Journalist one of many unanswered disappearances in Sri Lanka

South Asia            

BBC VIDEO

8 June 2011 Last updated at 08:51 ET Help

It is over five hundred days since a website journalist and cartoonist in Sri Lanka, Prageeth Ekneligoda, disappeared after apparently being abducted.
No information on his fate has emerged.
He is just one among many Sri Lankans who have vanished and whose fate remains unclear.
The UN's working group on disappearances said it has been waiting more than four years for the government to respond to its request to visit Sri Lanka.
Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.
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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Abducted Tamil child found deployed in slave labour in Sinhala district

 

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 June 2011, 21:22 GMT]
The grandfather of an abducted 11-year-old Tamil boy from Batticaloa has been threatened by paramilitary for having braved to rescue his grandson from the grips of ‘treasure hunters’ who had deployed the abducted boy for slave labour in Dambulla. Mr. Velmurugu Sivalingam, the grandfather, upon receiving information on the whereabouts of his grandson, had rushed to Dambulla to rescue his grandson, Athisayarajah Soundararajah.

The boy, a student of Chiththaa'ndi Maha Viththiyaalayam was abducted by a paramilitary recruit, Ramachandran Mariyaraj, in May 2011.

He was later taken over by a Sinhala gang that deployed him in slave labour in Dambulla. The gang is said to be involved in treasure hunting.

Now, the paramilitary operated by the Sri Lanka Army has been threatening the grandfather and the grandson, according to complaints lodged with the Ea'raavoor Police and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) regional office in Batticaloa.

There have been several reports of Tamil children being abducted from Jaffna, Vanni and Batticaloa.

Dambulla, a key junction where Jaffna - Kandy and Colombo - Trincomalee highways cross, is situated in the Central Province.

TN Assembly passes resolution seeking imposition of economic sanctions against Sri Lanka

Chennai, June 8, 2011

PTI A file picture of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. Photo: PTI

Tamil Nadu Assembly today adopted a unanimous resolution seeking imposition of economic sanctions against Sri Lanka by India on issues concerning Tamils in the island nation, including alleged human rights violations.

The resolution moved by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa also wanted India to press the United Nations to declare as “war criminals” those who committed alleged crimes during the conflict in Sri Lanka. 

Ms. Jayalalithaa said only economic sanctions would “rein in” Sri Lanka, which she said, “did not heed the global opinion when it came to the Tamils issue”.     Full Story>>>
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08-June-2011

SRI LANKA: Fallout from the Indian State Elections 

Guest Column: Dr Kumar David 

The immediate thought is that the Jayalalitha factor will have serious implications for Sri Lanka in the coming period, but true as this is, one should not overlook two other matters which though more gradual will also deeply impact social and political evolution in the Island. I refer to the debacle of the communist led left alliance in West Bengal and the good showing of leaders, of whatever party, with a reputation for moral and financial rectitude. This paper will pay greater attention to the latter two factors; the impact of Jayalalitha’s victory is too obvious to need extensive comment. It will also place developments in the context of a sudden upsurge of working class militancy in Lanka in recent weeks.        Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka: Human Rights Council Should Ensure Accountability

Human Rights Watch

Oral Statement at the 17th Session of the Human Rights Council - June 6th, 2011

June 6, 2011

 Human Rights Watch is concerned about the failure of the Sri Lankan government to investigate well-founded allegations of very serious abuses that took place during the last months of its decades-long internal armed conflict, which ended in May 2009.
A report released by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in April concluded that both government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam conducted military operations "with flagrant disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians and failed to respect the norms of international law." It concluded that tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the war's final months, but that the government's efforts since then have fallen "dramatically short" of international standards and failed to satisfy Sri Lanka's obligations under international law.
Full Story>>>
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Ban still awaiting Lanka’s response

Wednesday, 08 June 2011 01:05 

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon said he was still awaiting the response of the Sri Lankan government on the Expert Panel recommendations, while claiming that he would continue to discuss with Sri Lanka on its accountability, the Inner City Press reported.

 “I am still awaiting the response of the Sri Lankan Government.
I am checking almost every day, every week so that they will send their response as soon as possible. That can give me further review on their response,” he told reporters following a news conference in New York on Monday in which Ban announced that he had met with the Asia Group and they support him for a second term as UN Secretary General.
He further said “most of the recommendations of the Panel’s report concerned steps which the Sri Lankan Government needs to take. Beyond what I can do within the UN to review its actions during the final stage of conflict, much will depend on the Government of Sri Lanka and the Member States who have been studying this report. Addressing the issue of accountability will be an essential step towards lasting peace and stability in the country. And I will continue to discuss this matter with the Sri Lankan leadership so that they will implement fully the recommendations in this Panel’s report. First and foremost, proper action is needed to be taken by the Sri Lankan Government. That’s what the international community really wants.”
After Ban's news conference, Inner City Press interviewed a Deputy Permanent Representative who attended the meeting. He said that no vote was taken, but rather “acclamation.” Inner City Press asked if Sri Lanka spoke, and the DPR said yes.
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A bad week for Rajapaksa

Feizal Samath

Wednesday, 08 June 2011
IT has not only been a bad week but a particularly humiliating one for the six-year-old government of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, enjoying his second term in unrivaled power.
Riding high after triumphantly ending a near 30-year-old conflict, Rajapaksa has played his cards wisely, shrewdly and somewhat ruthlessly, wiping out any opposition to his party and using war victory rhetoric to ensure he is firmly in control for another six years.                     FullStory>>>

Pressure is building on the Sri Lankan government to investigate war crimes allegedly committed by its military against captured Tamil rebels two years ago.

Sri Lanka: war crimes and confused Americans

Published on : 7 June 2011 - 1:23pm | By International Justice Desk (RNW)

Video footage purporting to show Sri Lankan army soldiers executing surrendering Tamils forms the basis of a UK Channel 4 documentary shown to the UN's Human Rights Council last weekend.
Sri Lankan government officials deny the video is authentic, or that there have been any war crimes committed by their military.
Sri Lankan Tamil activists have joined human rights groups in calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to start an investigation into alleged war crimes. But this process can only begin, according to the office of UN Secreatry General Ban Ki Moon, when the "host country [Sri Lanka] consents, or [following] a decision from [UN] member states through an appropriate intergovernmental forum".
American inconsistency   More >  
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Successful Hearing at EU agrees on a ground breaking resolution

Published: June 6, 2011Posted in: MeetingTags:

Tamil representatives, solidarity and human rights campaigns and individual activists converged on the European parliament on Wednesday (1 June). They came from eleven countries – in Europe, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and New Zealand – to a hearing hosted by Socialist Party Ireland MEP, Paul Murphy, on behalf of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group of MEPs. Heidi Hautala and Soren Sondergaard, both GUE/NGL MEPs, also participated.

With well over 100 participants, it was a good reflection of the spread of opinion among Tamil-speaking people. It was an opportunity to raise issues in three sessions: origins of the conflict; the war and its aftermath; the prospects for lasting peace.

At the end of a packed afternoon of discussion a resolution was passed. Following a thought-provoking discussion, a number of amendments are to be added before it is published. Most significantly, however, it promoted the idea of the need for a GUE/NGL fact-finding delegation to Sri Lanka as soon as is feasible. Closing the hearing, Paul Murphy said he would do all he could to make it a reality and expressed his willingness to go.

The resolution recognises the horrific scale of the massacres in the final months of the war in 2009. It calls for the closure of the secret prisons still in operation, along with the need to give the details of all those in detention, missing or dead. It demands the closure of all army camps in the north and east. And it takes up the need for trade union and other essential rights for all working class and poor people in Sri Lanka. This includes, of course, the right of self-determination for Tamil-speaking people. The resolution opposes the provision of military hardware and training, and financial support to the Sri Lankan regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa by western and other powers.

The hearing was timely. It came soon after the second anniversary of the ‘end’ of the war, and just after the release of a United Nations interim report which recognised, at long last, the scale of the death and destruction in 2009. It also took place on the day the Sri Lankan regime was hosting a meeting in Sri Lanka to promote its false propaganda on the war.

Despite the growing and damning evidence, the regime still claims that the killing of 40,000 (at the very least), mainly civilians, and the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands in prison camps were humanitarian exercises. It is hard to know what is most shocking: the absolute brutality or the sheer hypocrisy.

No doubt the regime will claim that those participating in the hearing are all ‘terrorists’, the allegation levelled against all who oppose its authoritarian rule. In reality, the hearing drew together various groups and individuals who are looking at ways to ensure that the struggle for Tamil rights is maintained. Delegates from Tamil Solidarity put forward its strategy of building a campaign linked to the organised working class, in particular the trade unions. We believe that this would provide a solid base of support among millions of workers, and would link the Tamil issues to this potentially massive social force.

Of course, it is correct to lobby and take the protest to the establishment institutions, such as the United Nations, European and British parliaments, embassies and other bodies at the same time. It would be wrong, however, to believe that these institutions will come to the rescue of the Tamils. At the end of the day, they reflect the interests of the dominant world powers. Tamil-speaking people must rely, above all, on their own power of mass mobilisation, alongside their natural allies in the trade union, workers’ and socialist movements. What is clear, is that with MEPs such as Paul Murphy, Tamils and other oppressed people do have some friends in these places on which they can rely.

Full text of the agreed resolution will be posted here once the amendments are agreed.

Tamil representatives, solidarity and human rights campaigns and individual activists converged on the European parliament on Wednesday (1 June). They came from eleven countries – in Europe, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and New Zealand – to a hearing hosted by Socialist Party Ireland MEP, Paul Murphy, on behalf of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group of MEPs. Heidi Hautala and Soren Sondergaard, also participated.

Manny Thain, National co-ordinator, UK, Tamil Solidarity
With well over 100 participants, it was a good reflection of the spread of opinion among Tamil-speaking people. It was an opportunity to raise issues in three sessions: origins of the conflict; the war and its aftermath; the prospects for lasting peace.
At the end of a packed afternoon of discussion a resolution was passed. Following a thought-provoking discussion, a number of amendments are to be added before it is published. Most significantly, however, it promoted the idea of the need for a GUE/NGL fact-finding delegation to Sri Lanka as soon as is feasible. Closing the hearing, Paul Murphy said he would do all he could to make it a reality and expressed his willingness to go.   Full Story>>>

“We will hunt you down and kill you like a dog”

Eye Witness        Lanka Independent   

Poddala Jayantha (at left) was known for his beard. Here he is seen accepting an award for Journalistic Excellence at the Editors Guild Award Ceremony in Sri Lanka

I feel it would have been better if they had killed me rather than subject me to that inhuman degrading torture. To go back to that time is to re-live every painful moment. The day I was abducted and tortured is seared in my memory. Branded upon my soul. The words of my abductors lash out at me, I heard them then, I hear them now as I write this article.         Read More
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Lanka Independent

Chief Justice or husband must resign

By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya | Published on June 4, 2011 at 7:37 am

Newly appointed Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake poses with her husband Pradeep Kariyawasam and President Rajapakse immediately after the oath taking ceremony on 18 May 2011
“All the four Judges of the Court were on the bench. Wright… had been raised to this high place over the heads of many abler and learned men solely on account of his unscrupulous  servility. Allibone was a Papist, and owed his situation to that dispensing power, the legality of which was now in question. Holloway had hitherto been a serviceable tool of the government. Even Powell, whose character for honesty stood high, had borne a part in some proceedings which it is impossible to defend… The government had required from its law officers services so odious and disgraceful that all the ablest jurists and advocates of the Tory party had, one after the other, refused to comply, and had been dismissed from their employments.”  -  Lord Macaulay, from The History of England: The King’s Bench in 1688 under James II, at the trial of the Seven Bishops.       Full Story>>>
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  “We can fix cases, we can free people” – Mahinda Rajapakse

In a shocking revelation, a former army intelligence officer Kandegedara Priyawansa told the Mount Lavinia Magistrate 12th May 2011 that he was instructed by the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) to claim that a top army official was involved in the killing of former Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga. The [...]
Read More

Menon, Nirupama to hold talks with Sri Lankan officials

Tuesday, Jun 07, 2011

India faces the uphill task of getting Sri Lanka act on joint statement

The aim is to ensure lasting peace in Sri Lanka

R.K. Radhakrishnan  COLOMBO: Two top Indian officials will visit Sri Lanka later this week to discuss, among other things, the progress in the reconciliation process in north Sri Lanka, and the United Nations Secretary-General's Expert Panel Report on Accountability in Sri Lanka.
Menon, Nirupama to hold talks with Sri Lankan officials
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Much blood spilt on 13th Amendment but India still wants it?

Tuesday, 07 June 2011 01:01 

They say 13 is an unlucky number. Irrespective of numerology, 13th amendment [13th] to the Constitution was never rosy. Indo Sri Lanka Accord conceived the 13th- an Indian lasso to loop Sri Lanka off the saddle.
Genie of the 13th was released deceptively by an eerie spirit of India, at a ceremony the Defence Minister Lalit Athulathmudali declined to attend and in protest Mahinda Rajapaksa took to the streets
Read more.... 
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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

On Sri Lanka, Ban Hasn't Moved to Review Actions of UN & Nambiar, Get Rajapaksa Support for 2d Term

June 6, 2011 3:31 p.m. 

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 6, updated -- In the past forty days, Ban Ki-moon has apparently done no review of Sri Lanka after he said on April 25 that he would act on the Panel of Experts' recommendation for a “review of the United Nations’ actions regarding the implementation of its humanitarian and protection mandates during the war in Sri Lanka – particularly in the last stages."  

Pillay & Ban previously in Geneva, Sri Lanka Report not shown

Full Story>>> 

10 Journalists Murdered in Sri Lanka

Lasantha Wickramatunga.
In "Murdered With Impunity," Sri Lankan journalist Sonali Samarasinghe describes the unsolved murder of her husband, the editor Lasantha Wickramatunga. Although Wickramatunga was beaten to death on a busy street in broad daylight, the government has failed to apprehend his attackers.

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Lanka Independent

“I will destroy you” – President Rajapakse

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SOMES DISTURBING IMAGES

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SOMES DISTURBING IMAGES Wickrematunge’s murder rocked the entire country in January 2009, government ministers and other SLFPers were already jittery, privately blaming the government for its failure to stop a dangerous trend within the country. Some Opposition UNP crossers over were visibly angry at the government’s failure to address the culture of impunity that had gripped the nation stating they had not crossed over to nurture this kind of break down of rule of law.

Body language

Read More

Where do we go from here?

by Nimalka Fernando
 

(June 06, Zurich, Sri Lanka Guardian) Thank you for inviting me to say few words during this Sivaram memorial meeting. One of main features of the meetings organized by the Platform Freedom soon after the assassination of Lasantha campaigning for Rights to Life and Freedom of Speech in which I am a convenor is the performance of Jayathilake Bandara a well known people’s vocalist to sing songs from his collection of People’s Echo.   The songa are written by him to challenge our conscience. At every meeting we held during the period 2007- 2009 all over the country a song specially dedicated to Sivaram. I would like you to listen to this song. He tells us about the singing fish of Batticaloa calling for Sivaram – He reminds about the deep voice of Taraki. Where ever we went this song haunts us – tell us about the brutal reality that Taraki is no more.

Sivaram has continued to live with us as we campaign for Right to Life and Freedom of Expression to universal principles which still remain threatened in Sri Lanka and continue to challenge the civil society activism in post war era.         Full Story>>>

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  06-June-2011n

SRI LANKA: Emerging Trends - Perspective from Tamil Nadu

Guest Column by V. Suryanarayan & Ashik Bonofer 

Sri Lanka watchers in Tamil Nadu were hoping that the Governor’s address to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on June 3, 2011 will be in conformity with the poignant statement made by Jayalalitha to the media soon after her spectacular electoral victory.  In that statement Jayalalitha solemnly assured the people of Tamil Nadu that she will exercise pressure on the Central Government to revise its Sri Lanka policy not only to expose the heinous crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Government during the last stages of the Fourth Eelam War and bring the guilty to book, but also to ensure that justice is done to the Tamils in the island nation. The reference to Sri Lanka in the Governor’s address, in contrast, was matter of fact and in many ways was a dampener to millions of Tamils across the world who expected a more forthright and assertive pronouncement. A former senior civil servant told the authors that while the first statement was an illustration of the heart swaying the head, the second was a political declaration of a government which was keen to maintain cordial relations with New Delhi.     Full Story>>>
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Monday, June 6, 2011

Massacre of Mullivaikal Video Watched by Diplomats, VIPs and CIVIL SOCIETY

 

  Geneva, 04-06-2011– Today, Friday, is one of the most unfortunate days ever for the government of Sri Lanka and its enormous delegation lobbying in the 17th session of the UN Human Rights Council Geneva. The day started with the Amnesty International screening of the “Channel 4” videos concerning the last days of the Vanni war. Nearly an hour of video footage was watched by UN Ambassadors, UN VIPs and members of Civil Society from all over the world.
According to Geneva sources, this was the first time that an NGO meeting was so well attended.   All seats were taken and many in the audience were standing. About 250 people watched horrendous war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Security forces carried out under the order of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, Defense Secretary Gothbaya Rajapaksa. The video screening in the UN building has stepped up pressure on Sri Lanka which has already eventually come under the close scrutiny of the international community.
A VIP said that after seeing this video, many member states may have changed their position on Sri Lanka.                 READ MORE »    

Remove military from FTZ - trade unions

06 June, 2011
Remove military from FTZ - trade unions

 

	A worker was killed and hundreds more sustained injuries after police attacked the protest

Powerful trade unions in Sri Lanka are calling for the immediate removal of military from the Katunayaka Free Trade Zone (FTZ).

Anton Marcus of the Joint Trade Union Alliance (JTUA) also urged the government to withdraw plans to establish a High Security Zone (HSZ) in the FTZ.

He told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya that security forces were deployed in FTZ after the police attack on the protesting workers on 30 May.

A young worker, Roshain Chanaka later succumbed to injuries received from live rounds.

"The government should investigate who ordered this attack, who carried it out and punish the culprits," Anton Marcus said.

No victimisation

Workers were protesting against the proposed private sector pension bill by the government.

	Unions say there are moves to establish a HSZ in FTZ

The introduction of the bill was postponed due to protests. However, the government says the bill will be re-introduced with amendments.

The unions are also seeking compensation of five million Sri Lankan Rupees (USD 46,000) for Roshain Chanaka as well as compensation for injured workers.

"Those who were injured should be paid until they come back to work. And their jobs should be secure until they come back after hospital treatment," said the union leader.

Most importantly, no worker should be victimised, he added.

Anton Marcus warned that authorities seem employing the military in a move to curb workers rights including right to protest and right to join a union using the military.

"This should immediately stop," he said.

Sarath Fonseka

Meanwhile, former military chief Sarath Fonseka speaking to journalists on Monday opposed military deployment.

	'I urge the army not to turn the guns used against terrorists towards civilians'

"In civilised countries one would not replace the police with the army to control protests," Mr Fonseka said.

The government that attempted to "steal" private sector workers funds, Mr Fonseka said, is currently planning to "steal" funds sent by Sri Lankans abroad.

"I urge the army not to turn the guns used against terrorists towards civilians."

General Fonseka made these comments on his way back to prison from a hearing in courts.

He is accused of spreading public disaffection by quoting allegations that the defence secretary ordered surrendering Tamil Tiger leaders to be shot dead.

A War Without Witnesses?

By Janith Aranze
It has long been said that the Government of Sri Lanka tried to fight ‘a war without witnesses’ when they ended the country’s 30 year old civil war.  However, Channel 4 has produced a chilling one hour video, which shows government troops executing Tamil prisoners and the terrible crimes carried out by the LTTE in the last stages of the conflict. The video, which is one of the most definitive

pieces of evidence to emerge since the war ended, has caused shockwaves within the international community.
The film titled Killing Fields is a documentary showcasing the final weeks of the thirty year long civil war between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The film was shown to the United Nations Human Rights Council, on Friday June 3, and is due to air on Channel 4 on June 14. When The Sunday Leader spoke to Channel 4, they said the film is ‘of great public interest’.  “Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch approached us about screening it at the UN.                 Read More »




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Brutal Assault

Brutal Assault

By Abdul H. Azeez in Katunayake – Photos by Lalith Perera and Asoka Fernando Chaos was unleashed on Monday, May 30 as police stormed into Free Trade Zone (FTZ) one in retaliation to rioting by the FTZ workers who protested the Private Sector Pensions Bill. One employee died of gunshot wounds while countless numbers were injured.
Sixteen policemen including District Inspector General Ravi Wijewardene were hospitalized. The biggest question asked is, who gave the order to shoot?

A mother mourns a lost son, Crowds took to the streets on Wednesday but the guilty are yet to be brought to book, The police have temporarily abandoned the Katunayake station to the army and Crowds demand justice for Roshain Galoluwa

  Read More »   

India reiterates joint statement

Sunday June 05, 2011By Our Dipomatic Editor
The Indian Government will insist on following up on the points contained in the controversial Joint Statement issued a fortnight ago following the visit of Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris to New Delhi for bi-lateral talks.
India’s position will be reiterated when the postponed visit to Colombo of a high powered delegation of Indian officials takes place late next week. National Security Adviser Shiv Shanker Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao are confirmed to comprise the Indian delegation that will hold talks with Sri Lankan leaders during their visit to Colombo. A meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa is also expected. 
read more..
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Sri Lanka’s military top guns discuss experiences and answer questions on how they overpowered the LTTE in the decisive stages of the military offensive

Sunday June 05, 2011By Chandani Kirinde
Most Sri Lankans and the world outside had a selective version of the decisive last three years of the military campaign in the north and east that ended dramatically with the annihilation of the LTTE leadership in May, 2009.
However, last week, at an open forum of a three day seminar in Colombo, titled, ‘Defeating terrorism –the Sri Lankan experience’, senior field commanders who served in the frontlines spoke on how they fought a formidable and uncompromising enemy, the LTTE. The seminar was attended by more than 300 delegates from over 40 countries.
The seminar, touched on contributions made by members of the Special Forces and other specialized units of the Sri Lanka Army who played a less known but indispensable role in supporting infantry troops to bring to an end a war that had dragged for 30 long years. The crucial role played by the Navy and Air Force in assisting ground troops too was discussed while progress of post-war issues such as resettlement, rehabilitation and re-integration of ex combatants were highlighted.  read more..  
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Why does this government hate universities? Fascists versus intellectuals

Why has this government taken to such an all out confrontation with intellectuals and the university community - that is students, teachers and prospective future students? I think it is to do with the intrinsic mental character of the Rajapaksa regime. What I mean is, MR, GR and SB have not sat down and mapped out a strategy which says ‘Let’s go out and defecate all over the intellectual community because we have an inferiority complex.’ No, what I mean is that this is the way things have worked out in practice, given the intrinsic nature of the regime. But first, don’t get me wrong when I say “intellectual” and imagine I mean some superior sort of being; no, I only use it as shorthand for people whose job is to work with education, R&D and mental sorts of things. That is, I use it as shorthand for public intellectuals, university teachers, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, etc., - so if you have a chip on your shoulder, or life was hard on you in those crucial years when others had a soft option, or if you didn’t manage to take a first, or whatever, just relax.

Read more... 

US attaché clarification, a linguistic legerdemain, accuses Boyle

[Mon, 06 Jun 2011, 00:03 GMT]

Response from the US State Department on the comments made this week by US defence attaché Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith in Colombo at the controversial 3-day seminar organised by the Sri Lankan military to expound on its defeat of the LTTE earlier this week that the remarks "reflected his personal opinions," and that "[t]hey [the comments] do not reflect the policy of the United States Government,” was "all linguistic legerdemain by the United States Government," accused Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in International Law and a professor at the University of Illinois School of Law.
                                                                       Full story >>            
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Paradigm hub is Sri Lanka: Jaffna academic responds to Chomsky

[Mon, 06 Jun 2011, 00:23 GMT]

“The U.S. and its allies are not going to want governments which are responsive to the will of the people. If that happens, not only will the U.S. not control the region, but it will be thrown out,” said renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky, addressing 25th anniversary of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), last month and commenting on the US response to popular uprisings in West Asia and North Africa. Responding, a Political Science academic in Jaffna said that even the progressive Western intellectuals, in their preoccupation with the Islamic World, pay little attention to more dangerous happenings in the island of Sri Lanka, where not only the US and its allies but all the powers in their greed to grab the island as a whole, set a new world record in collectively upholding genocide and extermination of a nation as means of ‘stability’ of their interests. Full story >>

Giving the middle finger: Sri Lanka’s conflicting responses to war crimes allegations

*groundviews journalism For citizenS

 4 Jun, 2011

Mr. A Nawan, Deputy Solicitor General of Sri Lanka
This symbolic screen grab is from a short video on Channel 4′s website, on the occasion of screening in Geneva a one-hour documentary into the denouement of the war in Sri Lanka. As Channel 4′s website notes,

“Disturbing footage in the film includes the apparent extra-judicial massacre of prisoners by government forces, the aftermath of targeted shelling of civilian hospitals and the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appear to have been sexually assaulted. Also examined in the film are atrocities carried out by the Tamil Tigers, including the use of human shields, and footage depicting the aftermath of a suicide bombing in a government centre for the displaced.”

The Deputy Solicitor General of Sri Lanka notes in response to the screening of the documentary,

“We have already made a preliminary investigation on the video and we have scientific material established that this particular video is not authentic.”

Clearly he knows something our Attorney General Mohan Pieris does not. Just days before, speaking to the same gathering of people in Geneva, our Attorney General noted,

“…the Government had been precluded from making a full assessment of the Channel 4 video because of the blurred quality of the images”

This fiasco again captures so well the Sri Lankan government’s deranged diplomatic and domestic responses to serious war crimes allegations. Our Foreign Minister contradicts himself daily and as we have carefully documented has no coherent response to the UN Panel’s report. Worse, he seemingly lies in and misdirects parliament. The government organised seminar on how to defeat terrorism, but didn’t address serious human rights concerns captured most recently by the UN as well as in the explosive book by former UN spokesperson Gordon Weiss, The Cage. Plus there is the no civilians killed party line. Finally, there are even those who believe that even if the Channel 4 video is true, it is “unrepresentative and irrelevant”.
We didn’t in fact publish the video Channel 4 first broadcast it in 2009. It was too gruesome for a start. The shock factor for British and foreign audiences would have been tasteless and counterproductive to feature on a site read mostly by those who are no strangers to violent conflict. Secondly, it was when first broadcast, by Channel 4′s own admission, unauthenticated video. While Channel 4 and Journalists for Democracy may have had good reason to believe the video was true, we had no way of ascertaining this since no one else had seen or examined it. We did however have some extremely interesting debate and discussion around the video at the time. A video of shame and outrage: Responses, positions and clarifications captured some of the best comments. At the time, because Channel 4 said that they could not verify the authenticity of the video, many commentators like Observer parroted the line of the Sri Lankan government as well the High Commissioner in London, calling the video “an unbelievable fabrication”.
The government hasn’t changed its tack, but the video continues to haunt it. It refuses to go away because in 2010 and again this year, under two consecutive UN Special Rapporteur’s on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execution, the authenticity of the video has been established. In 2010, Philip Alston’s investigation held the video was authentic. In 2011, the investigation into the longer version of the video by Professor Christof Heyns concurred. Back in 2009, the government tried and failed to convince OFCOM to take action against Channel 4 for broadcasting this video. Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said in September of that year that the Government would call for the retraction of video from Channel 4, as comprehensive investigations and analysis conducted by four experts commissioned by the government had provided scientific evidence to prove that it was a fake and a heavily tampered video. Minister Samarasinghe also said legal action against Channel 4 was being considered.
Is this the scientific evidence being quoted now by the Deputy Solicitor General of Sri Lanka? But if the Attorney General is to be believed that the video is too blurred to assess accurately, what then of this ‘scientific evidence’? What happened to the legal action against Channel 4? Where are the government experts, two in fact from the Sri Lankan army, today?
The government’s response (or more accurately, conflicting responses), much like the Deputy Solicitor General’s involuntary yet hugely symbolic gesture, is sadly very far removed from what even some of its most senior diplomats suggest is a better way forward. Truth, it seems, is not just a casualty of war, but remains hostage to our government’s notion of peace.