Ex-Gitmo Prosecutor-Turned-Critic Settles Free Speech Case for $100,000

BY DAVID FRANCIS-MAY 31, 2016

The six-year free speech fight between Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for the Guantánamo Bay military commissions, and the Library of Congress has been settled.

After leaving the commissions, Davis had worked as an assistant director for the Library of Congress. He was fired in 2009 after penning opinion pieces in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal that were critical of President Barack Obamas decision to use both federal court and military commissions to prosecute detainees. He sued the library in 2010, with help from the ACLU, for violating his right to free speech and due process.

Under the terms of the settlement, Davis gets $100,000 and a correction of his employment record to show that the Library of Congress had no reason to fire him.


Davis served as the third chief prosecutor in the Guantánamo military commissions from September 2005 until October 2007. He quit after objecting to evidence obtained through waterboarding was used in trials against detainees.

“The guy who said waterboarding is A-OK, I was not going to take orders from. I quit,” Davis testified at a 2008 hearing at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He was called to the stand by lawyers for Osama bin Laden’s former driver.

Davis was named an an assistant director at the Congressional Research Service in 2008. The next year, he published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal critical of the White House’s decision to use dual venues to try prisoners. Davis argued, “The administration must choose. Either federal courts or military commissions, but not both, for the detainees that deserve to be prosecuted and punished for their past conduct.”

“Double standards don’t play well in Peoria,” he wrote. “They won’t play well in Peshawar or Palembang either. We need to work to change the negative perceptions that exist about Guantánamo and our commitment to the law.”

Davis has since continued to be a critic of Obama’s Guantánamo policies.

“Injustice at Guantánamo Bay is every bit as relevant today as it was more than six years ago when I spoke out about it,” Davis said in a statementTuesday.

Obama has vowed to close the prison, located in Cuba, before he leaves office. According to the ACLU, as of April 2016, there are 80 prisoners still at the facility.

Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/Getty Images

Thailand: Chiang Rai school reopens a week after fire kills 17 girls

Rescue workers on the scene of the fire. Image via Thairath Online.

31st May 2016

THE boarding school in northern Thailand that was razed by a fire that killed 17 girls last week has reopened, a volunteer at the school said.

However, only a third of the students returned to the school as families remain concerned about their children’s safety.

Thuenjai Thanachaikan, who helps out at the Pithakkaiat Witthaya School outside Chiang Rai, said that of the 142 students enrolled, less than 50 returned to classes Monday

.

SEE ALSO: Thailand: 17 schoolgirls killed in fire at school dormitory

She said parents are having a difficult time deciding whether to allow their young children to return.

The May 22 fire claimed 17 lives at an all-girls dormitory at the school, which provides free housing for impoverished children who are members of hill tribe minorities.

The bodies have slowly been returned to their families following DNA analyses to confirm their identities.

Investigators said the fire was most likely caused by an overheated neon lamp, The Nation reports.

Forensic Science Centre 6 commander, Pol. Maj. Gen. Sant Sukhawat, said the lamp became overheated and melted, and dropped into a pile clothes in the recreational room. The clothes were meant to be donated to the poor.

According to the news site, the heat of the melted lamp had lit up the clothes and spread across the dormitory quickly.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Frontex denied help to refugees including 'unresponsive' baby: Witnesses

Reports of botched rescue in Greece come as UN says 2,500 people have drowned in the Mediterranean this year 

Refugees and migrants come ashore on the Greek island of Lesbos (AFP) - A refugee and migrant boat arrives in Lesbos (Credit: Platanos Refugee Solidarity)

Calm returns to Skala Skiaminias harbor in Lesbos where 50 refugees and migrants were brought ashore (MEE / Lizzy Porter) - Handout photo released as courtesy by German humanitarian NGO Sea-Watch shows acrew member holding a drowned baby as dead bodies were recovered after a wooden boat transporting migrants capsized off the Libyan coast on 27 May, 2016 (AFP)

Lizzie Porter-Tuesday 31 May 2016 23:39 UTC

LESBOS, Greece - Frontex denied aid to refugees including a baby and kept them floating in the sea off Greece for nearly two hours, according to aid workers.

Eyewitnesses told MEE that Frontex officers prevented aid workers helping 50 people as they landed on the northern shore of the Greek island of Lesbos early on Monday.

Their tactic was to take them directly into detention "without any aid, even the injured" one aid worker said.

Witnesses also told MEE that officers from the Maltese branch of the European border control police prevented a doctor tending to a baby that was "unresponsive". 

In a written statement to MEE, Frontex said the crew on the Maltese ship had followed an Hellenic Coast Guard officer's instructions and that none of the volunteers identified themselves as a doctor.

The reports come as the UN says that more than 2,500 people have died trying to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe so far in 2016, a sharp jump from the same period last year. In the past week alone, at least 880 people are believed to have died in a series of shipwrecks - but thousands of people have also been rescued in the last seven days, with some 90 rescue operations launched. 

Frontex, supported by a series of national fleets and coast guards as well as several NGOs and some private volunteers, is charged with carrying out rescue operations in the Mediterranean.

However, witnesses told MEE that the boat crammed with refugees was made to float out at sea until Frontex ground units came to take the passengers away in buses, after the Greek coastguard granted permission for the landing at the fishing hamlet of Skala Skiaminias on Lesbos's north coast.

Esther Camps, from Spanish NGO Proactiva which provides aid and rescue operations at sea, was at the scene. She said the incident took place at around 01:00 on Monday morning - the arrivals, she said, included around 10 children, as well as women who were crying out for help. 

"We were told to do nothing and to 'stay away',” she told MEE.

"As they [the refugees and migrants] were disembarking we saw there was a baby that was not making any noise. One of the officers said the baby was 'fine' and kept us away. We said, 'how do you know it is OK? You are not doctors.'"

Camps, who has been working with Proactiva since December, said that babies normally cry when they are brought ashore, but that in this case the child was not making any noise.

MEE understands that a doctor from the aid organisation Waha was also at the scene but was denied access. 

"The baby was not responding and a doctor tried to approach - he was very anxious to see the child but was pushed away," said Iasonas Apostolopoulos, from the aid organisation Platanos. 

The doctor declined a request for interview, but Waha has since confirmed to MEE that the baby survived and that all those rescued were taken to Moria camp in Frontex buses.

The child's sex and nationality remain unknown, but most of the refugees and migrants were believed to be from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eritrea.

Apostolopoulos said that police formed a line to prevent emergency aid being administered once the refugees were brought ashore.

"The people were soaking and some were without shoes. There was one injured man with two other people supporting him" he said. "The cops formed a human chain to keep [around seven of] us away from them."

He said that they couldn't distribute "anything" until the police chain broke up during the 300 metre uphill walk to the waiting buses that would transport the new arrivals to the Moria detention centre.

"They told us that these people are prisoners and have been detained, and that we [the police] are accountable for them."

UNHCR's spokesperson on Lesbos would not comment on specific reports that the agency's officer, who was present at the scene, had also been barred from speaking to the arrivals.

But he did say: "I have been following communications and it does not appear that there was a serious incident related to UNHCR being denied access to its work, or one that requires investigation."

On Monday, a photograph of a migrant baby who drowned in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy was distributed by a humanitarian organisation in hopes of persuading European authorities to ensure safe passage to migrants, more than 200,000 of whom have already crossed into Europe since the start of the year. 

Although arrivals in Greece have declined since the introduction of a refugee deal between the EU and Turkey in March, several hundred people a week are still making the journey. 

The arrivals on Lesvos on Monday night mean that more than 200 people have landed on the island in the past 10 days, according to the latest UNHCR figures.

The UNHCR's spokesperson on Lesvos said that since the refugee exchange deal between the EU and Turkey came into force in March and the facility in Moria turned into a closed camp, Frontex and the Greek coastguard have taken over emergency aid and transportation provision. 

"Since 20 March the UNHCR has discontinued services and it is up to Frontex and the coastguard to bring people in and provide transport," the spokesperson said.

Apostolopoulos said that since the introduction of a deal that sees unsuccessful asylum seekers who arrive in Greece deported back to Turkey, it has been difficult to provide aid.

"Everything started after the EU agreement", he said. "These people are no longer refugees to them [the authorities]. They are prisoners and are being detained. But they have left the humanitarian aspect out of the story."

India hospital transfusions infect thousands with HIV

India has around 2.09 million people living with HIV/Aids

31 May 2016

At least 2,234 Indians have contracted HIV while receiving blood transfusions in hospitals in the past 17 months alone, say officials.

The information was revealed by the country's National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) in response to a petition filed by information activist Chetan Kothari.

Mr Khothari told the BBC that he was "shocked" by the revelation.

India has more than two million people living with HIV/Aids.

The highest number of patients who had been infected with HIV as a result of contaminated blood in hospitals, were from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with 361 cases, Mr Kothari's RTI (Right to Information) query revealed.

The western states of Gujarat with 292 cases and Maharashtra with 276 cases rank second and third respectively.

The Indian capital Delhi is at number four with 264 cases.

"This is the official data, provided by the government-run Naco. I believe the real numbers would be double or triple that," Mr Kothari told the BBC.

Under law, it is mandatory for hospitals to screen donors and the donated blood for HIV, hepatitis B and C, malaria and other infections.

"But each such test costs 1,200 rupees ($18; £12) and most hospitals in India do not have the testing facilities. Even in a big city like Mumbai, only three private hospitals have HIV testing facilities. Even the largest government hospitals do not have the technology to screen blood for HIV," Mr Kothari said.

"This is a very serious matter and must be addressed urgently," he added.

These Lankan refugee sisters graduated from school, but they need your help

Image: Sri Lankan refugee camp/ By European Commission DG ECHO - Flickr

It was their father who had encouraged the girls to attend an English medium school.

Pheba Mathew| Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Eighteen-year-old Vashini lives in the Puzhal refugee camp on the outskirts of Chennai with her 17-year-old sister Yalini and mother. Fearing for their lives, her family had fled Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka during the civil war ten years ago.

“We were staying at our relative’s house in Jaffna and people started saying that Sri Lankan Tamils were being burnt alive by Sinhalese. Only our family escaped from there and reached India,” narrates Vashini.

Tragedy followed the family in India. Last Tuesday, Vashini’s father died after being electrocuted. It was also the same day the Class XII results were announced. Vashini scored 84.4 per cent in the Board Exams while her sister scored 887 out of 1200. A day of joy and celebration turned to one of grief and mourning.

It was their father who had encouraged the girls to attend an English medium school. With no permanent job, he worked as a driver to pay for his daughters’ education, dreaming of a bright future for them.  

But his death has crushed their dreams, as Vashini and Yalini feel a sense of hopelessness. Vashini had hoped to become a doctor but with their father being the sole breadwinner, she has to abandon her childhood ambition, unable to support her dreams. “Now, I want to just get a degree, I want to get into an engineering college or do microbiology,” says Vashini.

While a social worker at the Martha Foundation have promised to help the two students, financial problems are a major issue for those in refugee camps. “The youth who have graduated are not able to find jobs here. Many of them also drop out of schools and colleges in the camp due to peer pressure,” said a social worker.

Vashini and Yalini plan to move back to Sri Lanka after their graduation. They hope to re-unite with their family in Jaffna and rebuild their future in the country that was once home. 

To help the students, please call: 9677212477

Note: Sri-Lankan refugee sisters did not want their photograph to be published.

Winning For Whom?

[Featured image courtesy Amantha Perera, IRIN News

INDRANI BALARATNAM on 05/30/2016

Editor’s note: This poignant piece is the final of a series of poems submitted by the author as entry criteria for the Write to Reconcile Programme, which brings together emerging writers with the goal of writing fiction, memoirs or poetry on issues of conflict, peace, reconciliation, memory and trauma in Sri Lanka, post-war.]

“Catch it!” Two words that snap me into action,
The crowd cheering, my team turns and looks at me.
The adrenaline surges and I am out of my daydream.
Catch it, and we win,
Miss it, and nobody goes home.
Amma cooks for me after every match,
The smell of her food takes over my legs and I run.
So fast, I can never remember,
So determined, nothing else matters.

The cheer blurs into a loud, repetitive clap,
Edging me closer to victory, as I leap,
Slide across the grass, look up at the sky
and throw my hands out.
I can never see the ball against that bright sun.
I close my eyes.
Did I catch it? Did we win?

I’m in the temple.
Abandoned, empty, I try to silence
the thud of my boots against this mud floor.
My team are scattered.
My clothes give me belonging,
My gun gives me purpose.
“Be a better version of yourself,” they told me,
So I signed up and I never looked back.
I go home next week – my wife is due
It’s a boy, she told me; I will teach him to catch like I do.

A stream of light plays shadows with the statue beside me,
And through that light, a ball glides in silently.
The sound of the crowd is muffled
as it comes straight towards me.
I stare – this time, my legs won’t move.
This time, nobody shouted, “catch it!”
This time,
I’m frozen.

The crowd’s chanting rises, I know I have to run.
But I stare, I don’t blink and,
I don’t know how to flee.
The beat of the claps flood my ears,
a waft of Amma’s food hits me and I’m nauseous,
My son is laughing, catching a six…
Darkness.

I open my eyes to a flashlight above me
When I became a soldier they told me
I would be a better version of myself, and yet,
Here I am now.
They amputated both of my legs.
Cut off two of my limbs.
Everything else the Doctor said, faded,
And merged, with the distant cheer of the crowd.

My wife is nursing my wounds,
My son cries in the next room.
I can’t walk to him,
I can’t teach him,
I can’t protect him.
He looks after me.
As for my team – Where are they now?
Where is the crowd that once cheered so loud?
I can’t take anymore.
With the flashlight still shining above me,
I close my eyes.

Did I catch it? Did we win?

Murdered Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan remembered in Batticaloa

30 May 2016

The 12th anniversary of assassinated Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan was observed today in Batticaloa The remembrance ceremony was organized by the Eastern Provincial Journalists Federation and Jaffna Press Club.

Photograph:Tamil Guardian

Mr Nadesan, commonly known as ‘Nellai Nadesan,’ was shot dead by a paramilitary group when he was on his way to his office in 2004. As a profile journalist and a columnist, he worked for local Tamil dailies and international news agencies.

Speakers at the ceremony noted that even after twelve years, the perpetrators of this high profile killing are yet to be brought before law. A memorial lecture also was arranged with the participation of local journalists, academics and parliamentarians. 

Highlighting his valuable reporting skills and the services rendered to the community, Batticaloa TNA parliamentarian C.Yogeswaran said, Mr Nadesan was a fearless cadre with a pen in his hand to bring the injustices done to the Tamil and Muslim communities.

Mr Yogeswaran added that since 1990 at least 41 Tamil journalists were killed but there has been no legal investigations under way to arrest the culprits so far.

National unity for a just society - EDITORIAL

2016-05-29

ith the floods and landslides continuing into the third week yesterday, religious leaders have urged that we need to go beyond religious, racial, political or social and other differences in the mission for the provision of relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of more than half a million victims. Just as death is no respector of persons, so is a natural disaster. People of all races and religions were affected, though as usual the impoverished people were more vulnerable. So the recovery mission also needs to go beyond differences and be a national effort. 

For the past few months, a major irritant to national unity was the issue regarding the resolution approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at its sessions in Geneva. The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Sri Lanka, called for an impartial probe on alleged war crimes with the mechanism involving not only Sri Lankan Judges but also foreign Judges or experts. This created a major controversy among the majority community and also concerned in the security forces. 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking to high ranking Army officers at Temple Trees last Thursday assured that the probe mechanism would be domestic and no foreign Judges would be involved. 
Our sister newspaper The Sunday Times in an exclusive report yesterday said the Prime Minister’s assurance came ahead of the 32nd sessions of the UNHRC from June 13 to July 1. On June 14, the UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein is expected to refer to Sri Lanka in his opening remarks. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera is to make a statement on Sri Lanka’s performance record the same day. On June 29, Prince Zeid, in accordance with the mandate given to him by the Council, will present an oral update on the implementation of the resolution on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.
 According to the report, more details of the arrangements for the domestic mechanism will be given by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera who accompanied President Maithripala Sirisena for the unprecedented meeting with the group of seven leaders in Japan last Thursday and Friday. They returned yesterday. 

The Prime Minister told Army Officers that the government believed there was a need to return more of the vast extents of private land taken over by the military during the war which ended in May 2009. According to statistics, in the Jaffna area outside is High Security Zone, 58.73 acres of private land are still being occupied by the military. This is besides an extent of 86.22 acres of State land that is over and above the extent where military installations existed, the newspaper report said. The Prime Minister also briefed Army officers on the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to be set-up on the lines of South Africa’s TRC which won worldwide respect and praise. 
Some analysts believe that Sri Lanka extensively briefed the US and other key players on the practical and effective steps taken by the National Government for reconciliation, a just peace and a just society based on the hallowed precepts of equality and unity in diversity. 
Not surprisingly the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Tamil diaspora represented by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), in their initial reaction, have opposed the move for a totally domestic mechanism. But with the international community, as seen especially during last week’s G7 Summit, firmly supporting the Sri Lanka Government, the Geneva issue is likely to be sorted out in a just and fair way for the common good of all. 

Another important step towards fulfilling some of the provisions of the UNHRC resolution was taken by the government last Tuesday, The Sunday Times revealed. Premier Wickremesinghe got Cabinet approval for the setting up of a high-powered Office of Missing Persons (OMP). It will be similar to a special commission of inquiry. According to the 18-page draft law, this office will provide assistance to relatives of missing persons and set up a database of missing persons. Essentially it will be based on the International Convention for the Protection of All People from Enforced Disappearance, to criminalise enforced disappearances and to issue certificates of absence to the families of missing persons as a temporary measure of relief. 
With this accommodation on the Middle Path, we hope there will be national unity to move towards the mission of reconciliation and a just peace, good governance, democracy, accountability, transparency and a just society. 

A Comment On The Proposed Office Of Missing Persons

By Basil Fernando –May 30, 2016

Basil Fernando

It seems no progress can be made in Sri Lanka on the attitude to murder. Murder is now regarded as normal and therefore not something to worry much about. And, this is exactly what should worry everyone. But hardly anyone seems to worry about it.

We see the same thing in the proposed Office of Missing Persons (OMP). The simple fact about a missing person in Sri Lanka is that he or she is dead. Very rarely, does a missing person re-appear. As in the case of the dead, missing persons normally never appear again. At least that is case in Sri Lanka, what ever the case may be elsewhere off the Island.

When a person is dead, he or she, of course, goes missing. There is no paradox involved in this. However, it is quite a different case if we were to be told to assume that the dead person is merely a missing person. This means that we are expected to assume that the dead man or woman is not dead at all but only missing.

Why should the dead be assumed to be merely missing? The answer would be that there is no proof of death, as the dead body has not been found. The argument is that in the absence of a corpse, there is no proof of death. So this whole exercise is about proof.

If the corpse is available then we know person is dead. If the person is, in fact, dead but his body cannot be found, we are expected assume that the person is missing. However, what is really missing is not the person, but the corpse.

If an office were to be established to look for missing dead bodies, the task of the office would be different than of an office looking for missing persons.

The situation would differ even more, if one knows or has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is not only dead, but, in fact, killed, and the corpse has been disposed of. Obviously in such a situation, there is no need to be looking for the missing body, as the body itself has been disposed, in order to hide the fact of a murder.

Read More

Geneva-sanctioned Office for Missing Persons to succeed Paranagama Commission

By Shamindra Ferdinando-May 30, 2016, 12:00 pm 

The government has directed the Presidential Commission to Investigate Complaints Regarding Missing Persons to hand over all its files to proposed Office for Missing Persons, thereby terminating the Commission.

Chairman of the Commission retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama yesterday told The Island that he had been to told to hand them over before July 15, 2016. Paranagama said that he had requested time till August 30 to finalise the process.

The Office of Missing Persons is one of four transitional justice mechanisms Sri Lanka has agreed to establish during the September 2015 Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa set up the Paranagama Commission during 2013.

Responding to a query, the retired High Court judge said that his commission had received approximately 19,000 complaints and was still in the process of inquiring into them. Paranagama said that now it would be the responsibility of the Office for Missing Persons established in accordance with an understanding reached in Geneva. Paranagama said that an investigating team headed by a retired High Court judge had been investigating into wartime disappearances and obtained oral evidence in respect of about 350 cases.

The Paranagama Commission, in its Second Mandate Report released after Maithripala Sirisena’s victory at January, 2015 presidential poll made a series of significant recommendations, including international expertise as well as foreign observers in case the government of Sri Lanka decided against obtaining the services of foreign judges. The Report had been prepared in consultation with an International Legal Advisory Council comprising Sir Desmond de Silva, QC (UK), Sir Geoffrey Nice, QC (UK) and Prof. David M. Crane (US). The Council had the support of a panel of international experts, including retd Maj. Gen. John Holmes, one-time commanding officer of UK’s elite Special Air Services (SAS) Regiment.

The Second Mandate Report, too, referred to cases of missing persons.

However, US based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found fault with Sri Lanka for setting up an Office for Missing Persons without consulting the families of the disappeared as promised at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last year.

The HRW was responding to a Foreign Ministry statement issued on May 25 in respect of a decision taken by the cabinet on the previous day. The FM statement: "The Cabinet of Ministers approved the establishment of an Office for Missing Persons. The Office will help several thousand families of missing persons across Sri Lanka to discover the fate of their loved ones, and the circumstances under which they went missing. The need to set up such an office is particularly acute as Sri Lanka has one of the largest caseloads of missing persons in the entire world – the result of uprisings in the South and the war lasting nearly three decades. This Office is the first of the four mechanisms dealing with conflict-related grievances that the new Government pledged to establish and legislation will soon be presented to parliament to make that commitment a reality."

Since 1948 – Sri Lanka’s deceptions continue!

by V. Kirubaharan, France

( May 30, 2016, Paris, Sri Lanka Guardian) A few days back – the Eelam Tamils, diaspora Tamils and the World Tamils commemorated the 7^th anniversary of Mullivaghzhal, in which thousands of innocent lives were lost – massacred in cold blood. I will avoid going into the history of this massacre. 

There is nothing to hide. It was done with the help of China, Pakistan, India and a few other counties, including the then state government of Tamil Nadu. I know that patriotic Indians will not like to see that I have included India in this list. But who is answerable to the ample evidence available, of Indian involvement in ‘bringing this war to an end’? India may justify its shameful support to Sri Lanka, but did it consider the innocent casualties caused by its counterblow? Has anyone challenged the Sri Lankan government on the figures it released at the time, saying there were only 70 to 80 thousand people living in the war zone, in the Vanni? At the end of the war, it was proved that they had downplayed the figures, attempting to prevent any ‘international interference’.

However, the war victory, in the name of “rescuing the Tamils from the clutches of the LTTE”, proved wrong in many aspects. In a recent interview, the Defence Secretary during the war said that, ‘It was not surprising that the defeat of Tamil Tigers strongly impacted the people who were brainwashed by Prabhakaran. This is because he was their hero’. I agree that the international diplomacy of any Sri Lankan government is highly effective.

Since, so-called independence from the British in 1948, bogus promises and time-buying statements made by every Sri Lankan government on the ethnic issue, worked well in their favour. Out of 68 years, only 26 years of war is given as a pretext to the international community, for not settling the political grievances of the Tamils.

Non-celebration of war victory

Some people with limited vision believe that non-celebration of the war victory this year by the government is a good gesture. This calibre of people should ask themselves whether the war that ended in May 2009 was between two countries. Otherwise, if this is to be celebrated annually, there should be two additional celebrations of winning against the JVP insurgency in 1971 and in 1989.

Let’s look at the ground realities. What has been done by the earlier and the present government in the Tamil Homeland, the North and East? Today, the North and East are colonised with people from the South and Buddhist Temples have sprung up in every nook and corner. Also the military has established businesses, narcotic drugs and made pornographic movies freely available with the intention of diverting the hearts and minds of the Tamil youth from political engagement.

Therefore everyone, including VVIPs in international institutions, should look into the ingredients of the cake, rather than the beautiful icing. Since 1948, the Tamils gained nothing, but have lost everything politically, socially, economically and culturally.

A Tamil expression goes, “A realist has many enemies”. We can’t stop communicating the reality, just because it doesn’t please or satisfy some. On that basis, we should look at what has been going on since 1948.

Even before 1948, leaders in the South had a master plan to convert the island into a Sinhala Buddhist

state. This thinking is based on a fictional Buddhist dogma known as the ‘Mahavamsa’. The cultural genocide of the Tamils as witnessed in the destruction of the Public Library of Jaffna comes into this, especially because it was set on fire by the government forces, accompanied by two government ministers. The debate about which ethnic group was in the island first can be argued in pages and for months. Those arguments have been made thoroughly in the past by many. I need not repeat them here.

Oppression in stages

It cannot be denied that Tamils were living in many parts of island before and during the time of Independence (1948), mostly in the forest and undeveloped from the South to Colombo and suburbs – as well as in the North and East. Under the master plan of converting the island into Sinhala Buddhism – stage one was carried out soon after independence. Tamils living outside their homeland, the North and Eas were violently and legally targeted. Tamils were chased back to the North and East from places like – Kataragama, Tissamaharama, Matara, Galle, Kalutura, Panandura, Colombo and suburbs. The same in Negombo, Puttalam, Chilaw, Uddappu and other areas. Whoever didn’t want to move back to the North and East changed their identity, in effect converting their ethnicity.  I wrote about this in detail in one of articles, “Kataragama to KKS” (South to North) published on 24 October 2010.

While stage one was progressing successfully, the second stage was initiated to target the Plantation Tamils who had been brought by the British to work in tea plantations in the Up-country

. Wherever the British colonised, they took labourers from South India to work in their plantations. This was the case in South Africa, Mauritius and Malaysia. In the stage twoprocesses, thousands of Tamils who lived and worked in the Tea plantations for more than one hundred years were disfranchised and repatriated back to India. In fact, this horrendous disfranchisement was done cleverly with the help of some selfish Tamil politicians.

While the violent attacks continued on Tamils, causing thousands of casualties and throwing their economy into ruin, Tamil political leaders failed to alert the international community and seek the help of their colonial masters. They continued fruitless negotiations and non-violent struggles, for decades.

Arson attack on evidence of Tamil history

When stage one and stage two had been successfully completed, their third stage began to take shape in the Tamil homeland, the North and East. While settling Sinhalese and establishing Buddhist temples, they initiated cultural genocide within the Tamil homeland. The Police violently attacked and killed nine and injured more than fifty during the 1974 World Tamil Research Conference in Jaffna.  As it was mentioned above – in June 1981, one of the biggest libraries in Asia, the public library of Jaffna was set on fire, destroying important documents of the evidence of Tamil history – more than 97,000 volumes of books and manuscripts ended-up in ashes. On the other hand discrimination/standardisation in Education also began; introducing what has been described as a form of apartheid system.

This motivated the Tamil youth to start militancy to protect their people from state terrorism. 

Surprisingly the state claims that the oppressed people are their ‘own citizens’.

The Sri Lankan government took this opportunity and allowed Tamils freely to seek shelter abroad, especially in Western countries, thinking that this approach would reduce the Tamil population in the North and East. It resulted in nearly a million Tamils seeking shelter in foreign countries, which eventually became counter-productive for both.

 As the war intensified and caused massive displacement in the North and East, those who could afford to live in the capital moved to Colombo. The government, which always waits for an opportunity, made propaganda claiming that 60 per cent of the Colombo population are Tamils. When this matter was raised during the sessions of the UN Human Rights Council – UN HRC in Geneva, we queried that, if this figure is true and correct, how many Tamil representatives from Colombo are in the Parliament? The government reps could not answer this question even today.

Rajapaksa hoodwinked those……

I will agree that the Sri Lanka government is good at its diplomacy. For example, six years after the war, former President Rajapaksa managed the International community including India with his bogus promises. He agreed to whatever the UN Secretary General wanted and told India that he would grant more than in the 13th amendment. He referred to it as 13-plus. Eventually, whoever helped to win the war was hoodwinked by Rajapaksa. As he won the 2010 Presidential election through jugglery, the hidden powers never allowed him to prolong his Presidency.  In my article in 2010, ““Kataragama to KKS (South to North)” I predicted the following: – 

“…………. But in our experience many politicians — presidents, prime ministers and monarchies have fallen into to the ‘laws of motion’ of Sir Isaac Newton – “To every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction” and “everything which goes up has to come down” because of the ‘gravity’ of earth. Let us wait and see the future of the Rajapaksas and Sri Lanka.” (Excerpt)

Also I said the following, “The President should be open, fair and impartial in his commitment. If he wants to prove his fairness and equal treatment of citizens, he should courageously resettle the Tamils from Kataragama to Kankesanthurai (KKS). This could be a stepping stone for a united Sri Lanka.” (Excerpt).

The present government is no different to earlier ones. The UN HRC resolution to which Sri Lanka is a co-sponsor moves at not even a snail’s speed.  The current President rejected any international involvement in the war crimes investigation, an important clause in the resolution.  As usual, the Prime Minister is using his diplomacy to adjust the hot and cold within the government. The constitutional council which intended to draft a new constitution has not even acknowledged that there is an ethnic conflict in the country. The talk show about a federal solution has already been rejected by many Ministers and supporters of the present government.

International community & India

At this juncture the best approach of the victims is not to rely on investing further confidence in this government. Each government of Sri Lanka has been buying time since 1948. As usual, the international approach and the high-profile lobby should continue. Presently the UK government as well as the opposition understand the dodgy agenda of the Sri Lankan government, especially on the ethnic issue. Canada and all European Union countries also.

In India, the Central government and the State government of Tamil Nadu have promised and made positive statements regarding a political settlement in Sri Lanka. The US which worked out the resolution is shuttling regularly between Washington and Colombo, pressuring Sri Lanka to implement the resolution in full. Now the US has begun to feel that they are on a ‘mission impossible’.  Like earlier governments, the present one is also buying time to enable their successful contribution towards converting the whole island into Sinhala Buddhism. They are brilliant in their diplomacy and have extensive experience in taking the international community for a ride.

They managed with India which they consider as a ‘disliked’ country, because of the Indian respect for Lord Buddha and Buddhism. Also the Sinhalese are not ready to excuse India for breeding Tamil militancy in India. Because of their animosity towards India, they even re-named ‘Mysore dhal ’ as red dhal’ and ‘Bombay onion’ as ‘big onions’. However with their strategic diplomacy, they won the war with the support of India. They gave a lesson to the world that anything is possible, as long as a country is good at diplomacy.

Now who is answerable to the Tamils? Is it the international community which passed several resolutions in the UN HRC or India which signed an accord with Sri Lanka on finding a political solution to the Tamils? Since 1948, Tamils have been cheated and lost their land, territory, economy, culture, kith and kin, etc.

Those who have hope in the present government should read what was predicted and written in the local media. Below I quote what was said by an independent writer:

“….President Sirisena appears willing to turn his back on his electoral mandate and do anything it takes to wrest back full control of the SLFP, at great cost to his presidential legacy. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe continues to adopt a see-no-evil approach while the actions of his party-men and advisors grievously damage and discredit his administration.

For both the President and the Prime Minister, this path is ultimately self-destructive. The benchmarks were set higher for them. Every deviation from their stated purpose is perceived as a grave betrayal. Their fall from grace will be steeper and more devastating.Elected as reformers, both men have made active choices to proceed with politics as usual. Rather than make difficult political decisions that would restore public faith in Government, they continue to pander and accommodate the most corrupt and inept within their ranks”. (Excerpt from ‘Something is rotten’, written by Dharisha Bastians on 26 May 2016, Daily FT)

STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: FAMILIES HIT BY FLOODS IN KILINOCHCHI

( Floods in Kilinochchi; Tamil Guardian Image)

by Easwaran Rutnam.-30/05/2016

Several families affected by the recent floods in Kilinochchi are looking at ways to survive after losing their crops. Jaffna based civil society said that most families in Kilinochchi depend on their paddy to earn a living.

However the heavy rain flooded the paddy fields in the area damaging over 3000 acres of paddy in the Kilinochchi district.

The Kilinochchi Disaster Management unit told The Sunday Leader that around 18,265 people from 5,467 families were badly affected by the floods. A spokesman at the Kilinochchi Disaster Management unit said that 16 houses were fully damaged in the floods and 251 houses were partially damaged.

He said the people displaced by the floods were housed in 12 centres but have now returned home since the water has receded. There was a concern that a lot of focus on sending relief to families in Colombo and Aranayake and very little to Kilinochchi.

However the spokesman at the Kilinochchi Disaster Management unit insisted that cooked food and dry rations had been given to the affected families in the area through the Disaster Management Centre.

“It is not true to say the people here have been ignored,” the spokesperson added.

The army said that on the direction of Major General K.A.D.A Karunasekera, the Commander of the Security Forces in Kilinochchi, troops assisted the local flood victims following the heavy rains in the Kilinochchi area.

The heavy rain resulted in the Mandagalaru bridge, which is located between the Jaffna and Mannar road (A-32), being affected disrupting transport activates. Troops from Army, Navy and Police were liaised with the fishers’ society in Pallikudha to help civilians to cross the bridge using boats.

The Nethilaru bridge which is located between Dharmapuram and Visuamadu on the A-35 road was also flooded and troops belonging to the 14 Sri Lanka National Guard (SLNG) Battalion placed sand bags to prevent the bridge from being damaged.

The Chief Coordinating Civil Affairs officer of the Security Forces Headquarters in Kilinochchi distributed lunch packs among the flood affected families in Ambalnagar while troops from the 16 (v) Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) also distributed meals for flood affected families at Marathanaga. In addition assistance was also given to the displaced people at Paranthankudiiruppu, Nadankudiiruppu and Umayalapuram.

Meanwhile, the army media unit said that on the directions of Brigadier Deepthi Jayatilaka, the General Officer Commanding of the 66 Division, troops of the 663 Brigade distributed relief parcels containing clothes, water bottles, dry ration, sanitary items and other essentials to the flood victims in Poonaryn with the support of the Unity Mission Trust Institute in Colombo.

The relief items were distributed to 74 families including 400 children at the Hindu Maha Vidyalaya, Paranthan and Mahadeva Child Home in Kilinochchi.

Sunday Leader