The Wisdom of Ahimsa

That the Dhamma is received through self-realisation and bears fruit in Ahimsa, (transforming non-violence) safeguards personal privacy and prevents social aggression. Just as the Dhammacannot be subject to force or manipulation to bring enlightenment, recipients of the Dhammacannot indulge in these tendencies and to the contrary strive to overcome them. This, in my understanding, is how surrounding forms of life are respected and the Dhamma shared with dignity in ever widening circles.

This refreshing option to violence is undoubtedly one of the reasons that has made Buddhism a world religion. Consequently it is those who are the vehicles of this enlightened, non-violent and compassionate teaching who will continue to sustain and commend Buddhism today.

May the Dhamma of the Compassionate One, shed enlightenment and emancipate our beloved Sri Lanka from greed and violence.

Establishing A UN Monitored Protection Mechanism In NorthEast

By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah -May 25, 2013 

Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

TGTE’s Call for Establishing a UN Monitored International Protection Mechanism in the NorthEast
This paper in the main addresses the question why there is an absolute and urgent necessity for putting in place a suitable UN Monitored International Protection Mechanism, involving a continuing human rights presence in the NorthEast as a form of protection for the Tamil people; in that context this paper seeks the engagement of scholars, human rights advocates and legal luminaries here assembled on the interventions and options available in this regard.

Establishing a UN Monitored Protection Mechanism in NorthEast by nelvely

Land acquisition by occupying military challenged in Sri Lanka Courts

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2013, 23:34 GMT]
Following a writ-application filed at the Sri Lankan Court of Appeal by 1,474 Eezham Tamils owning lands in Valikaamam North on 14 May, which was an initiative taken by Colombo-based lawyers, including those belonging to the Tamil National Alliance, a group of lawyers based in Jaffna have filed legal action in Sri Lankan Supreme Court on 22 May, challenging the publication of the Section 2 notice to acquire lands from the owners in Valikaamam North. In the meantime, the commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, who recently faced questions from the visiting United Nations representatives on the acquisition of lands in the former High Security Zone (HSZ), was attempting to play down the scale of the Sinhala militarization by hiding the extent of land acquisition outside the Valikaamam North area. 

The SL commander, who accused the Tamil media and politicians as ‘exaggerating’ the figures, was trying to project that there were only three SL military bases outside the so-called HSZ. 

Meanwhile, the latest FR petition by the lawyers in Jaffna has questioned the nature of the military corporatism being practiced in the lands that have been seized by the SL military in Valikaamam North. 

The lawyers didn’t fail to cite the news items that have been published by the SL military’s news outlets claiming the existence of military-run tourist resorts, farms, and yoghurt factories in the Valikaamam North. 

192 owners of lands appear as petitioners, according to a press statement issued by the lawyers in Jaffna. 

On Friday, a press conference was held at Jaffna Press Club on the latest legal move against land acquisition by the SL military. 

When questioned on the legal moves by the TNA and the lawyers group in Jaffna, Attorney Mr Guruparan Kumaravadivel, said that the action filed by the TNA was in the form of a writ-application, seeking the Court of Appeal to quash the Section 2 notices issued under the Land Acquisition Act to acquire lands in the Valikaamam North area, whereas the action being filed now is a fundamental rights petition wherein the group of lawyers complain that the publication of the Section 2 notice is in violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Sri Lankan Constitution, particularly article 12 (1), which provides that there should be right to equality of all citizens of the "country." 



The FR petition argues that lands owned by different owners cannot be considered as a single unit, that the ‘public purpose‘ was not clarified, that the owners were not properly informed according to the legal procedure of land acquisition, and that the lawyers representing the owners were not allowed by the SL military to inspect the notices that were placed in the lands of the owners. 

The FR petition has also taken up the issue of legality of the definition of the former HSZ. 

Lawyers in Jaffna Mr Parthipan Balakrishnan, Mr Thirukkumaran Visuvalingam, Mr Manivannan Visuvalingam Ms Suhashini Kisho Anton and Mr Guruparan Kumaravadivel have moved the Sri Lankan Supreme Court under the leadership of Ms Shantha Abimannasingham PC. 

The writ-case filed at the Sri Lankan Court of Appeal and announced to media by the Tamil National Alliance on 14 May was moved by Attorneys-at-Law M.A Sumanthiran, Viran Corea, Lakshmanan Jeyakumar, Bhavani Fonseka & Niran Anketell with Moahan Balendran as instructing Attorney.

Following is the full text of the press statement by the TNA on 15 May:

15th May 2013: “Around 1474 persons owning land in Jaffna filed a writ application today in the Court of Appeal challenging the attempts to illegally and unlawfully acquire their private land. A further 2000 petitioners are to file on the same issue in the near future.

The petition challenges the Section 2 notices issued under the Land Acquisition Act which specifies that 6381 acres and 38.97 perches are to be acquired for the ‘Defence Battalion Headquarters [Jaffna]- Regularising handover of area on which High Security Zone [Palaly and Kankesanthurai] is established.’ The massive area that is identified constitutes approximately 25.8 square kilometers and is more than two-thirds the entire land area on which Colombo City (which spans an area of 37.21 square kilometers) is located.

All of the petitioners own substantial tracts of land that fall within the above area and were displaced from their land due to war. Although the war ended in 2009, the petitioners have been prevented from returning to their land due to military occupation of the area and barbed wire fences and barricades manned by military. Although certain areas were demarcates High Security Zones (HSZ) with the using of emergency regulations during the war, the area in question was never demarcated a HSZ and there was no legal basis for the use of HSZ with the lapse of the state of emergency in 2011. The petition contends that there is no ‘public purpose’ served as specified in the Act by the acquisition of their land as the area was never a HSZ nor does it exist as one.

The Petition has cited as Respondents the Land Acquiring Officer for Jaffna, the Minister for Lands and Land Development and the Land Survey Officer, Jaffna District.

Mr. K. Kanag-Isvaran (P.C), and Attorneys-at-Law M.A Sumanthiran, Viran Corea, Lakshmanan Jeyakumar, Bhavani Fonseka & Niran Anketell settled papers, with Moahan Balendran as instructing Attorney.

Lifting The Northern Province

By S. Sivathasan -May 26, 2013 

S.Sivathasan

In an economic sense, 1982 was the best year since independence for theNorthern Province (NP). At the present tempo of a little progress and more regress, it may take 20 more years to get back to 1982. This would imply that when the rest of Sri Lanka (SL) gets on to 2032, NP will lag 50 years behind. If growing together of all provinces is targeted as socially desirable, they will develop as per the physical resources and the natural endowments of the people. Growth differential thereafter is unstoppable. Stifling it for that reason however is iniquitous. When it is pursued as policy it becomes unconscionable. It can only generate a feeling of injury, frustration and tension.

The urgent need of the North is for it to be on its own, to work out its way of redemption. The people can evolve their strategies to create wealth relying on their ability and effort. The overwhelming circumstance against is the destruction caused by war. Therefore the essential facilitation of an enabling environment has to be provided by the state for a decade or so. In this respect it has failed for four years even to think about it. Highway construction, restoration of the railway and provision of power that are under way are indisputably conducive to development. But the deficit is massive.

What are the grave shortcomings? The influx into south Sri Lanka was occasioned by quarter century of dislocation in the North. Residents expelled from their homes for the sake of High Security Zones (HSZ) have no houses to return to. Reparations are needed in a huge way for them to restore their residences and to rebuild their lives. Has this been worked out even though Tokyo Pledge prematurely terminated shows a precedent? Such a move would require that the HSZ be vacated. This is a crucial component for a return to normality. Lakhs of recent migrants to the South will then move to the North,  along with their source of income which is principally remittance from abroad. This amount is estimated at a few billions per annum. This would begin to fuel the Northern economy infusing the needed finances into house renovation, house construction, absorption of farm products and giving a spurt to trade.

What the Tamils desire as their primary value is a life of dignity in their place of birth together with their compatriots. This is denied them invoking the full might of the coercive apparatus. Do they feel free when 150,000 soldiers pry into every aspect of their personal lives and chaperon them at every turn? Compounding the problems of the people further is the rampage of the para military, operating under the aegis of government. Sufferance is the badge of your tribe, is what the military dins into the Tamils. Do they feel equal citizens when they have no right to own the land they owned? When 6,500 acres in land starved Jaffna are taken over by the military, don’t they have a sense of deprivation? Won’t the other Tamils in the province see the Sword of Damocles poised before them?

For all this the military commander of the North pronounces that the dispossessed will get land along the coast. Knowing full well that this would need a change of occupation from farming to fishing and therefore of caste, he says it. He also announces that for land taken over compensation will be paid. In what currency? In ‘Zimbabwe Currency To Be’. Who ever demanded it? With such insensitivity the military sets about its tasks. With the North East alone under this fate, those in the rest of the country have no fear since expropriation is ethnically based. Both law and its implementation are oppression oriented. The people had prescience enough to anticipate suppression of their rights and quite rightly demanded that the military should be moved out of the North. The military persisted in staying on to execute the evil intent of the government. The withdrawal of the military is the basic step to a resumption of normality and a pre-condition to any development activity.

Driving the Tamils to the pastoral stage is the target of the government. This plan and its integrated execution are evident to all. Tamils have observed it most keenly for over half a century. To add to the ease of governance, the Tamil population has been reduced by a third in the last thirty years. To crush their prospects, the hand of the state has for long been laid on their Education. It was not without thought or sense that a senior Minister of national stature once said “If you want to destroy the Tamils, first destroy their Education”.

Tamils too with intelligence and prescience place their finger on Education as the strategy for meaningful employment and forward movement. With the fullest understanding of its power, opportunities are smashed by the state before they can blossom. In respect to Tamils, this truth holds in the nation and more in the North ie NP. In many a state there is Single Window Clearance for speedy action. In the North there is an all pervasive Governor’s Office. It is a single orifice to stymie and to stultify all projects at their very source. Those who have sponsored projects and failed assert without reservation, that it is easier to take a camel through the eye of a needle. They have been harrowed enough through a policy of weathering. A few news releases of some school building statistics do not make for educational development.

The eyes of the Tamils are on fresh vistas. To cite an example, developing modern education appropriate to the Northern students’ mental capacity and aptitude is their priority. The performance of South India – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra and Kerala – point the way and display  possibilities. Karnataka’s software exports for 12 months in FY 2011/2012 amounted to Ind. Rs. 850 billion ie SL RS. 1.938 trillion. Tamil Nadu recorded Ind. Rs. 468 billion ie SL Rs. 1.067 trillion. SL’s total revenue and grants in 2012 amounted to Rs. 1.051 trillion.

What explains Karnataka’s pre-eminence? In 1985, Texas Instruments fielded a team to India with a two city agenda – Bombay and Chennai. Both were lukewarm because neither comprehended the potential of IT. An unscheduled visit to Bangalore gave them a warm reception and the city got a head start. The other two lost out the early bird advantage. Bangalore had the advantage of a culture of science due to the vision of Jamshedji Tata who established the Indian Institute of Science in that city in 1909. MGR in Chennai had film culture. Growth is according to the excellence of one’s mind says Thirukkural. The North has no appetite for features of a pastoral economy, cultivating mushrooms and herding goats.

Sinhala Only language policy was to shut out Tamils from government service. Tamil also became an official language after Tamils were excluded in sufficient numbers to give monopoly rights to the Sinhalese. Now good education is denied them, to emasculate their chances still further. Two surveys, 12 and 16 years back showed the proportion as less than negligible. Public sector employment is 1.2 million. A study of names in the list of officials in the telephone directory will reveal ethnic composition in the Presidential Secretariat, Ministries, Departments, Boards, Corporations, Central Bank and State Banks. Industrial sector too cannot absorb them since the North has no industries worth speaking about. In numbers there are 11, to the country’s 4,816.

By all account, there is an imperative need for new ground to be plumbed. Commencing with education, human resources development is of paramount importance. As for infrastructure no list is necessary as the government knows it all and the priorities. Taking the Tokyo Pledge as the entry point, action needs to be mobilized for fund mobilization and to develop the will to implement. What the North requires is the immediate initial spurt.