Big Brother is watching you

October 27, 2013,

An irate German Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoned US President Barack Obama the other day to register her protest against the National Security Agency (NSA) having tapped her personal phone for years. The White House has gone on the defensive following the revelation in a classified document disclosed by former NSA operative turned whistleblower Edward Snowden that the US has monitored telephone conversations of 35 world leaders. The reaction of most of others is not yet known. They, too, are likely to take it up with President Obama.

Those who have read Dan Brown’s unputadownable novel, Digital Fortress, may have dismissed its storyline as a figment of authorial imagination. But, thanks to Snowden, we now know Brown has got very close to the truth which is oftentimes stranger than fiction. The book tells us about a secret NSA surveillance project and one of its employees, Ensei Tankado, who is hunted down and assassinated for turning against the institution in protest against its intrusion into people’s private lives.

Likewise, what George Orwell wrote, in his dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty Four, way back in 1940s, has come to pass. ‘Big Brother is watching you’ with the NSA playing the role of the Thought Police, in a manner of speaking. The aforesaid leaders are in the same predicament as Winston Smith, who is placed under surveillance by Big Brother’s spies.

Merkel has accused the US of ‘a breach of trust’: "We need to have trust in our allies and partners, and this must now be established once again. I repeat that spying among friends is not at all acceptable against anyone, and that goes for every citizen in Germany." Her sense of being betrayed is understandable, but she is being naïve when she insists that there be trust among ‘allies and partners’. Trust is something conspicuous by its absence in international politics. If it is there, then why, on earth, should the world powers stockpile nukes and have them aimed at one another? With allies like these, as someone has said, who needs enemies?

If this is the way the US treats its ‘allies and partners’ who gang up against the rest of the world to advance the agenda of the capitalist bloc, the question is what it wouldn’t do to others when it feels its interests are threatened. The eavesdropping scandal is sure to lend spurs to the critics of the US, who accuse Washington of far worse conspiracies against America’s enemies, both perceived and real. It may be recalled that BBC quoted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who fought an unsuccessful bout with cancer, as having said in December 2011 that he thought the US might have used a secret weapon to ‘give’ Latin American leaders cancer ‘as the number of them with the disease is difficult to explain using the laws of probabilities’. He told his army in a recorded speech: "Would it be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it?" He sought to bolster his argument by pointing out that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had been treated for lymphoma; her predecessor, Lula da Silva had suffered throat cancer and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was also battling lymphoma.

In the early 1980s, Apple used a revolutionary advertisement to gain a turbo boost to beat its rivals including Microsoft. Dubbed the 1984 ad, it features a woman smashing a giant two-way telescreen with a sledgehammer exactly when Big Brother, having harangued a captive audience declares, "We shall prevail!" It looks as if the time had come for Merkel and others who have taken umbrage at their phones being tapped by the US, to do something similar or take it lying down while saying obsequiously: "Hail thee, Big Brother!"

The Legacy Of Lakshman Wickremesinghe, Thirty Years After

By Rajiva Wijesinha -October 28, 2013 |

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

Late Bishop of Kurunegala, Revd. Lakshman Wickremesinghe

Lakshman Wickremesinghe, Bishop of Kurunagala from 1962 to 1983, died 30 years ago, on October 23^rd. He was undoubtedly the most impressive Anglican Bishop Sri Lanka has produced, and with every year that passes his stature seems to grow.

Much has been written about him recently, most notably in Rajan Hoole’s detailed assessment of what happened in July 1983. Hoole shows how those events contributed to his premature death for, though he had a heart condition and had been advised to take things slow, he threw himself into trying to assuage the hurt felt by Tamils who had suffered in the state sponsored attacked on them.

                                                                                                                              Read More

This Is Not The Time For Religions To Be Self-Centric

Late Bishop of Kurunegala, Revd. Lakshman Wickremesinghe

By Rev. S.J. Emmanuel -October 23, 2013 

Rev. Dr S.J. Emmanuel

In Memory Of Late Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe 

Thirty years ago on the 23^rd of October 1983, Sri Lanka lost one of the ablest Sinhala Christian Leader – Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe,- a loss not only for his church but also for the whole country. I am informed that after  the massacre of 1983 Black July, the bishop was very heart-broken at the tragedy that overtook the people of this country and the unwillingness of the rulers to be ashamed and guilty on behalf of the majority people and their rulers. Now after a prolonged war and destruction, when some attempts are being made for reconciliation among the various ethnic and religious communities of the island, it is right and fitting that we recall to mind the exemplary leadership given by the late Bishop to his people. Though he was bishop only of a diocese and that too only for about two decades, he reached out to all ethnic communities and religions and their leaders with a sincere love for a peaceful country.

1.     Government’s Efforts counterproductive  for Reconciliation?

 Read More

Decapitation Within A Democracy

( October 28, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The recent statement coming from the Sri Lankan army commander made in the Tamil Vanni area that if “anyone becomes extremists or tries to divide the country, it is not the country that will be divided but their heads that will be severed from their bodies” is a reflection of many things. While being a bombshell it is also a confession of sorts by a war criminal.

This is a threat held out with impunity not only against a section of elected representatives returned with overwhelming support by the Tamil people despite the numerous threats held out against them, but also a threat to the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Sri Lankan Constitution for whatever its provisions are worth in so far as a true democracy is concerned, not to mention the freedom of speech, a freedom that is fast becoming a thing of the past in Sri Lanka, a luxury.

Perhaps this threat is a slight aberration of the explanation given by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the recent interview with the Al Jazeera television where he said in references to the remarks on Navi Pillay by his ministers, that being a democratic country his ministers could say anything including officers. He also said: “We allow them to do that.”—as if as a matter of deliberate policy. Accordingly, the army commander is an officer of the State and apparently he could make such statements.

The army commander was also giving lesson in democracy to the Head of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) who also happens to be a former judge of the Supreme Court, of no mean repute during the days when the justice system still had some credibility.

Imagine the Head of the NPC telling the people of the north what a good thing reconciliation is, when a sword is being held over his own head to be beheaded at any moment. It confirms our view, that in reality even the remote possibilities of reconciliation are a very distant prospect.

The army commander was apparently concerned about those “Tamil extremists” exceeding the tenets of democracy within a democratic framework trying to divide the country but did not see any danger from the extremists that were trying to bring about ethnic and religious divisions and cleavages within the Sri Lankan society.

Having massacred more than at least forty thousand innocent non combatant Tamil civilians, severing the heads of the Tamils from their bodies is nothing novel to a war criminal but a child’s play coming from a barbaric army in every sense of the term. It would be recalled that during the war against the Tamil militants, sections of the Sri Lankan army were being trained by the Israelis, and just before the training programme had commenced the Israeli commander responsible for the training had warned his officers that he was to be engaged in the training of some barbarians. This was to be later confirmed by the behavior of the army personnel in Haiti sent there on a UN assignment with accusations of rape still under investigation.

We wonder whether the army commander was trying to tell the Tamil speaking people that with the NPC they have been endowed with the democracy that they could ever hope for. We would like to remind him that little learning could be a dangerous thing. If an army commander could silence a distinct nation with these kinds of cheap threats then he has something coming.

If the elected officers of the Council, which we believe is an eyewash, could be intimidated in such manner we shudder to imagine the fear in which the ordinary citizens living in the Tamil speaking areas would be subjected to. The statement by the army commander amounts to an admission of the atrocities and the massacres inflicted on the tens of thousands of the civilian population during the height of the war between January and May 2009.

( The writer is the editor of the Eelam Nation, an online journal)

Five killed and more than 80 injured in blasts at political rally at Patna in India

 

SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER 2013

An investigation has been launched after up to six devices exploded close to the park in the city of Patna

At least five people have been killed and dozens more injured after a series of low-intensity blasts were detonated at the site of a political rally shortly before India’s most controversial politician was due to speak.

An investigation has been launched after up to six devices exploded close to the park in the city of Patna where opposition politician Narendra Modi was to give to deliver a major election campaign address. Another small blast was set off earlier at a lavatory in the city’s train station.

Television footage showed plumes of white smoke hanging in the air while elsewhere people ran in panic to escape the scene. Mr Modi, who addressed the crowd without mentioning the blasts, later said on social media: “Blasts in Patna are deeply saddening and unfortunate. Condolences with families of deceased and prayers with injured. I appeal for peace and calm.”

The blasts took place as Mr Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime candidate for prime minister, was holding his first rally in the Indian state of Bihar since become the BJP’s official choice. The state, which contains 40 parliamentary seats, has become increasingly important as Mr Modi seeks to dislodge the ruling Congress party. Mr Modi appeared to have attracted large crowds.

Prakash Javedakar, a BJP spokesman and member of parliament, told The Independent, he believed the blasts were definitely linked to Mr Modi’s appearance, though he declined to speculate who may have set off the explosions. “It was a targeted attack,” he said.
The Press Trust of India reported that had least 66 people had been injured in the blasts. A bomb disposal expert were also said to have been injured while dismantling another device discovered at the railway station.

India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, condemned the blasts and appealed for calm. He spoke to the chief minister of the state of  Bihar, Nitish Kumar, and asked him to ensure a rapid investigation.

“The Prime Minister has condemned the blasts in Patna and called for urgent steps to identify and take action against those responsible,” said a statement issued by Mr Singh’s office.

RPN Singh, a minister in the home ministry, told reporters that intelligence officials were assisting the investigation. It was reported that one suspect had been detained by police.  “I can’t say whether it was a terror attack or political conspiracy. Only after the investigation, we will be able to tell anything,” he said.

The blasts at the rally came as Mr Modi’s main rival, Rahul Gandhi, was addressing an election rally in Delhi. While Mr Gandhi has not been named as the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress party, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family is heading its election campaign.

Mr Modi’s rally was designed by the BJP to prove his popularity in a state which was declared largely off-limits for him by the chief minister, Mr Kumar and his party, the Janata Dal United. Mr Kumar who depends heavily on the support of Bihar’s Muslims, sought to distance himself from Mr Modi after hundreds of Muslims were killed the state of Gujarat in 2002.

PAKISTAN: the country ranks third in the Global Slavery Index

October 28, 2013

Modern slavery: a matter of poverty, the rule of law and the indifference of the national government

Pakistan ranks third in the Global Slavery Index. It is estimated that there are 2,000,000 – 2,200,000 people involved in various forms of modern slavery in Pakistan. Pakistan counts a population of 179, 000,000 people and with the increasing birth rate the number of enslaved people will consequently escalate.

The Walk Free Foundation, an organisation based in Australia and which addresses the problem of modern slavery, has this month released the first edition of the Global Slavery Index. The Index assesses 162 countries (which together count approximately 7 billion people) and ranks them on the basis of the estimated pervasiveness of slavery (including bonded labor, child slavery, forced and unpaid labor, debt bondage, descent-based slavery), the occurrence of child, forced and servile marriage and the volume of human trafficking, both in and out of each country.

The findings of this Index, the very first of its kind, are alarming and dispel the myth that slavery is a form of inhuman treatment and abuse, as well as a condition of exploitation, related to the past and historically concluded in 19^th century.

"A key-finding of this Index is that there are an estimated 29.8 Million people in modern slavery globally".

Three of the five countries in which the prevalence of modern slavery turns out to be highest in the world are south Asian countries, these being Pakistan (which ranks 3rd in the index), India (4th) and Nepal (5th). However, the index also offers an alternative analysis of the phenomenon by providing an estimation of the 'absolute number' of people involved in slavery in each country. When considering the number of people enslaved the ranking changes and sees India and China as the two countries with the largest number of enslaved people. It is interesting to point out that in both rankings Pakistan is steady in third position, which means that the issue of slavery in the country is extremely serious both in terms of numbers and in terms of instigating factors and concentration of the problem.

Primary industries (brick kilns especially), manufacturing, commercial sexual exploitation, forced begging and domestic servitude are reported as the areas in which slavery in Pakistan concentrates the most. Bounded labour is defined as the greatest problem in the country, particularly in the Sindh and Punjab provinces. The combination of poverty and illiteracy affects a great deal of children (who are also sexually abused in an extensive manner), together with vulnerable Afghan refugees and other 'low-cast' labourers. Culturally related practices expose religious minorities and women to higher risks of being coerced into enforced labour and other forms of exploitation, including fraudulent recruiting practices for low skilled employment abroad.

Modern forms of slavery are a social, economic and cultural plague upon millions of people who are denied their freedom and dignity. They are born bound by hereditary debts, affected by poverty and unemployment and defrauded by false recruitment or forced abduction which leads to trafficking. The justifications (including 'customary laws', gender and cast-based discrimination), as well as the variety of deceptive means by which people become enslaved are numerous. However they all share the same illegal purpose of increasing unethical and criminal profits. Modern slavery, in fact, needs to be understood as a crime, which flourishes not only in circumstances such as institutionalised poverty, culturally tolerated discrimination, economic stagnation and environmental degradation, but it is also due to the extreme abuse of power, corruption, the poor rule of law, the absence of regulations and a weak monitoring of the labour market. The reality of modern slavery, therefore, entails serious legal implications and it is strictly connected to the national level of democracy and the implementation of law.

Policies and conditions within a country are essential components and provide the basic framework from which to tackle the problem of modern slavery and move towards adequate responses and action. With regards to the top three worst performing countries - Mauritania, Haiti, and Pakistan, all with low GDP per capita and limited overall development – the Index observes non-existent government responses aimed at the eradication of slavery.

"Criminal justice responses are clearly at the heart of any response to modern slavery. However, other key considerations include government coordination, budget allocation and accountability, victim support services, and responses to clearly identify vulnerable sectors (whether migrant workers or workers in the informal economy)"

The Index points out that despite the ratification of several international treaties relevant to the issue of slavery, such as the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (1957) and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999), Pakistan is still lacking in coordinated and adequate policies on the matter. Although slavery is prohibited by the constitution, only some forms of modern slavery are criminalised and yet those few regulations are poorly implemented. The bad coordination between the central government and provincial institutions contributes to worsen the quality of the monitoring and the frequency of labour inspectorates. An effective partnership between state agencies and NGOs is also lacking. Furthermore, data collection at a grassroots level and national surveys are inexistent.

The current startling situation and the increasing number of people exposed to the risk of slavery have to be attributed mainly to the expansion of the informal sector within the country, together with privatization processes. The formal sector has been shrinking and the government has lost all its control over the labor market. The informal sector prefers to hire women and children as they represent a copious source of cheap labor and their employment allows avoiding labor laws. They are forced to work between 12 and 16 hours per day and are paid meagre amounts which are hardly enough for survival. The Government of Pakistan has failed in the supervision of the informal sector and hence is directly responsible for the perpetuation of slavery. Due to the absence of the rule of law, slavery has become the best way for commercial and industrial activities to prosper unethically.

The Global Slavery Index tries to offer a new tool to governments, trade unions, civil society groups and single citizens to understand the magnitude of the problem of modern slavery in their countries. Governments, in particular, have a decisive role to play, by enacting and enforcing relevant laws for the sake of human dignity and the protection of the most vulnerable sections of their society. The Government of Pakistan is challenged by the compelling necessity of undertaking essential measures in order to monitor and reduce the level of all kinds of slavery, as well as punishing those responsible for its prevalence.

The full report may be accessed here.

What Comes Next: The one state/two state debate is irrelevant as Israel and the US consolidate Greater Israel

Noam Chomsky on October 24, 2013 

This post is part of “What Comes Next?: A forum on the end of the two-state paradigm.” This series was initiated by Jewish Voice for Peace as an investigation into the current state of thinking about one state and two state solutions, and the collection has been further expanded by Mondoweiss to mark 20 years since the Oslo process. The entire series can be found here.

What Comes Next the One State Two State Debate is Irrelevant as Israel and the US Consolidate Greater Israe... by nelvely

Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran - Inaugural Address at Northern Provincial Council, Sri Lanka

TNA Media Tribune @TNAMediaTribune

TwitLonger

28th October 2013 from TwitLonger

Maiden address made by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran at the Inaugural Session of #NPC #SriLanka, Oct 25, 2013

Hon. Chairman of the Council, Hon. Members and Hon. Guests,

Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran - Inaugural Address at Northern Provincial Council, Sri Lanka by nelvely

Mahinda Rajapaksa: Sri Lanka's saviour or war criminal?

As host of next month's Commonwealth heads of state meeting, the president's human rights record is under close scrutiny. For some he's a robust leader dealing with the bitter legacy of civil war. For others he's a brutal despot

Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa is the controversial host of the Commonwealth heads of state meeting in November 2013. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / R/Reuters

Jason Burke-Sunday 27 October 2013

Down in the deep south of Sri Lanka, where life usually moves at a leisurely pace, there is one small town that is less tranquil. Hambantota – population 20,000 – is expanding fast. There is a vast new deep-water port, built with $360m of borrowed Chinese cash; a new 35,000-seater cricket stadium; a huge convention centre; and a $200m international airport. A broad-gauge railway is under construction. Powerful people have ambitions for Hambantota. None is more powerful or more ambitious than President Mahinda Rajapaksa, born nearby in 1945.

Mahinda Rajapaksa Sri Lanka's Saviour or War Criminal by nelvely

White Van Stories To Air Across UK, US And Australia

October 28, 2013 

White Van Stories, a documentary on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka with never-seen-before footage, is set to be featured on Channel Four, UK

Leena Manimekalai

Leena Manimekalai, an independent Indian film-maker, is set to feature exclusive material from her documentary feature White Van Stories that highlights enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka.

The documentary will be aired on UK’s Channel Four in November 2013.

The special 12-minute cut will also be aired in the United States and through CNN and ABC broadcasting networks and in Australia via the multilingual broadcaster – SBS.

The global broadcast coincides with the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo that has been highly criticized in the face of Sri Lanka’s ever-increasing human rights abuse cases.

The cut is based on a 2-hour documentary feature produced and directed by Leena Manimekalai that follows seven characters, covering a gamut of provinces and ethnicities, and the tragic unexplained disappearances  of their loved ones in post-war Sri Lanka. The characters will also give  audiences a stark glimpse at the characters’ resilience to find the disappeared as part of their continued fight for justice.

“White Van Stories tracks Sri Lanka’s long history of unexplained disappearances in the 1980s during the armed revolt of the  Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP), and later as the civil war intensified in the  1990s up to recent years,” said Leena Manimekalai. “The lives of the families of the disappeared across Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim ethnicities are portrayed,” she added.

The recent rally held in Jaffna and Colombo on 27th and 30th of August 2013 (International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances) during UNHRC High Commissioner, Ms. Navi Pillay’s visit to Sri Lanka is the centerpiece of the docu-feature as the characters were amongst the hundreds of families of the disappeared who had protested.

Celebrating Women’s History Month: Tamil Canadian Women as Agents of Change

Posted on: October 2nd, 2013

October is Women’s History Month in Canada. Kumukam.com joins fellow Canadians in celebrating and recognizing the contributions made by girls and women in Canada. This month, Kumukam.com will profile thirty amazing Tamil Canadian women who are actively engaged in community development, arts and sports development, civic engagement and social justice work in Canada. Kumukam.com will share a profile a day throughout the month of October. The theme for this year as determined by Status of Women Canada (Canadian Government) is Canadian Women Pioneers: Inspiring change through ongoing leadership. Therefore, it is fitting that Kumukam.com shines a spotlight on these thirty women who are engaged in pioneering work in our community.

Jessica Thyriar:

Jessica Thyriar is a graduate of York University with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology-Honours. She became active in the Tamil community through her leadership role as the Vice-President Events & Vice-President Education of the York University Tamil Students Association. Working with Tamil students at York, she helped raise awareness with the greater community and began to get active within the students union, the York Federation of Students. Jessica currently serves as the President of the York Federation of Students, representing over 53,000 students, and has served previous positions as the Vice-President Campus Life and the Liberal Arts and Professional Studies Director. Jessica also currently serves as the Racialized Representative for the Canadian Federation of Students.

Throughout university, Jessica has worked with various Tamil community organizations to plan and execute events. Jessica worked as the Vice President Events for the Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance, and along with the board of directors, planned and executed Thaalam, an inter-university dance competition.  Jessica, as a member of the Tamil Youth Organization is also committed to raising awareness and seeking justice for the human rights violations that Tamils have faced on the island of Sri Lanka, and continues to work in informing the greater community as to why an independent state of Tamil Eelam is necessary.

 Currently at York, Jessica works on various campaigns of the students union that aim to combat forms of discrimination and violence on campus, and promote greater access to post-secondary education for all students. Jessica is committed to combatting all forms of oppression including but not limited to sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. Jessica carries the principles of equity and social justice in her work both within the Tamil community and in solidarity with the struggles of marginalized groups in our society.                             Read more    

CHOGM Sri Lanka: A victory for President Rajapaksa, but at some price paid and counting

Rajan Philips-October 26, 2013, 6:09 pm 

There is no question, the November Commonwealth summit is a victory for President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government, internally and internationally. In collusion with the Commonwealth Secretariat, the government has pushed back detractors and nay sayers, concerned about the human rights situation and the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and has managed to make sure that the Colombo summit goes ahead as planned. There could be distant and neighbourly PM-level boycotts by upstart Canada and hoary India, but the two Ashes rivals in cricket, Australia and England, will not let down their old port of call. And so the countdown is on for a weeklong summit extravaganza starting November 10. Colombo is spruced up and officially ready to cheer as the Commonwealth caravan rolls into town on the brand new highway from the airport to the City.

CHOGM Sri Lanka a Victory for President Rajapaksa, But at Some Price Paid and Counting by nelvely

On BBS Claim, Minorities Have No Loyalty

By Rifai Naleemi - October 28, 2013 

Dr. Rifai Naleemi

Peace And Communal Harmony In Sri Lanka: Some Reflections

No doubt each one of us loves to see a prosperous and thriving Sri Lanka. Whether we come from Tamil community or Sinhalese community or for that matter from any other community each patriotic Sri Lankan wish to see a flourishing Sri Lankan economy and they hope for the rapid development and progress of our nation: This is the inner feeling of all Sri Lankans in SL and Abroad. No one wishes destructions and devastation for our nation. Every patriotic Lankan wishes that Sri Lankan should become one of the wonders of Asian countries. This is the expectation and hope of the majority of Sri Lankan people across all communities. This is indeed, the prayers of most communities in Sri Lanka. It is a natural instinct of people to love their motherlands. It is a human nature to have some patriotic feelings on birth places.

In this sense, each and every Lankan who are born in Sri Lanka love this Island. This is the general perception of all communities in Sri Lanka. Yet, to claim that only Sinhalese are true inhabitants of this land gives negative implications and impacts in our communal relationship between communities in Sri Lanka. All minority communities love this country as the majority community loves it. All minority communities manifest and show their loyalty to this country as does the majority community. BBS and its cohorts have made some deliberate attempts to say that minority communities have no loyalty to this nation.  They have made some deliberate attempts to denounce the historical heritage and antiquities of minority communities in this country.

In fact BBS and its cohorts failed to recall that like all other community their ancestors too inhabited this Island sometime ago in history. Historical evidences indicate they hail from the Bengal region of India. In this sense all communities are new comers to this Island sometime in history.  Some may have come early in history and some might have come later in history. But it can be argued that all are new arrivals to this Island except indigenous people of this Island. They live now in some part of Mahiyangane. They are the native Veddas of this Island.Read More

Khurshid will attend CHOGM

In a television interview, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid confirmed his participation in next month’s CHOGM meeting to be held in Colombo.

SANDEEP DIKSHIT-October 27, 2013

Question mark still over Manmohan’s participation

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will represent India at the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) summit, though the Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging boycott of the meeting because of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

In a television interview, Mr. Khurshid confirmed his participation in next month’s meeting; but there is still a question mark over who among the three VVIPs will attend the summit: President Pranab Mukherjee; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; or Vice-President Hamid Ansari. Or whether Mr. Khurshid himself will lead the Indian delegation.

However, government sources said India was unlikely to follow Canada, which has decided to go unrepresented at the meeting on the grounds that Sri Lanka has not done enough to address allegations of human rights abuses by its security forces during the war against the LTTE. “I can say I will be there. The issue of Sri Lankan Tamils remains important to us,” Mr. Khurshid told Times Now. Asked whether the Prime Minister would go to Colombo, Mr. Khurshid said a decision would be taken at the right time.

Mr. Khurshid indicated the thinking in South Block over India’s participation at the meeting, pointing out that it was not a bilateral meeting but a multilateral forum. India’s absence would be conspicuous. “By not engaging with Sri Lanka, India will be losing out. Even if it means raising…the Tamil fishermen issue. How can India do it without engaging?”

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris expressed his country’s preference for India to be represented by Dr. Singh when he visited New Delhi in August to hand over the invitation. He denied the charge that Sri Lanka lagged in rehabilitation and resettlement, arguing that Colombo’s record was far better than that of some post-conflict societies such as Cambodia and the former Yugoslavia.

The sources also dropped several other hints on India’s preference. The first is the recent election, with enthusiastic participation, in the Northern Province. New Delhi would like other interested parties to give the Tamil National Alliance Government (TNA) space to negotiate greater political autonomy with Colombo. This was hinted at by Mr. Khurshid too. “The TNA swept [the polls]. There needs to be an acknowledgement of that.”

The second is Mr. Khurshid’s visit to Jaffna earlier this month. There, he reviewed the work being done by Sri Lanka with considerable outside assistance, including India’s, in a host of areas to normalise the situation. An about-turn by India after Mr. Khurshid’s conditional endorsement of the resettlement being done might not appear consistent, the sources said, especially after he had said India would work with Sri Lanka for a lasting political solution.

British PM to make landmark trip to Jaffna

By Amal Jayasinghe-October 26, 2013, 

Britain’s David Cameron is set to become the first foreign leader to visit Sri Lanka’s war-torn Tamil heartland during next month’s Commonwealth summit when he will press Colombo on human rights.

The British premier is under pressure at home and abroad to boycott the summit over the bloody end to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict but he vowed in a meeting with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to have some "very tough conversations" with President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government.

"My decision is the right thing for us to do... and have some very tough conversations with the Sri Lankan government," Cameron said after hosting Myanmar opposition leader Suu Kyi in London on Wednesday.

"I’m not happy with their human rights record. I’m not happy with what they’ve done following the conflict and we’ll have some very frank conversations to make those points," he said according to a transcript of his comments made available to AFP Friday.

Suu Kyi appeared to endorse Cameron’s decision, but noted that he should engage "all other stake holders and not just the government".

Added Cameron: "Very wise words. I’ll be going to the north of the country as well, and I think what Aung Sun Suu Kyi has said is absolutely true."

If the visit goes ahead, Cameron would become the first foreign head of government to visit Jaffna, the capital of the war-battered north, since Sri Lanka was granted independence from Britain in 1948.

Colombo has faced widespread criticism over its failure to probe allegations that 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by its troops in the last stages of the war in 2009.

Britain’s opposition Labour party has urged Cameron to boycott the summit while Canada has said the decision to allow Colombo to host the gathering was like "accommodating evil".

A Tamil legislator from Jaffna, Suresh Premachandran, welcomed Cameron’s remarks and said his main opposition Tamil National Alliance was keen to host the British premier next month.

"I extended an open invitation to the British Prime Minister last week and I am happy that he has agreed to visit us and see for himself the plight of the Tamil people," Premachandran told AFP.

He said the unprecedented visit could send a strong message to the Sri Lankan government to clean up its act and demonstrate the international community’s solidarity with the island’s minority Tamils.

There was no immediate comment from the Sri Lankan government, but official sources said they noted a hardening of Cameron’s stance against Sri Lanka.

"He is obviously trying to placate his domestic opposition," an official said declining to be named.

British High Commissioner (ambassador) in Colombo, John Rankin, made it clear last week that London’s concern was not limited to war crimes, but also rule of law and judicial independence in the former colony.

Rankin said they expected Sri Lanka to demonstrate its willingness to respect Commonwealth values as Colombo takes over as the Chairperson-in-office of the 53-member bloc after the Colombo summit.

Rankin said Sri Lanka must probe allegations by Britain’s Channel 4, which accused the country’s forces of executing surrendering Tamil rebels and shelling civilians in no-fire zones during the civil war.

He said Queen Elizabeth II was staying away from the Colombo meeting because she was unable to undertake long trips, but she would be represented by her son Prince Charles. (AFP)