The Suicide Act 1961

By Arujuna Sivananthan –September 1, 2016

Dr Arujuna Sivananthan

Many of us who worked hard to shine the spotlight on Sri Lanka that includes;

•  Convincing the first head of a foreign government to visit Jaffna,
•  Keeping it on the international agenda,
• Working to secure an unprecedented resolution setting up an independent international (OISL) inquiry into war crimes, crimes against humanity and mass atrocities committed by all parties to the conflict,
•  Helping build a consensus to pressure Sri Lanka to co-sponsor a resolution accepting the findings of the OISL inquiry, and,
•  Through significant remittances sustain the Northeastern economy of Sri Lanka, supporting families and charities such as schools, hospitals, orphanages and local NGOs to create work-life opportunities for war victims,

were appalled and shocked by pages 66 and 67 of former BBC reporter Frances Harrison’s book on Sri Lanka’s civil war, Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War.

It speaks volumes to the wanton callous disregard of some self-appointed representatives in the LondonTamil diaspora for the sanctity of human life.

The following paragraph makes very chilling reading.

“I too received a call that weekend, from a Tamil doctor in London who wanted to tell the media that rebel medics wished to cross into army territory, bringing with them hundreds of civilians and injured people. He’d already tried UN and the Red Cross, who were unable to help. The doctor was flustered and distraught, unsure when he’d be able to speak to his colleagues on the ground again, aware their lives hung in the balance. I told him it seemed odd to negotiate surrender through the media – direct negotiations with the government might be better given that time was running out so fast. He consulted colleagues in a Tiger front organization in London, who insisted the medics should take their cyanide capsules because surrender was not an option. I was left wondering if they just wanted to score a propaganda point in the media, rather than actually save lives.”

Four brave doctors and their team stood by 430,000 Tamils being slaughtered in an act of genocide in Mullaivaikal, Northeastern Sri Lanka. The doctors were non-combatants who chose to stay in the warzone placing their lives in harm’s way and serve their people.

They and their team performed thousands of medical interventions saving as many lives. Some were victims of banned incendiary, thermobaric and cluster munitions. Shifting front lines forced them to constantly move location and resort to building make-shift operating theatres.

Their hospitals were incessantly shelled by Sri Lankan forces and had to rely on the very limited medical supplies provided by Sri Lanka’s government, who were actively perpetrating a war crime by denying them.

One doctor, who also suffered shrapnel injury from Sri Lankan army shelling, vividly described how a patient was coming out of anaesthesia mid-procedure due to the necessary rationing of anaesthetics. In another instance he told me how had to perform an above wound amputation on a leg that had a cluster bomblet embedded in it. The wound itself was superficial and his team was initially going to extract the embedded shrapnel. However, one of them recognised it as a cluster bomblet, thus averting catastrophic consequences.

Some of these doctors were to later provide invaluable evidence to governments, parliamentarians and the UNHRC inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Sri Lankan forces, forming the basis for a resolution passed by it demanding Sri Lanka investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of such crimes in a hybrid court with international judges.

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An attempt on life of Rajapakses’ hired assassin captain Bharatha : like father, son too seeking to liquidate witnesses !

(Lanka-e-News -01.Sep.2016, 6.45PM) There had been an abortive attempt on the life of Army Captain Baratha Kodituwakku a main hired assassin (now under interdiction ) of Lakshman Namal Rajapakse , who   committed a number of crimes during the nefarious decade on behalf of Namal.

Kodituwakku who was attached to the third Gemunu Hewa army camp , Matara as a commanding officer,  during the nefarious decade had on behalf of Namal engaged in  illicit treasure digging , extortion , murdered enemies,  and abducted  young girls and gave  them over to Namal for his bed diet.

Currently ,  he is a prime witness in the cases pertaining to the criminal activities of Namal.

Kodituwakku who was released from remand custody on bail , was  shot at with a T56 weapon on the 30 th of August by a group that arrived  in a white Mazda vehicle at about 7.50 p.m in front of Ruhunu University, Wellamadama, Matara. However , since the firearm failed to fire , Kodituwakku  has managed to  run into the Ruhunu University and hid in order to save his life.

The University security officers who witnessed this had handed over Kodituwakku to the police. On the following morning, that is on the 31 st at about 9.15 , the Van in which the suspects had come was  found abandoned in the Kurunduwatte Junior Vidyalaya playground. A mobile phone hidden  under the driver’s seat  and  a bag suspected to have contained the firearm that was used for the shooting  had been detected and taken into the custody by the police .The police had also discovered that the revenue license and the registration number  of this vehicle are fake.

Captain Baratha Kodituwakku and his brother Captain Moorthy Kodituwakku are bosom pals of Namal Rajapakse. Moorthy was  a chief of Namal’s Nil Balakaya , and also his co ordinating secretary . It were  these two brothers who dug for treasure in the vicinity of  Asapuwa Aaranyasena , Athudawe , Matara .

When  Baratha was the commanding officer in the Matara camp of third Gemunu hewa commanding force ,  he had been unleashing  brutalities and violence against those who politically opposed the Rajapakses in Matara - beating and assaulting them ruthlessly . It was Baratha who also  enlisted ‘Ambalame Suddha’ an underworld criminal to work as Namal’s hired assassin , and to help in their criminal activities.

Baratha as was always the case with all those murderers and criminals associated  with  Rajapakses , he  too had derived maximum benefits from Namal ( oblivious of national interests and people’s legitimate needs).  One such benefit conferred on Bharatha was : 8 buses of Baratha are plying along Matara- Colombo expressway.

Southern provincial council  former minister Danny Hiththetiya was also murdered by Madusha Lakshan withBaratha’s support . Subsequently , when Lakshan was arrested , it was Baratha again who liquidated him , and destroyed evidence. Based on the 30 th shooting episode  , now it is clear the necessity to destroy  evidence , that is of Baratha the witness has arrived.

It is no secret that it had been the practice not only of corrupt and cruel Namal Rajapakse but even his father Mahinda Rajapakse who is by now a byword for corruption and criminalities during their murderous history , to liquidate their enemies using the underworld criminals ,  and thereafter enlist others to murder those  hired killers thereby wiping out evidence .

Taking advantage of the 1988 -89 unrest and violence  , it was ‘Chandi Malli’ who was used to kill a number of popular lawyers of the district who they suspected may be their rivals , and Chandi Malli the hired assassin was murdered through Wambotta .

To kill Wambotta ,  Gotabaya Rajapakse , (Mahinda’s younger brother ) used his security divisions .  By that time Gotabaya had become the defense secretary .  Although these have not been proved so far in courts , all those who know the facts would not hesitate to testify.

In the circumstances , the latest attempt on the life of hired assassin Baratha Kodituwakku is not just another ‘murder attempt’  on just another individual .

By a special correspondent
Translated by Jeff 

Sri Lanka: After Such Bloodbaths What else is Hiding

Tracing the record of thousands of our missing countrymen is the very primitive and essential step for justice. That is the fundamental responsibility of anyone who breathes the air and steps the soil of this nation. It is indeed the first step of the preventive mechanism of future repression, mayhem, and bloodbath against our people.

by Nilantha Ilangamuwa

(September 1, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is much ado about the establishment of the office of missing persons (OMP) in Sri Lanka. No one can refuse such remarkable step if they understand the pain of love for our missing countrymen and women. Statistics of the enforced disappearances are not important to highlight here as our tiny beautiful country marked the world record by disappearing her own countrymen.

Life in this form is one-time chance, death is the inevitable consequence for anyone who is born. The record of one’s death is the primary respect one could render to the lost one. Tears of all relatives of missing people are indeed flowing due to this invaluable action by the authority.

But, unfortunately, like many other countries, the rulers who are allergic to common principles, in Sri Lanka also, some of those politicians and their shadow driving forces felt the threats in such noble action. Rajapaksa’s disagreement on such effort is understandable and nothing of a surprise.

But, some of the critiques in Colombo have even gone far to alarm their “readers” on the Sri Lankan version of “Kafkaesque” by analysing the OMP and other initiatives by the ruling alliance. Those are nothing more than the form of intellectual vagary which aims to hide the agony of the public suffering more than four decades since 1971. They can misguide and mislead the people, and spark the deadly elements of extremism.

An interesting fact is that most of such examples popping up through those critics are not only distorted versions of facts, but also the positions were taken instantly and instinctively to hide the cruelty against unarmed civilian.

Now they are suggesting the declaration of national amnesty for all who have had any kind of involvement and start a new beginning. Then, they assume, the old bugs will not be able to facilitate the nation to lumber. The country will have a new beginning, their hypocritical dreams linked up with empty words. What a cruel, swinish, relentless, raucous, and virulent suggestion against our own missing countrymen as the part of state repression.

The victory is not only the pathway of celebration but also to take the greater degree of responsibility for those who were victimised.

If those critiques have read the works of Franz Kafka and if those critiques do not want to distort what he attempted to argue cannot take the “Kafkaesque” to describe the present situation but perhaps if they own at least a single cell of honesty, integrity, and veracity of themselves it is time to take one step backward to apply the “Kafkaesque” with the previous administration reigned by Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the person who never demonstrated belief in common principles of the system.

What has happened immediately after defeating the Tamil Tigers has witnessed the Sri Lankan version of “Kafkaesque”. It went as much as to fulfill the arrogant, pretentious, and pompous desire of the ruler by booting out the Chief Justice of the country. What else is required to understand the gravity of ironical politics?

Tracing the record of thousands of our missing countrymen is the very primitive and essential step for justice. That is the fundamental responsibility of anyone who breathes the air and steps the soil of this nation. It is indeed the first step of the preventive mechanism of future repression, mayhem, and bloodbath against our people.

The idea of establishing the OMP may have political implications or affiliations in the global political rhetoric but the authority must be accountable for the crimes against its own people.

After such bloodbaths, at least since 1971, what else are you trying to hide in the name of patriotism, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and unitary? If you hide more, nothing will happen but the loosely played game will speed up.

Let us take the foresighted words of Lu Xun, on whom I’m writing a book in Sinhala. While condemning the state crackdown on the student in early 1930s, in Peking (Beijing), Lu Xun, the father of the modern Chinese literature, wrote, “lies written in ink cannot disguise facts written in blood.”

Be generous; We gotta deal with this.

Let’s stand for our people whose life has been made worth nothing more than an empty coffin. Let’s find justice and make this island as the paradise of truth, justice, peace, and freedom. Then our own people will be proud to be the part of the nation and the entire world will respect us. The nation will flourish while destructive extreme elements dismantle.

Foremost, step one could take is avoiding the cheap behaviour of compromising principles with decorated lies which assails the moral power of common sense.

Will there be people who will have the conscience to contribute to the country by changing themselves first? That is the need of the moment.

Families of people missing in Sri Lanka's civil war march in silence

 Families of people missing in Sri Lanka's civil war march in silence

 Tue Aug 30, 2016
Human rights activists and families of missing people rallied in Sri Lanka on Tuesday (August 30) in support of an office recently set up to independently investigate the cases of thousands of people who vanished during the government's long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels.

The march marks International Day Against Forced Disappearances and comes a day ahead of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's three-day visit.

Protesters marched silently through the streets of the capital Colombo, later gathering at a busy intersection holding up placards and banners supporting the Office Of Missing Person (OMP).

The U.N. Human Rights Commission last year urged the government to investigate disappearances including those of people who were alleged to have been secretly abducted by state-backed groups and paramilitaries during the 26-year conflict which ended seven years ago.

Sri Lanka agreed last year to establish a credible judicial process involving foreign judges and prosecutors to investigate alleged war crimes during the conflict with Tamil rebels, in line with United Nations recommendations.

"The tragedy of the issue of missing persons is that the crime is not only about that person but the future of their families, especially the future of women," said Nimalka Fernando, a human rights activist at the march.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's government rejected the U.N. recommendations citing that it wanted to address human rights concerns without international pressure. Rajapaksa was unseated in January last year and become an opposition legislator after he lost his prime ministerial bid in August.

Juan E. Mendez, a U.N. human right expert, said earlier this year that estimates of the numbers of missing people ranged from 16,000 to 22,000 from the time of the conflict and its immediate aftermath.

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, a former president and head of the new government's reconciliation office, told journalists recently that an estimated 65,000 people are thought to have gone missing in the conflict since 1983.

Demonstrations across North-East demand international justice for enforced disappearances

31 Aug  2016

In Mannar families of the disappeared held signs asking the UN to become an equal partner in the transitional justice process to ensure justice for victims of enforced disappearances and asking for international justice. Victims held up pictures of their loved ones who had been disappeared. 

Demonstrations were also held in Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Batticaloa asking for “international justice for enforced disappearances.” 

In Colombo, Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan, whose husband was disappeared at the end of the war, participated in an event commemorating victims of enforced disappearances.

The Report of the OHCHR’s Investigation on Sri Lanka released in September 2015 noted that Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of cases of enforced disappearances in the world. A report by the ICRC last month noted that over 16,000 reported cases of disappearances remain unresolved in Sri Lanka. 

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Hope and tears: 500 families mark Victims of Enforced Disappearances Day 

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By Dharisha Bastians-Wednesday, 31 August 2016

Just two weeks after the passage of the Office of Missing Persons Act, human rights activists and politicians urged hundreds of families searching for missing loved ones to give the new mechanism a chance and take ownership of the process in order to ensure its success.

An event to mark the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances was held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute yesterday, bringing some 500 families of missing persons from various districts of the island to the capital Colombo. The event was organised by the Families of the Disappeared in collaboration with the Platform for Freedom and Veedhiye Virodhaya, and featured speeches from veteran human rights defenders, disappearance activists, victim families and politicians.

Victims who spoke at the event at SLFI expressed cautious optimism about the OMP, after their experiences with previous commissions of inquiry on missing persons. “We want to know what happened”, was the one common cry from each of the victims who shared experiences on stage yesterday.

Parameswari, from Chenkaladi Batticaloa, told Daily FT that her family had been searching for her missing brother since 2007. The CID took him from their family home on suspicion of being involved with the LTTE, she said. “He never returned. If he is alive somewhere, we hope this new Office will be able to find him,” Parameswari cried. Hundreds of families with similar stories of loved ones disappeared and never heard of again packed the large hall, while some sat outside the auditorium recovering from long journeys to Colombo. 

Veteran disappearances campaigner Dr. Nimalka Fernando said those who were opposing the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons were belittling the shattered families and lives from whose pain the need for such a mechanism had emerged.

“This is a chance to end the suffering and tears of thousands of mothers around the country. We cannot allow this Office to be destabilised by petty political agendas,” Dr. Fernando charged.

Dr. Paikasothy Saravanamuttu, who currently serves on the Consultations Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms, explained that there were shortcomings in the OMP legislation that civil society had hoped would be addressed during the debate in Parliament. 

Unfortunately, Dr. Saravanamuttu said, while one and a half days had been set aside for the debate, it had ultimately lasted less than an hour.

“But are we going to make the best the enemy of the good? Or will we engage with the good to make it better?” he asked. The question was whether the OMP could make a difference in the human rights history of Sri Lanka, Dr. Saravanamuttu explained. “I think we should try,” he urged.

In a clarion call to the international community, who he said had supported civil society and human rights defenders in the years gone by, Dr. Saravanamuttu emphasised that the OMP could not “function on the cheap.” The Office had to be empowered with resources and technical expertise, he said, in order to have an impact.

The secretary of the Consultations Task Force also warned the Government that progress on reconciliation must be measured on demonstrable action on the ground and not be limited to ticking boxes and meeting deadlines at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“I urge families of the disappeared to give the OMP a chance. Watch carefully to see if it works,” Dr. Saravanamuttu said.

Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran echoed the sentiments, calling on the victim families to move forward despite their disappointments and sorrow, even more determined to see what can be achieved through the Office of Missing Persons.

“Don’t reject the OMP outright. For the OMP to succeed it needs the confidence of victims,” he urged.

Also speaking at the event, JHU representative Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said the party welcomed the passage of legislation to set up the OMP, saying that the Government had a responsibility to deliver justice to victims, from every community. Warnasinghe said that while it was the JHU position that the past should be forgotten, he understood that Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim mothers of the missing may feel differently.-Pix by Shehan Gunasekara 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN SRI LANKA

(Chance for change: UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is received by Harsha de Silva, Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign affairs minister, on his arrival in Colombo yesterday. Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo)

By Alan Keenan.

01/09/2016

The United Nations has a rare opportunity to help secure a sustainable peace, writes Alan Keenan

When UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon touched down in Sri Lanka yesterday, he arrived in a very different country from the one he last saw, immediately following the end of the civil war. Back then, in May 2009, he was shocked by the physical devastation and human toll of the final months of war, when as many as 40,000 civilians are believed to have been killed in the north and east. The internal review he ordered faulted the United Nations for its “systemic failure” to protect human rights and civilian lives at the war’s end.

Today, much of the physical damage has been repaired. Since 2015, a new government led by president Maithripala Sirisena has championed a reform agenda that includes important commitments to end impunity, promote the rule of law, and encourage reconciliation. Yet political, social and psychological wounds run deep throughout the country, threatening the fragile progress made so far.

The UN has a mixed history in Sri Lanka. On Ban’s last visit, the country was ruled by president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his powerful family, riding high on the wave of triumphalism and Sinhala nationalism that followed the military’s defeat of the Tamil Tigers. A panel of experts Ban appointed in 2010 found credible allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by both sides. Although it was denounced by the government and its nationalist supporters, the panel’s report contributed to the series of increasingly strong resolutions by the UN Human Rights Council calling for accountability and reconciliation.

The defeat of Rajapaksa and election of Sirisena as president in January 2015 opened unexpected space in Sri Lanka for the Human Rights Council’s resolutions to be acted on. It also marked a growing acceptance that reconciliation required accountability for war crimes and for corruption and the abuse of power.

Sirisena’s new government co-sponsored a landmark resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council in October 2015, which committed his administration to establishing offices on missing persons and reparations, a truth commission, and a special court to hear cases of alleged crimes during the war – including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and sexual violence. The government also promised to investigate other human rights cases, restore the independence of the judiciary and police, reduce the role of the military and agree on constitutional reforms to address the political marginalisation of Sri Lankan Tamils, which gave birth to the years of war and terror.

UN agencies are actively supporting the Sirisena government’s reform agenda, but government efforts have been under-resourcedand weakened by mixed messages and confused lines of authority. Clear direction from the president and from prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been lacking. While there is much greater space for dissent, some improvement in rights protections, and progress towards a new constitution, there has been no decisive break with the culture of impunity. Meanwhile, key sectors within the government are actively undermining reforms.

Take, for example, the government’s pledge to the Human Rights Council that it would replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act with new laws consistent with human rights standards. Despite that undertaking, police continue to make arrests under this repressive legislation, and some 200 Tamils are still detained under its provisions, many held for years without charge.

Security officials have reportedly interfered with police investigations that implicate military intelligence units in murders and abductions during the Rajapaksa years. Defence budgets have grown and the military remains a powerful presence in Tamil majority regions, running hotels and other businesses and occupying large amounts of private land. Tamils are increasingly angry at the government’s failure to live up to its promises on all these issues.

Ban should urge that the military cooperate with the police and judiciary. He should also offer UN assistance for the Sri Lankan military’s transition to peacetime duties in two ways: by helping to assess its landholdings and assisting families returning to previously occupied land, and by assisting with job training for retiring soldiers and psycho-social support to veterans and families.

While parliament’s approval earlier this month of a bill to establish the Office on Missing Persons is a welcome first step, Ban must press the president and prime minister to implement all of its promises to the Human Rights Council. A key element of these commitments is a special court for war-related crimes, with the “participation… of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorised prosecutors and investigators.” With nationalists arguing this is an infringement on Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, the president and prime minister have reversed position and rejected foreign judges.

Although the Sirisena government co-sponsored the Human Rights Council resolution last year, it now seems to be dragging its feet. It appears increasingly that the government does not intend to pass the legislation needed to establish the special court before the Council meets in March 2017, a move that could help to evade further international scrutiny.

Ban must make clear his support for continued oversight by the UN Human Rights Council until the government has passed the legislation needed to establish a strong court with the legal basis and the expertise – including international participation – to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity. Even if the government succeeds in winning approval for a constitution that reflects Sri Lanka’s ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, that will not be enough to ensure reconciliation in the absence of accountability.

Ban should encourage Sirisena and Wickremesinghe to make a much stronger public case – especially to Sinhalese communities – in support of their transitional justice and constitutional initiatives. While resistance from Sinhala nationalists and the Rajapaksa-led opposition is real, strong public outreach and the government’s two-thirds parliamentary majority provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address both the causes and consequences of Sri Lanka’s thirty years of war. As part of this, Ban should also urge that the design of the court and the truth commission take into account the recommendations of public consultations now under way across the island.

Finally, Ban should acknowledge the UN’s failure to protect Sri Lankans during the final months of the war and its immediate aftermath, and commit the UN to an active role defending rights through its ongoing work in Sri Lanka. This should include an expanded presence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and improved vetting of the human rights record of military personnel who serve in UN missions – particularly with respect to allegations of sexual abuse.

Above all, UN member states must back up Ban’s words with the right combination of encouragement and pressure needed to deepen and sustain the potentially historic transformation now under way in Sri Lanka. With the UN’s help, Sri Lanka could yet build a state that respects the rule of law and protects the rights of all its citizens. •

insidestroy

Sri Lanka's war-battered Tamils pin hopes on UN visit

By Afp- 31 August 2016 

Joseph Rasanayagam jumped on his bicycle as soon as he heard rumours the army would be handing back his ancestral land in Sri Lanka's battle-scarred north to mark a visit by the United Nations chief.

But when the 59-year-old fisherman arrived at a major military compound in Jaffna, soldiers turned him away -- dashing his hopes of finally returning home.

"I can see my land over the (military) fence but I can't access it until it's released," Rasanayagam said.

 

A child in Sabapathipillai camp on the Jaffna Peninsula, some 400 kilometres north of Colombo ©Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)

"For more than 26 years I lived in seven IDP (internally displaced people) camps," said Rasanayagam, who recently decided to move his wife and four children into a relative's house, where they are crammed into a single room.

Sri Lanka's army has occupied thousands of hectares in the Jaffna peninsula -- the heartland of the country's Tamil minority -- and elsewhere in the north since the end in 2009 of a decades-long conflict with Tamil separatist rebels.

Last year it began returning plots to their original owners.

But progress has been agonisingly slow for many, especially for the thousands still living in miserable displacement camps. The camps flood during the monsoon rains and their tin roofs are unbearably hot in summer.

Many are banking on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help push the process along, with his visit to the island this week expected to focus on resettlement issues still outstanding since the end of the war.

"We want to give a petition to him to intervene and get our land back," Rasanayagam said of Ban, who is due late Wednesday in the capital. "There are about 100 people from my village who are going to sign this."

The UN secretary-general will meet President Maithripala Sirisena, who was elected in January last year on a promise to promote reconciliation with the ethnic Tamil minority.

Jaffna locals have been told Ban will also visit a village on their peninsula, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Colombo, that was recently handed back by the military.

And he is expected to inspect about 100 small houses currently being built by the army on state land for Tamils whose own homes were destroyed in the fighting.

Rasanayagam must wait a while longer for his case to be addressed. He was forced to flee in 1990 with almost nothing when shelling and fighting erupted between troops and Tamil rebels in his village.

His land is among vast tracts still being used by the military and declared part of a high-security zone.

Activists say he is among about 100,000 still without their own homes seven years after the war ended with a final military push that claimed thousands of lives.

- 'This is a palace' -

Anthony Quinn, who liaises with authorities on behalf of displaced Tamils, said Sirisena had given them hope after defeating former president Mahinda Rajapakse, an autocrat who ruled for almost a decade.

"Although the president gave a deadline of six months (for land to be handed over), we know it is hard work that can't be completed so quickly," Quinn told AFP at his shack in Kannagi, where 138 families live in one of 32 cramped camps on the peninsula

For impoverished widow Ravindrarasa Yogini, her nightmare has finally ended. She and her two children, aged nine and 16, have recently been allowed to return to their land just outside a military comple

They have erected a shack with an outside kitchen, with help from an UN agency, after discovering that their home was destroyed in the fighting. But they are hopeful of a government handout to help them rebuild

"I never dreamt that I will get my land back," she said. "This may look like a shack, but for me this is a palace.

Ahead of Ban's visit, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera toured the north asking those Tamils still waiting to go home for more patience

"We will create conditions to ensure that people in Jaffna can return to their normal life very soon," he told residents of several camps over the weekend.

Srikumar Selvy, three of whose five children were bon in a camp, said they have no choice but to be patient. They have long lived in squalid conditions where 20 families share four toilets, but have nowhere else to go

"We don't know what it is like to be happy," the 44-year-old told AFP at her tiny grocery store inside the camp. "We want to go to our own land. Only then will we be happy."

 

The Jaffna peninsula is the heartland of the country's Tamil minority and occupied by Sri Lanka's army since the end in 2009 of the decades-long conflict with Tamil separatist rebels ©Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)

 

Many Tamils still living in displacement camps such as Sabapathipillai are hoping UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will help push along the resettlement process, with his visit to Sri Lanka this week ©Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)

 

Activists in Sri Lanka say there are about 100,000 people still without their own homes seven years after the war ended in a final military push that claimed up to 40,000 Tamil lives ©Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)

 

 

Sri Lankan military workers build a house on the Jaffna peninsula, north of Colombo ©Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)

An open letter from The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice to Ban Ki-moon

Aug 31, 2016

This is an open letter to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. It is also available as a PDF here.
Dear Secretary-General,

Much has changed in Sri Lanka since your last visit in May 2009. On that occasion you said “I have travelled around the world and visited similar places, but [these are] by far the most appalling scenes I have seen.” Many of the changes have been positive: there has been no return to fighting, the IDP camps that you visited have been disbanded, and most people in Sri Lanka feel freer than they did under the oppressive Rajapaksa regime.

The United Nations, in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, has played a significant role in this transition. However, Sri Lanka’s transition from armed conflict to a lasting and a sustainable peace is far from complete, and it is important to maintain the high level of international pressure and scrutiny necessary to see it through.
We would urge you, in your statements during your visit, to make the four following general points, and additionally to take up one specific case which we consider vitally important and emblematic.

First, we would urge you to draw attention to the serious human rights issues that persist in Sri Lanka. Ongoing violations of human rights, including sexual violence, are still taking place in the north and east of the country. As a result, the climate of fear which used to grip the entire nation still exists among large numbers of people, particularly in those areas. Here civil society remains under a significant degree of surveillance. Furthermore, most land under military occupation has still not been released to its rightful owners, the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act is still in daily use, and around 120 people are still detained without charge. This climate makes the implementation of Sri Lanka’s reconciliation and transitional justice agenda far more difficult.

Secondly, we feel it would be appropriate for you to use this opportunity to apologise to the people of Sri Lanka for the United Nations’ inadequate efforts to prevent loss of life in early 2009. As you yourself said, the 2012 United Nations Internal Review Panel Report demonstrated “that the United Nations system failed to meet its responsibilities”. Our research has shown that many survivors of the Sri Lankan civil war feel that they are owed an apology, not just by the Government of Sri Lanka for its actions, but also by the international community and the UN for failing to make greater efforts to protect them. An apology would go some way to restore their faith in the system and to build support for UN efforts to support justice, accountability and reconciliation in the country.

Thirdly, we feel it is essential that you impress upon the Government of Sri Lanka the importance of fulfilling the commitments that it has made. As you have said, “the victims of all communities, their families and the Sri Lankan nation itself demand no less than a full and proper reckoning.” In September 2015 the Government of Sri Lanka co-sponsored Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, thereby committing itself to a series of actions which, if implemented in full, would give the opportunity for such a reckoning.

Yet already there have been disturbing signs that the resolution will not be implemented. The first of the four mechanisms established by the resolution, the Office of Missing Persons, was brought into being with only very minimal consultation with the families of the disappeared, and the President of Sri Lanka has made a series of statements suggesting that no international judges, defence lawyers or authorized prosecutors will participate in the accountability mechanism, in direct and serious contravention of the resolution. We have been monitoring the implementation of the 25 action points contained within the operative paragraphs of the resolution. We find that only three of the 25 are on track, and we have cause for concern with regard to eight of them. We are particularly concerned about the absence of any substantial progress on the issue of accountability.

We fear that the Government of Sri Lanka may not be committed to the programme of transitional justice, despite its importance for victims and for reconciliation within Sri Lankan society, and that the Government may feel that it has now done enough to satisfy the wishes of the international community. We trust that you will make every effort to ensure that your visit will not have the unintended consequence of reinforcing this perception, which would only undermine Sri Lanka’s hard-won and yet to be implemented reconciliation programme, and thereby the prospects for lasting peace.

Fourthly, it is vital that the international community remain engaged in Sri Lanka’s reconciliation process for some time to come, and be willing to offer such support as is needed. It is therefore imperative that you publicly give the fullest possible support to the High Commissioner’s efforts to open a country office in Sri Lanka. A country office would support the process set out in Resolution 30/1, report on what is happening on the ground, and act as a bridge between the reconciliation process and the Government of Sri Lanka. We hope you will use your visit to advance the negotiations with the Sri Lankan Government on the establishment of this office.

Finally, we would like to draw your attention to the case of Balendran Jeyakumary, a single mother from Kilinochchi whose son appears to have been disappeared and who was arrested and held in detention for almost a year after speaking out about this. She continues to be harassed to this day by the police.

This is not only having a terrible effect on Jeyakumary and her young daughter. It also has serious consequences for Sri Lanka as a whole. Jeyakumary is not a professional activist but a concerned mother. Her case is a totemic one, and her treatment is having a chilling effect. There are many mothers in Sri Lanka who lost children in the war. The way Jeyakumary has been treated is causing them to lose faith in Sri Lanka’s truth-seeking mechanisms, and to be less willing to participate in the Government’s mechanisms for tracing missing persons. We urge you to raise her case, its wider implications and effects, and the ongoing harassment of war survivors and activists of which it forms a part, with your hosts.

We would be happy to provide you with any further information you require on any of these matters.
Kind regards,

Fred Carver, Campaign Director, Sri Lanka Campaign.

“ රට බෙදන්නේ නෑ. බලය බෙදනවා.” That Will be the Slogan – R. Sampanthan

01/09/2016

(Speech made by the Hon. R. Sampanthan, The Leader of the Opposition at Sammadhi Community Development Foundation in Matara on 28.08.2016; Image: Buddika Pathirana FB)

Hon. Buddhika Pathirana, Member of Parliament for the Matara District, All of you who are present here to participate in this ceremony in the 19th Batch of the Sammadhi Community Development Foundation, Hon, SelvamAdaikalanathan, Member of Parliament Vanni District and the Deputy Chairman of Committees of Sri Lankan Parliament , Hon. M.A. Sumanthiran, Member of Parliament, Jaffna District , Reverent sir, the only monk who seated here and friends, I consider it is a great privilege to be able to be present in Matara and Partake this event and speak at this event today.

Quite some weeks ago Mr. Buddika Pathirana invited me to partake this event. I was willingly and spontaneously said that I would come.  I am extremely happy that I have participated in this function and I learned a lot about this event.

I came to Matara last evening; Matara is an ancient District in this Country. It is a historic city.  At one time it was part of the Ruhunu Kingdom. The Ruhunu kingdom was captured by the Portuguese.  Then it was taken over by the Dutch.  Then it was taken over by the British and since 1947 Sri Lanka has become an independent country. In the accompany of Hon. Buddhika Pathirana last evening, I went to an important place in Matara. I went to a pirivena. The senior monk in that pirivena told me that there is an ancient temple of Lord Shiva in Matara is some distant away.  That temple is apparently now in ruins. 

According to Sir Pole Peiris, one of our famous historians there were five ancient historic temples of Lord Shiva in SriLanka . One is Thirukoneshwaram inTrincomalee, Thiruketheeswaram in Mannar, Munneshwaram in Chilaw, Naguleshwaram is Jaffna and Thondeshwaram in the South.  I was strong feeling that this old Shiva temple that now in ruins is the ancient Shiva temple of Thondashwaram. I also went to the Vishnu Devalaya.  I went to the Kataragama Devalaya.  The Poojas were conducted for us and we received the blessings from these temples.  It only showed me how much we are part and partial of one history, one culture, and one tradition.  Particularly the Sinhalese People, the Buddhist People and Tamil People and the Hindus in particular.

At Matara rally

Very unfortunately after we got independence we had some problems, as a result of those problems that we had, we were not able to achieve the progress that the other countries world over achieved.  We can take a small country in the Asian region, Singapore.  The Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lee KuanYew wanted to develop Singapore like Sri Lanka.  But we lost our way. Singapore developed.  Today the average worker in Singapore earns about 100 times more than the average worker earns in Sri Lanka. Singapore is the one of the most development country in this region.  All countries in the world have had conflicts at some points of time of the other.  Whether it be in Europe, in America, in Africa in Asia or wherever. All countries in the world have had conflicts at some point in time of the other.  Then they have come to a time when as a result of these conflicts, the people of those countries learned very good lessons and the people on their own decide that they will put and into conflict, come together and live together, develop their country become prosperous and happy contended lives.

Hon. Buddika Pathirana, Member of Parliament referred to the insurrections in both the North and the South.  The insurrections in the South had come to an end and now those leaders, who carried out those insurrections, are playing an important role in parliament and other insurrections have come to an end after 30 years. Now we are trying to find a permanent solution for the problem of the people in North and the East. Mr. Buddika Pathirana pointed out; very, unfortunately, there had not been a constitution in this country framed with the consent of all the people. We are now in endeavoring to frame within the consent of all the people in this country.  This constitution is going to be framed within the framework of a united undivided indivisible Sri Lanka.  The country will be one united undivided, indivisible country which cannot ever be divided. I convey that message to you as the Democratically Elected Leader of the Tamil people. I convey that message;we did not want the country to be divided.  But all the people in this country want the power to be devolved to the regions. All the power, required to maintain the unity of the country and the territorial integrity of the country, will be in the center. The defense will be in the center.  Army, Navy, and Airforce will be the center.  That will be under the control of the Central Government. Foreign affairs will be under the control of the center. Currency, finance will be under the control of the center.  Immigration and emigration will be under the control of the center. All the powers that need to be kept at the center to ensure the unity and the indivisibility of the country will be with the center.

Other powers will be devolved to the leaders.  The Southern Province will have their Provincial Council with enhanced powers.  The Sabaragamuwa, Central Province will have their Provinces region with extraneous enhanced powers. Similarly, in the Northern, Eastern and central Provinces will have their own areas with enhanced powers.  “ රට බෙදන්නේ  නෑ. බලය බෙදනවා.” That will be the slogan. Through the devolution of power, people will be in a position to exercise power concerned to them in those areas.  There will be much more effective and participatory democracy. Your leaders elected at the local level will be in a position to exercise those powers on your behalf.

Consequently, you will be able to obtain more effective and much quicker service.  So now for the first time, we are trying to frame through a national consensus of all the people a constitution to keep Sri Lanka United single, undivided country and enable it to develop.  Now there is a parliament work that a constitutional assembly, that the steering Committee of Parliament in which all the political parties are represented the UNP, SLFP, JVP, Jathika Hela Urumaya, Mahinda Rajapakse’s joint Opposition SLFP, TNA, my party all of us are on the steering Committee. We are discussing and time to evolve a constitution that will be acceptable to all the people in this country. We are discussing and trying to evolve a constitution that will be acceptable to all the people in this country.  This is the first time serious effort to be made to evolve the constitution based upon the consensus of all the political parties and all the people living in the country. If we bring about the constitution in this country this country will be a different country in another 10years, the country will be on the same passage on the same path on the same journey, that country like Singapore and Switzerland are on now.

Samadhi Foundation is doing excellent works, they are training in English, in Tamil, in Electronics, in Screen printing. They are preparing you for job opportunities that will become available when the country develops to move forward. The Prime Minister talking about 01 million jobs, the PM is seeking corporation from China, America, Singapore, EU countries, Korea, India and every possible country. If Sri Lanka is developed, all of you got training, will get jobs. Not many million jobs as Mr.Pathirana pointed out you will be providing jobs for others. You will get huge job opportunities. We must not have missed the opportunity. Everything is going to be done within the framework of a united, indivisible Sri Lanka, with the rights of the people whether Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Burger or anybody else going to be protected and reserved.

We practice in this country the important leading religion practicing in the world. We practice Buddhism, we practice Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. These are the four major religions in the world. There is hardly any difference between Buddhism and Hinduism. You go to Vihara or Kovil, then you will See Lord Vishnu, you see Lord Ganatheiviyo,Saraswathi, and Load Muruga. All you will see there. If we all follow the teachings of Lord Buddha,we will have no problems in the country. Lord Buddha teaches us kindness, Justice, forgiveness, equality and cohesion. Lord Buddha was born as Hindu . He refines Hinduism, now Buddhism is a result. If we all follow Buddhism, we do not have any problem in the country. We all adore Lord Buddha. We must all think differently, we must forget the past, look at the future. See what the good future will make available for the country.

We don’t want our children and grandchildren to suffer in the way we all have suffered. Your children and grandchildren must have a better life in this country.

That is the goal of the Samadhi Community Development Foundation. Sir, we must all corporate in good endeavors. We must abide by the teaching of the Lord Buddha. Other religions Hinduism, Islam, Christianity pick the same thing, unity, inclusiveness coming together and co-existence.I want to congratulate the Samadhi Community Development Foundation for excellent work they are doing .we have seen some clippings of nature what they are doing, I am told the 1650 students are being inaugurated in this new batch.

This is double the number of the previous batches. This shows the program is a very popular program that is the great benefit to the young people. Samadhi Community Development Foundation is in touch with national non-government organizations, international non-governmental organization and international countries and their citizens

For you, I want to congratulate the Samadhi Community Development Foundation, particularly founder Hon.Buddhika Pathirana, MP. He is very efficient and popular Member of Parliament. He was a member of provincial council polling the highest preference vote in the provincial council. He was the Member of Parliament having polled the highest number of votes of Member of Parliament. He is a very simple, well cultured, very decent, very refined person, in the future leader of this country. I have no even the slightest doubt that he will hold a very important position in the country in the future. I think he is a leader, whose guidance you should follow. I wish to congratulate Mr. Buddhika Pathirana and Samadhi Community Development Foundation for the excellent work they are doing.

Buddhist Way Or The Other Way; A Moment Of Reckoning For All Buddhists

By Vishwamithra1984 –August 31, 2016

“You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger”. ~Buddha

“Building Buddhist temples, placing statues under Bo-trees have negated reconciliation efforts”. Making a very potentially-unpopular observation, Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, however, could not have uttered truer words. Hailing from a Buddhist background, educated in the two leading Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka, firstly at Nalanda Vidyalaya and then Ananda College, Rajitha’s utterances could be politically incorrect, but they are indeed bold and beautiful. Erecting Buddha statues at any junction, preserving Bo-trees at every corner of our widely spread-out hamlets has become an infectious habit of Sinhalese Buddhist people to show the world a misplaced sense of devotion to the religion. Behind some of these ‘religion-related’ constructions are invariably found the most destructive elements in our society- drug dealers and traffickers, illicit liquor manufacturers, local hooligans and petty merchants of flesh and lust.They all expect forgiveness and repentance by extending these superficial offerings to a mind-created Buddha so that they could go to sleep with a self-deceived peaceful mind. These superficial offerings are in fact bribes offered to an image for clemency. Decline of Buddhism from one of Prathipatthi Pooja(Practice) to Aameesa Pooja (Ritualistic) has been very much in evidence in the last few decades.

To quote an unknown writer who seems to have understood the fundamental core of Buddhism writes thus: “I know that we can make great Karma by offering Flowers,candles,incense,food,robes and other things for the Buddha statue thinking as if the Buddha is alive. But whenever I do offer these things my mind says ‘The Buddha is not there to receive this. And this is not the proper way to pay respect for the Buddha. The proper way is to try to be mindful and try to be free from the defilement in the mind.’ Am I cultivating bad thoughts by thinking this way? What is the proper way to think when we offer these things to the Buddha statue?” As embroiled in inscrutable spiritual teachings and relating each and every miniscule phenomenon to a section or subsection of the Sutras in the scriptures, some of our Buddhist monks have willy nilly deflected from what is real and present. This, they do either by willful deception (or self-deception) or due to ignorance or misreading of the Sutras.

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