‘Politics not possible in militarised North’ - JVP/TNA

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Sunday 26 June 2011

The continuous intimidatory tactics of the security forces have made campaigning in the North almost impossible claim the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP.) The candidates of both parties have been questioned and sometimes detained by military intelligence in a bid to cripple their election activities geared towards the July 23 Local Government elections.
“On Friday one of our organizers of the Karachchi Local Council was detained in an abandoned building by military intelligence officers. Almost all our candidates in the North have been questioned and their campaign activities have been obstructed, daily,” said JVP propaganda secretary, Vijitha Herath.   
Meanwhile the TNA claims that there is no freedom of movement, expression or peaceful assembly in the North where military rule still prevails. The police have not yet taken any concrete action regarding the alleged attack on their meeting in Alaveddy which raises serious concerns about law enforcement in Sri Lanka said TNA MP A. Vinayagamoorthy.
“There are no civil and political rights here. These are fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution. The government wants to somehow win the elections in the North and they are lashing at what they see as threats.”
Meanwhile, Jaffna Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe told LAKBIMAnEWS that law and order prevails in the North and the fundamental rights/political freedoms of the people are assured.
“There is no problem. We do not discriminate against or support any political party and everyone can canvass peacefully.”
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Left Front protests against SLA attack on TNA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 June 2011, 12:47 GMT]
The Left Front, led by Vickramabahu Karunaratne, on Friday staged a protest in Colombo against the attack on Tamil National Alliance election meeting in Jaffna. The attack on TNA meeting, carried out by an SLA contingent that was led by a Sri Lanka Army Colonel and two Major rank officers, was a “planned attack with a political directive from the top,” Dr. Karunaratne alleged. United Socialist Party, Socialist Party, Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) of Mano Ganesan and the Tamil National Alliance took part in the protest.
“The workers in the south are now prepared to fight back. There are struggles in all sectors including the university professors,” Dr. Karunaratne said.
The demonstrators carried placards against what they labelled as “martial law in North”.
The elections in Jaffna are going to be held under martial law. It is therefore important to fight back, calling to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) and Emergency Regulations, the demonstrators said.

Tamil and Sinhala politicians in demonstration organised by the Left

More information seeps out about the treacherous State media personnel who illicitly sold the war videotapes abroad

(Lanka-e-News -24.June.2011,11.50PM) Following the disclosure by LeN yesterday that the video footage which reveals the actions of the SL Army was presumably sold by a State media personnel, more information on him had come to light.

It is now known that this media personnel who was attached to a prominent State media Institution may have acted in excess of his powers in order to conceal his unscrupulous deals , and even during the war he had been selling the videotapes on the sly to AL Jazeera television service.

It is a rule of this State media Organization that even if a senior producer of a program is going out for videotaping an event he must of necessity take with him a cameraman. At the initial stages this culprit of a media personnel had been taking with him a cameraman , but later he had discontinued this practice alleging that he harbored suspicions about the cameraman, and he had therefore obtained permission to do the videotaping himself. A chief of the Institution who reposes confidence in him had granted the permission. However it is learnt that the permission granted is not in accordance with the laws. This media personnel had actually taken over these assignments during the war to himself solo in order that his secretive illicit business will not be detected.  FullStory>>>
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UN Dodges Sri Lanka Claim On Killing Fields, Ban Hasn't Seen, Silent on Prageeth

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 23 -- While Sri Lanka has yet to even respond to the UN on its Panel of Experts report on war crimes, the country's Mission to the UN has put out a response to the recent film “Killing Fields," entitled "Still trying to corner Sri Lanka." On June 23, Inner City Press asked for the UN's reply:

Inner City Press: There has been a response now by the Sri Lankan Mission to the Killing Fields film.. it talks about the scene where Tamil civilians were seen pleading with the UN not to leave, which was Kilinochchi. And the statement by the Mission is: “At the time the UN had said that the demonstration was not genuine.” Is it possible to know from the UN if they agree with this or they deny this statement by the Sri Lanka Mission that the demonstration, which was one of the things he is supposed to be looking into; the UN’s own action, pulling out of Kilinochchi, did the UN leave because they thought that the demonstration was somehow not genuine, or is this a false statement by the Sri Lankan Mission?

FULl Story&gt

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields continues to make waves

One week after broadcast, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields has been watched by over a million viewers in the UK* and over 270,000 views worldwide on VoD. The film has been viewed on 4oD in over 30 countries.**
On Tuesday, the film was screened to diplomats and US media in New York. United Nations missions from the US, India, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and East Timor attended. The Sri Lankan government sent a delegation of eight with Mr Palitha T.B. Kohona, Ambassador & Permanent Representative of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and Brigadier Shavendra de Silva both speaking after the film.
During his response to the film, Mr Palitha T.B. Kohona said: "Even if you counted all the people who are dead on that video, I do not think you could come up with a total of 100. That is not to suggest that others were not hurt or died, they may have, but even if you counted every single body that was in that video I do not think you can come up to a total of 100."
He went on to refer to a statement released by the military saying; "The military will look into any instances that can be substantiated where soldiers have broken the law. And there are instances which we saw on that screen which were not very pleasant and which may be brought under the criminal law of the country and the military have said that, very categorically, that they will deal with situations like that. And, of course, to suggest that Sri Lanka cannot handle its own shortcomings is extremely paternalistic and extremely colonial, we can handle our own shortcomings."
On Wednesday, there was a well-attended Sri Lanka event at the House of Commons. Jon Snow introduced clips from Sri Lanka's Killing Fields and Channel 4 News Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Miller chaired a discussion. On the panel were Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Alistair Burt MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights Ann Clwyd MP, Yolanda Foster from Amnesty international and the film's director Callum Macrae. Attendees included Siobhan McDonagh MP, Andy Love MP, Jim Dowd MP, Lee Scott MP, Yasmin Qureshi MP, Mike Gapes MP, Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer Susan Miller and Former MP, Joan Ryan.
The critically-acclaimed investigation into the final weeks of the quarter-century-long civil war between the government and the secessionist rebels, the Tamil Tigers, featuring devastating new video evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity has already provoked comment from Prime Minister David Cameron.
The response from viewers has been overwhelmingly positive making it the most appreciated Channel 4 programme in the last seven days.
Notes to Editors
* Sri Lanka consolidated figures at 1m/10.3 per cent - up 95 per cent on the slot volume average of 0.5m and 98 per cent on the share slot average of 5.2 per cent
** The film has been ungeoblocked since 15 June on VoD and will remain available internationally for 30 days.

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields on Channel4.com
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Ghana Steps Down From UN Human Rights Council - Will Anyone Notice?

20 June 2011Last Friday marked the end of the seventeenth session of the UN Human Rights Council - the last session of Ghana's five-year membership. When the Council reconvenes this September, will anyone notice Ghana's absence? Not likely.
Considered to be a leading African voice in the promotion of human rights, Ghana was elected to the Council with high expectations. Unfortunately, as its tenure at the Council ends, Ghana has neither lived up to its reputation nor the expectations. Ghana's record at the Council in the latter half of its term has been characterised by sporadic participation, occasionally negative voting practices and, most disappointingly to human rights advocates, a complete failure to be a leader at the Council.    More »

Sri Lanka envoy accepts memo on ill-treatment of Tamils

K Pragalath and B Nantha Kumar | June 24, 2011
A delegation of opposition parliamentarians and NGO representatives listed out their demands for better treatment of those in Sri Lankan camps.

KUALA LUMPUR: A delegation of opposition parliamentarians, NGO representatives and a senator, appalled by the treatment of Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims, today handed over memorandum to the Sri Lankan High Commissioner here.
But to reach the Sri Lankan envoy DD Ranasinghe’s office, the delegation of about 40 people, had to pass through heavy police presence.
The delegation was led by PKR’s Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul, Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusoff, and Subang parliamentarian R Sivarasa. They were joined by Teluk Intan MP M Manoharan, Senator S Ramakrishnan and Tamil Foundation representative K Arumugam.
On Wednesday, Johari attempted to file a motion in Dewan Rakyat to discuss the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils but the motion was denied by Deputy Speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar on the grounds that it was Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.
The delegation today had an hour-long discussion with Ranasinghe.
Speaking to FMT later, Manoharan, who visited Sri Lanka with Johari Abdul and Ramakrishnan early this month, said: “The Sri Lankan High Commission claimed that there is complete restoration but we saw 300,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), of whom 80,000 are widows.
“There are attempts to wipe out the (Tamil) community and the Muslim community is also suffering.
“The military is enjoying the fruits of war and they have lied to us on a government-to- government level,” Manoharan said.
Manoharan said the envoy will respond to the memorandum in writing by the end of the month.
In the memorandum the group listed several demands. Among them were:

• immediate action to be taken to provide the people in IDP camps with all the basic needs including sanitation and clean drinking water; and

• immediate withdrawal of military personnel and replacing them with full civil administration in the north and north-eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

How the world should react to ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’

Published On Thu Jun 23 2011

An image from the documentary 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields.'
The harrowing film provides evidence of war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

Channel 4

Yiagadeesen Samy

Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields — the title echoes the Cambodian genocide — is a documentary that was aired by Britain’s Channel 4 Television earlier this month. It describes the final weeks of the brutal civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. This was also around the time when thousands of Tamil Canadians demonstrated in Ottawa and Toronto to pressure the Canadian government to ask its Sri Lankan counterpart for a ceasefire. Some of the scenes in the documentary are so gruesome that it was shown after 11 p.m. Channel 4 has made it available for viewing worldwide for a few more days (and it has been uploaded on several websites already). Having seen it, I can tell you that it is not for the faint-hearted. In particular, it provides authenticated evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces, which have been vehemently denied by the Sri Lankan government. More important, this documentary is another tragic reminder of the realities of war faced by innocent civilians caught in conflict zones — and the international community’s failure to protect them. In the early part of the documentary, we see the few UN workers who were based in Kilinochchi, the LTTE’s political capital, leaving in late 2008 (despite the pleas of the Tamil civilians not to do so) after being told by the Sri Lankan government that their safety could no longer be guaranteed. Gordon Weiss, a former UN spokesman in Sri Lanka who appears in the documentary, describes this as a deliberate attempt on the part of the Sri Lankan government to prevent international witnesses from reporting on what happened next. However, thanks to modern technology, and similar to what has happened in the ongoing Arab uprising, the documentary features graphic video footage captured on cellphones by Tamils under attack and Sri Lankan government soldiers collecting trophy videos. Among the footage shown in the film, one can see the aftermath of targeted shelling of field hospitals and civilians by the Sri Lankan army; LTTE prisoners being shot in the back of the head by soldiers; and female Tamil fighters who have been abused, raped and murdered being dumped into trucks by soldiers making lewd comments about them. Ironically, many of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had been relocated in the so-called government-designated “no-fire” zones in the final stages of the war were also killed by shelling and airstrikes. This is not to say that the LTTE were innocent, as the documentary clearly shows. The Tigers are also blamed in the film for using civilians as human shields and killing those who tried to escape. Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields thus largely confirms the findings of the UN “Report of the Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka” released in April of this year. As in the case of the documentary, the UN findings were equally denied by the Sri Lankan government, which also refused to let the panel visit Sri Lanka and urged the UN not to publish its report. In particular, the report mentions “a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international rights law was committed both by the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.” The UN report says that most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war were the result of government shelling, which also targeted food distribution lines and took place near Red Cross ships that were trying to rescue the wounded and their relatives. It blamed UN political organs and bodies, as well as international officials, for not protecting civilians and not publishing casualty numbers to illustrate the extent of the war. It called for an international investigation, especially in light of the fact that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), set up by the government of Sri Lanka, does not meet international standards of independence and impartiality. It is unlikely that the LLRC will investigate whether violations took place, since its main objective is to reflect on what happened between the ceasefire agreement of 2002 and the end of the war in May 2009. Only time will tell what the commission delivers but three well-known international NGOs (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group) have already refused to testify before what they consider a flawed process. Going forward, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields represents a powerful case for the international community to follow the recommendation of the UN report and conduct a thorough independent international inquiry into what happened during the final weeks of the 26-year civil war. Although UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has indicated that he does not have the authority to act upon the recommendations of his own panel of experts to launch an international investigation, the UN Security Council or the UN Human Rights Council could certainly do so. Two years have passed since the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka and it is time for the international community to act to ensure that the victims receive justice. The brutal tactics of the Tigers, which included the recruitment of child soldiers and use of suicide bombers, cannot be used as justification for what happened during the final stages of the war. Reconciliation and lasting peace in a post-conflict environment cannot be achieved without truth and accountability. Yiagadeesen Samy is associate professor of International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University and research associate at the North-South Institute.

Azwar the ‘Balty Baba’ also is capable of rotating his cap in all directions –Prabhakaran he mentioned yesterday is made Tamilselvam by him today in Parliament

(Lanka-e-News, 22.June.2011, 11.55PM)
National list United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) M P A H M Azwar who told in Parliament that Prabhakaran’s wife and children are being provided protection by the President made an announcement today that was something diametrically different .

Azwar stated yesterday in Parliament ,that the American Forces killed Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden , his wife and children , but Sri Lanka President is protecting the wife and children of Prabhakaran, and those children are attending School. This announcement sent a wave of shock among many people.. May be he made this utterance , because the body of the wife of Prabhakaran was not found although the bodies of the children were discovered.

Azwar , this morning made it a point to first declare that his statement in Parliament yesterday had been misreported. But after the opposition MPs objected and insisted that he did make such a statement and that there was nothing wrong in the reporting , Azwar admitted his serious blunder and tendered an apology . He then claimed that what he meant to say was , Tamilselvan and his wife are being given protection and not the wife and children of Prabhakaran.
It is well to recall that Azwar is a noted ‘ballty baba’ (of course, not one among those sold in the pavements), rather ,he is a somersault expert having changed parties more often than not. Earlier he was in the UNP and then pole vaulted to the President’s camp purportedly to strengthen ‘President’s both hands’. No matter what , his misleading statement in Parliament has become a theme of conversation among all, for, by that , despite the fact that he is a senior politician ,he has made a gross betrayal of his ignorance of a fact that even a kindergarten child is aware – Prabahakaran's wife and children are no more.

Sri Lanka’s bloody secret

If what Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields shows doesn’t constitute crimes against humanity, nothing does

In 2009, the Sri Lankan army decided to move forward relentlessly to annihilate the Tamil Tigers. The government had tacit Western support and access to weapons from China, and India was not about to help the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), despite the exigencies of coalitions, particularly when the coalition was led by a party (Congress) whose leader, Rajiv Gandhi, the LTTE had assassinated in 1991.
Also Read | Salil Tripathi’s previous columns
And so when Sri Lanka declared victory on 16 May that year, there were few tears shed for the LTTE. Sure, human rights groups condemned the army, but they would, wouldn’t they? The LTTE had earned few friends in its long campaign for Eelam. Sri Lanka was getting praise: military analysts wanted to learn from Sri Lankans how the war was concluded. One lesson that seemed to be emerging was to expel providers of humanitarian assistance, non-government organizations, journalists, and other foreign busybodies, and swiftly, brutally, clinically complete the job. First-hand accounts began to emerge, and slowly, the carefully crafted narrative—of Sri Lankan military’s precision, of the Tigers’ capitulation, and their use of women and children as human shields—began to unravel.                more >>

Slowdown may gain some momentum

Ministry, regulator differ over use of rural telecom fund

SpiceJet seeks RBI approval to raise $270 mn

  

Emergence of war crimes video evidence brings IBAHRI call on Sri Lankan Government to establish credible investigation

21/06/2011

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to fully cooperate with the international community to establish an independent commission of inquiry in accordance with the recommendations made in the United Nations’ Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka.
Further, the IBAHRI is gravely concerned by the increasing amount of evidence relating to alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed during the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The catalogue of evidence of perpetrated heinous crimes was expanded recently by the UK's Channel 4 News documentary, ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’. Broadcast on 14 June 2011, the documentary depicts executions, death, injury and evidence of sexual abuse.

Dr Mark Ellis, IBA Executive Director, said, ‘“Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, is very disturbing footage which, without doubt, shows prima facie evidence that war crimes, and likely crimes against humanity were committed, as defined by international law. Prompt and effective investigations should be conducted immediately to bring to justice those who committed these crimes, as well as those with command responsibility who failed to stop the atrocities. International law is unequivocal in this respect.’
Although the Government of Sri Lanka has established the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, to address issues of accountability, the Panel of Experts appointed on 22 June 2010, to advise the United Nations Secretary-General, states in its Report that the Commission ‘is deeply flawed’ and ‘does not meet international standards for an effective accountability mechanism’ and ‘cannot satisfy the joint commitment of the President of Sri Lanka and the Secretary-General to an accountability process.’ The Panel’s recommendation is that the UN Secretary-General ‘should immediately proceed to establish an independent international mechanism’ to ‘conduct investigations independently into the alleged violations, having regard to genuine and effective domestic investigations.’
‘We believe that in order to build a lasting, sustainable peace and to maintain public confidence in the rule of law, the Government of Sri Lanka must send a clear signal that it is committed to ensuring accountability for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,’ said Dr Mark Ellis.

India and Sri Lanka after the LTTE

Asia Report N°206 23 Jun 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
India has long been the country with the greatest influence over Sri Lanka but its policies to encourage the government there towards a sustainable peace are not working. Despite India’s active engagement and unprecedented financial assistance, the Sri Lankan government has failed to make progress on pressing post-war challenges. Government actions and the growing political power of the military are instead generating new grievances that increase the risk of an eventual return to violence. To support a sustainable and equitable post-war settlement in Sri Lanka and limit the chances of another authoritarian and military-dominated government on its borders, India needs to work more closely with the United States, the European Union and Japan, encouraging them to send the message that Sri Lanka’s current direction is not acceptable. It should press for the demilitarisation of the north, a return to civil administration there and in the east and the end of emergency rule throughout the country.

New Delhi’s relations with Sri Lanka in the two years since the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have had four main priorities:

• providing humanitarian assistance to displaced Tamils in the north and east;
• supporting major development projects, primarily in the north, with concessionary loans;
• pressing the Sri Lankan government and the main Sri Lankan Tamil political alliance, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), to work towards a negotiated settlement of ethnic conflict through the devolution of power to Tamil-majority areas in the north and east; and
• encouraging greater economic integration between the two economies. 
• Full Story>>>

No information for relatives on Sri Lanka missing

South Asia

23 June 2011

Two hundred people a day were permitted to make inquiries

Hundreds of people in Sri Lanka's north who responded to a police announcement about relatives held in detention say they have been given no information.

Ten days ago police said they would give details about those detained in the war, which ended in May 2009.
BBC Sinhala has learned of only one man out of hundreds who went to the former war zone of Vavuniya and actually found out where his relative was.

Thousands of families are still seeking loved ones two years after the war.
Continue reading the main story  
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China lends $1.86b infrastructure loan to Sri Lanka

Jun 23, 2011

SRI LANKA - SRI LANKA said on Thursday China has agreed to financially assist it with US$1.5 billion (S$1.86 billion) for several infrastructure projects within next three years.
'China Development Bank Corporation has agreed to provide financial assistance in a sum of US$1.5 billion within three years for construction of roads, bridges, water supply and irrigation schemes and power,' the government said in a statement.
It did not elaborate on the loan terms.
The Indian Ocean island nation has planned over US$6 billion worth of infrastructure projects mainly with loans including new air and sea ports, express highways, coal and hydro power plants, and railway network to boost post-war foreign direct investments.
China has already lent US$1.9 billion and pledged another US$2.46 billion for road projects, the next phases of a coal-fired power plant and a new port. Beijing has been the main actor in the country's post-war redevelopment drive.
Sri Lanka has been heavily investing on long-neglected infrastructure due to the war to attract global investors. -- REUTERS

Teaching a new lesson or two

Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
Colombo, June 22, 2011
We know about the seminar that the army proudly held on how to tackle terrorism without getting their soft, saintly hands bloodied. Three days of lessons and lectures to fellow army men from other countries about smoothly carrying out humanitarian operations, hostage rescue missions and all that.
Lately, army personnel have been teaching lessons of a different kind to academics and politicians in Jaffna.
These incidents brought to focus that in spite of all the tall government claims of normalcy returning to areas in the former war zone, they remain heavily militarised and the man on the street at the mercy of a soldier in a bad mood or working under orders from a superior.
In one incident, a discussion between group of academics and social workers on collecting manuscripts and digitising them was disrupted by the army.
“As we started, the army arrived and a person identifying himself as Colonel Jayawardene brusquely entered our hall rudely shouting “who is in charge?”
When the person in charge, an emeritus professor, identified himself, the colonel shouted at him for all to hear, “No LTTE commemorations. Ministry of Defence orders. Do you understand?” a statement from the Noolham Foundation, which organised the seminar, said.
Then, last week, the army barged into a meeting of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and roughed-up MPs and their security personnel. “…several soldiers (were) in full uniform, carrying automatic weapons and long poles in their hands, rushed into the hall and started assaulting the people. About 30 of them were led by an officer who wore T’shirt and army fatigue trousers and boots,” a TNA statement added. Later, an officer promised to look into the matter.
But can soldiers disturb political meetings without seniors knowing about it?
As far as I know, the Sri Lanka army (SLA) is a famously disciplined force with most of their personnel having learnt human rights norms and charters by their heart and soul.
Tamil parties have repeatedly raised the issue of militarisation of the north.
Two years after the war, there is apparently no letting up in army presence there; in fact new cantonments are coming up and personnel are now running shops all along the A9 highway.
Probably, it’s time learn some business sense from them as well.
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Sri Lanka 'war crime' images fuel Tamil resentment

 
Agence France-Presse
Colombo, June 23, 2011


A TV documentary with gruesome footage that appears to back up war crimes charges against Sri Lankan troops has aggravated ethnic wounds two years after the end of the island's civil war. The decision by  Britain's Channel 4 to provide free Internet access to the documentary after its broadcast last week, means that members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, as well as majority Sinhalese, have been able to view and share the content. The programme, titled "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields," contained footage shot on video or mobile phones during the final months of the ultimately successful 2009 offensive by government troops against Tamil Tiger rebels
The images appear to show troops carrying out summary executions, as well as the bodies of female Tamil fighters that have been sexually assaulted.
It also includes footage that lends weight to repeated allegations -- strongly denied by the Sri Lankan government -- that the military deliberately targeted Tamil civilians caught up in the fighting.  Full Story>>> 

A response: ‘ The Silence of Sri Lanka’

An open letter to Dear Mr. Miliband,Member of Parliament for South Shields, The House of Commons

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(June 22, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the above article by yourself and Mr. Bernard Kouchner, published yesterday in The New York Times.

You say in this article ‘In April 2009, we travelled together as foreign ministers to Sri Lanka, as 25 years of fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers neared its end.

The remaining fighters were trapped in the northern most part of the country — along with large numbers of civilians. U.N. estimates put the numbers of civilians there in the last few months of the war at over 300,000.

Our purpose was simple: to draw attention to the human suffering, to call for humanitarian aid and workers to be allowed in, and to call for the fighting to stop.    Read More  
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The Silence of Sri Lanka

Published: June 20, 2011

By DAVID MILIBAND and BERNARD KOUCHNER

In April 2009, we travelled together as foreign ministers to Sri Lanka, as 25 years of fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers neared its end.
The remaining fighters were trapped in the northern most part of the country — along with large numbers of civilians. U.N. estimates put the numbers of civilians there in the last few months of the war at over 300,000.
Our purpose was simple: to draw attention to the human suffering, to call for humanitarian aid and workers to be allowed in, and to call for the fighting to stop.     Full Story>>>

President is looking after the wife and children slain LTTE leader Pirabakaran claims government MP

(June 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A very loyal Member of Parliament of the President A H M Asfar has claimed in the parliament (21/7) that LTTE leader’s family members are safe and are well looked after by the President Dr Mahinda Percy Rajapakse.

He used the parliamentary privileges and gone on to compare the killing of the Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden and his family members by the US intelligence service and the humane President sparing the family members of LTTE leader Pirabkaran and looking after them well in a safe place.

The parliamentarian had claimed: ‘This is what the humane character of the President’.

The ranting parliamentarian went on to accuse the Channel 4 revelation, is the work of the Diaspora and accused the opposition party members of shedding crocodile tears.

Editor’s comment: The comments of A H M Asfra MP confirm the pathetic state of the composition of parliamentarians in Sri Lanka. How can Sri Lanka progress to address theaccountability and political accommodative issues when the President is surrounded by a bunch of goons who cannot think beyond hero worshiping the leader for achieve benefits in kind for their loyal support.

Getting away with murder in Colombo

Eric Ellis
June 23, 2011

An unnamed woman by Tamil Tiger war graves. Photo: Matt Wade

WHEN governments kill the people they are mandated to protect and help prosper, what is the world's tipping point for outrage? How horrific must despotism be to compel the ''international community'' to pursue and prosecute national leaders whose regimes commit war crimes?
In the Bosnian war of the 1990s, it was incontestable; Srebrenica, the largest mass murder in Europe since the Holocaust, a massacre directly witnessed by the very international peacekeepers deployed to stop it. Two Serb leaders, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, are on trial in The Hague, the evidence against them overwhelming.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/getting-away-with-murder-in-colombo-20110622-1gfan.html#ixzz1Q2Ia7Bwk
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One retired Chief Justice turns to monkhood while another returns to advise a kleptocracy

LANKA Independent

 By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya | Published on June 21, 2011

If you hear that a former Chief Justice has became a Buddhist monk, your first thought may perhaps turn to the former Chief Justive of Sri Lanka Sarath Nanda Silva. Chief Justice Silva while a sitting judge thought nothing of preaching Buddhism on national television. Not only that he openly claimed Sri Lanka to be a Sinhala Buddhist country. Chief Justice Sarath N Silva was also a friend of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Many years ago, Silva’s young son was even among Mahinda Rajapakse’s wedding entourage as a page boy.

Former Chief Justice Asoka De Silva receives his appointment letter as Senior Legal Advisor to the President from President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees. Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga is also in the picture. Photo by Nalin Hewapathirana

Full Story>>>
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Sri Lanka regime rejects press freedom bill

– Tue Jun 21 

Members of the Sri Lankan media participate in a silent protest outside a court in Kaduwela, a suburb … 
 

– Tue Jun 21, 1:47 pm ET

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's ruling party used its parliamentary majority Tuesday to defeat an opposition-initiated bill to grant greater media freedom, a parliamentary official said.
President Mahinda Rajapakse's United People's Freedom Alliance, which enjoys a two-thirds majority in the 225-member assembly, shot down the Freedom of Information Bill presented by an opposition lawmaker, an official said.
"The combined opposition voted for the bill, but the government overwhelmingly voted against it," the official said citing Tuesday's proceedings in the legislature.
There was no immediate comment from the government which maintains a state of emergency which gives sweeping powers to police and security forces to detain suspects for long periods.
The opposition had presented the bill after accusing the government of trying to stifle media freedom in a country where 17 journalists and media employees have been killed in the past decade.
There is no formal censorship in Sri Lanka, but rights groups say many privately-run media institutions are self-censoring for fear of intimidation from the authorities.
Opposition parties accuse the government of maintaining emergency laws, even two years after security forces crushed Tamil Tiger separatists in May 2009, to suppress political opponents.

‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ – shocking the UN into action

Sri Lanka's civil war killed up to 100,000 people and displaced thousands © Amnesty International

By José Luis Díaz, Head of Amnesty International’s United Nations Office

As we prepared for the screening today of the Channel 4 film, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” at Amnesty International’s United Nations office in New York, our main worry was the size of the turnout.

We had already seen the cancellation of a separate screening for the media at UN headquarters because it would have clashed with the UN General Assembly vote – decided only a few days ago – giving Ban Ki-moon a second term as Secretary-General.

The fairly sizeable audience that eventually made it to the screening was surely not expecting to learn much that was new: the events at the end of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009 have been well documented, and the documentary was broadcast in the UK last week before being put on the web.

Still, no one is really prepared for the gruesome, heartrending and nearly unbearable images, captured by victims and sometimes by perpetrators, of civilians under deliberate attack and summary executions.

The film shocks you into silence. And so it was today: during the screening there was hardly a sound from the audience of diplomats, journalists and human rights workers, not even the otherwise ubiquitous pecking on smart phone keys.

The only noise came from the scribbling of the Sri Lankan ambassador to the UN and his deputy, who took notes in order to respond to the film.

Dr Palitha Kohona and Major General Shavendra Silva headed a 15-member Sri Lankan delegation to the screening. Silva is featured in the film, because in 2009 he headed the Sri Lankan army’s 58th Division, accused, among other things, of executing LTTE leaders attempting to surrender.

Their defence of the government was curious. In essence, they maintained that if the international community has done almost nothing to establish accountability in Sri Lanka – unlike the case of Sudan or Libya – it is because nothing untoward has happened there. But, as the saying goes, facts are stubborn things, including those recorded by mobile phone video cameras and detailed in reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International and others.

Even Kohona was forced to admit that in part, saying, during the discussion after the screening, that the film seemed to show some violations that would be looked at.  A small concession, perhaps, but one that needs to be seen in the context of decades of basically sham national commissions of inquiry and “lessons learned” panels.

Meanwhile, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon begins his second term our hope is that he stops sitting on a report drafted by experts he appointed and governments strongly back their call for an international investigation into the outrages perpetrated two years ago in Sri Lanka.

Video might change reader’s mind

Published On Tue Jun 21 2011

Re: These refugees are not victims, Letter June 20

Last Tuesday, Channel 4 TV (Britain) aired a documentary entitled “The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka.” This morning I ran a Google search on that title and found approximately 908,000 hits. I strongly suggest caution in viewing this material. As a physician in a cancer clinic, I have been well acquainted with death, but the visual evidence of murders, torture, and rape of captive Tamil men, women, and children shown in this documentary made me feel physically sick.
Evidently members of the British Houses of Parliament and the United Nations reacted in a similar manner.
In his letter about the proposed human smuggling bill, J. Richard Wright stated, “Let’s be clear about one thing. These so-called refugees are not victims.” Let him first view this documentary and the associated material, and then state plainly that, if he were a Tamil in Sri Lanka, he would never try to bribe his way out of the country, and he would never pay anyone for transport to Canada.
In my opinion, those who succeeded in getting here were very lucky, and most of them should be welcomed with open arms, no matter how they got here.
By the way, there is no queue that refugees can join in Sri Lanka. Refugees who are still living within the borders of Sri Lanka (those who have not yet managed to bribe their way off the island) are not allowed to apply for status at the Canadian High Commission in Colombo. They must first escape from Sri Lanka, and then apply somewhere else.
J.C. (Jim) Kennedy, Kingston

Moon Still Hasn't Watched Sri Lanka Killing Fields Film, Called Not Correct

Wednesday 22 of June 2011(Lanka-e-News -22.June.2011,3.30PM) As the film Sri Lanka Killing Fields was screened Tuesday on the west side of First Avenue in New York, across the street at the UN Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban has yet seen the film, and for the UN's response to its conclusion that Ban has not implemented the recommendation of his own Panel of Experts on war crimes in the country.

Nesirky, while stating that Ban has not seen the film -- available online including here -- said that Ban's role is “something not correctly portrayed in that film.” But when asked by Inner City Press if even the review of the UN's own actions, committed to by Ban in April, has in fact begun,

Nesirky said only that “the process of coordinating between different parts of the UN system, to ensure that kind of internal look, is being coordinated between different agency and diff parts of the Secretariat at the moment.”

Among the UN actions to be reviewed are withholding casualty figures, pulling out of Kilinochchi, and the role of Ban's own chief of staff Vijay Nambiar in conveying assurances of safety to surrenderees, who were in fact killed in the so-called White Flag incident.

With whom will Ban coordinate about that one, some have asked -- Nambiar?
Then Nesirky told Inner City Press, “you were there with the Secretary General in Sri Lanka [in May 2009], you know well yourself it was more than a whistlestop tour to one refugee camp. You were a witness to that yourself.”

Yes -- and that's one of the reasons to be pursuing these questions, even on the day Ban is slated to get a second five year term as Secretary General. We'll be covering that as well -- watch this site.

Footnote: at the screening in the Church Center, five men in suits at the back of the room said they had a stack of Sri Lanka's response to the film. Inner City Press, on the way to the UN noon briefing, asked for a copy. “You'll get it afterward,” one of them said, refusing to provide a copy. It's said that Sri Lankan Ambassador Palitha Kohona was going to respond. He too was involved in the White Flag incident; separately the Mission he heads often urges more positive coverage of Sri Lanka. But why not provide the response? We'll see.

Never ending search for the missing

22 June, 2011
By Dinasena Ratugamage
Vavuniya

They came in their hundreds in search of their loved ones. Almost all returned empty handed. Nearly two thousand Tamils have visited the police in the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavunia over the last ten days to find details of those missing during the war and since the military declaring it's victory over Tamil Tigers more than two years ago. Ten days ago Sri Lankan police announced they will release information about those held by the police to relatives. Police spokesperson SP Prishantha Jayakody told BBC Sandeshaya that the information will not be made available to "any body other than the close relatives". Three centres established in the north, south and the capital Colombo will provide details of those held by the police Terrorist Investigation Division (TID), he said. Only one man out of thousands who went to the centre in Vavunia was told where his son is. As soon as he was told that the detainee is held hundreds of miles away in the southern town of Galle, he rushed to board the first available train out of town. Due to the large number of relatives approaching the Vavunia centre, police only meet 200 people each day. Journalists barred by the police were only able to talk to desperate and tearful relatives by the wayside. Those who were unable to gather information of their missing relatives were desperate. "My 26 year old son Pradeep was taken by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) when he went to Colombo to get his passport. That's all we know," Mylu Shanmugathas from Tellipalai told the BBC after his search since 2008 drew a blank once again. Mr. Shanmugathas has been to police stations, military camps and human rights offices in search of his son. Some were looking for their sole breadwinner. "There is no one to provide me. Who will look after me or care if I fall ill?" cried a frail looking Tamil woman who said that her son had gone missing since been taken by the police in 2007. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in place since 1979 gives the authorities power to hold detainees for 90 days incommunicado. The defence secretary is the sole authority to renew or revoke a Detention Order (DO) under the PTA. Brother of the president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa currently holds the position. United Nations, European Commission and India alongside human rights organisations have called for the repeal of teh PTA. TID officials in Vavunia say that they are unable to provide details of the 'dissapeared'. The Committee for the Investigation (CID) in Sri Lanka say that they have recorded details of over five thousand dissapearances that took place since 2006. Relatives in Vavunia keep coming to the TID information centre daily with gradually diminishing hope. Leading the Sri Lankan delegation Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told the UN Human Rights Commission in early July that over five thousand suspected Tamil Tigers are held in what he called rehabilitation centres. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sri Lanka hits back 21 June, 2011 The Sri Lankan government has condemned what it calls a "vicious" and "diabolical" campaign against it emanating from some Western countries. These remarks by External Affairs Minister of Sri Lanka came days after an  Sri Lanka was being subjected to a "vicious political campaign" - G L independent British television station broadcast what it said was evidence of war crimes committed in the country, and hours after the former foreign ministers of Britain and France condemned the mainly Sinhalese government for its treatment of the Tamil minority. Not for the first time, the government of Sri Lanka seems to feel itself to be under siege with various accusations coming from the West. The External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris, said Sri Lanka was being subjected to a "vicious political campaign", of which Channel 4 was only a part - a reference to the British station which has broadcast a documentary accusing the government and Tamil Tigers of war crimes. Minister Peiris said there were "diabolical" moves to stop President Rajapaksa from travelling abroad - an apparent reference to a recent summons issued to him by a US court after Tamil exiles filed cases against him over the deaths of their family members. And he said, without elaborating, that the country was being subjected to an "economic onslaught" aimed at hampering its development. Erroneous information In a joint article in the New York Times, David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner, who visited Sri Lanka at the height of its war as foreign ministers of Britain and France, have accused Colombo of failing to resettle Tamil internal refugees properly, or to give them full rights or hold anyone responsible for alleged human rights violations. Minister Peiris said the two were acting on biased and erroneous information. His remarks came at a news conference after President Rajapaksa's successful trip to an economic forum in Russia. He highlighted the strong support extended to his country by both Russia and China, and also by Spain whose prime minister he met for the first time.

Sri Lanka Journalist executed: report

June 21 2011

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Colombo - A New York-based media rights organisation on Tuesday called for an international inquiry into the death of a Sri Lankan television presenter who was allegedly executed by government forces. 

A documentary by Britain's Channel 4, “Sri Lanka's Killing Fields”, contained footage of what it said were prisoner executions in the final days of fighting between government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

The bullet-riddled body of a female TV anchor known as Issipriya was shown alongside men in Sri Lankan army uniform as they executed two naked blindfolded men who had their hands tied behind their backs. 

“Channel 4 has provided solid evidence that Issipriya was murdered and that a war crime may have been committed,” Bob Dietz of the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement.

“Moreover, she was reportedly working as a journalist. It is essential that an international inquiry make use of this and any other evidence to investigate and prosecute those responsible.”

Issipriya was a popular presenter on a clandestine television station run by the Tamil Tigers in areas they held before its transmitting towers were brought down by air force bombers at the height of fighting.

Sri Lanka's defence ministry in a statement posted on its website maintained that the woman was not a journalist but a combatant of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who held the rank of “lieutenant colonel.”

“It is unfortunate that Channel 4, ignoring evidence of her active involvement in terrorist activities... white washes her by claiming that she was just a journalist and not engaged in combat operations,” the ministry said.

Sri Lanka's High Commission (embassy) in London said the images shown in the programme a week ago had not been verified as genuine.

The High Commission added that a local panel known as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was ready to take note of the claims and take remedial legal action.

However, there has been no firm word from Colombo if it will probe the allegations. Much of the Channel 4 footage had been broadcast in the past 18 months and Sri Lanka has dismissed all of it as fabrications.

The UN estimates that up to 100 000 people died in Sri Lanka's separatist conflict between 1972 and may 2009 and about 7 000

civilians died in the final months of fighting alone. - Sapa-AFP
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Probe urged into Sri Lanka TV star 'execution'

21 June 2011 - 09H38  

Sri Lankan soldiers stand guard two kilometers from the front line on Puthukkudiyiruppu on April 24, 2009. A documentary by Britain's Channel 4, "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields", contained footage of what it said were prisoner executions in the final days of fighting between government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. 

AFP - A New York-based media rights organisation Tuesday called for an international inquiry into the death of a Sri Lankan television presenter who was allegedly executed by government forces.       FullStory>>>

Tamil Tigers Anonymous commented on Article: Victor Koppe on the Channel 4 documentary "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields"

By International Justice Tribune 
Published on : 21 June 2011 - 1:34pm | 
Sri Lanka denies targeting civilians while crushing Tamil Tiger rebels but said action would be taken if war crimes allegations contained in a new British documentary were true. The Channel 4 documentary, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, contained footage of what it said were prisoner executions. 

By Geraldine Coughlan
The programme also provided evidence to suggest that the Tamil Tiger fighters had also committed war crimes. Two UN investigators have confirmed the video as authentic, but the Sri Lankan authorities maintain it is fake. Victor Koppe, the lawyer for Tamil Tiger activists in Europe, told IJT how he would use such video evidence in court.
How can such a video be authenticated?
As I understood it, it’s footage from mobile phones of soldiers who are willing to testify that footage is actually coming from their phones - that would be one way to authenticate it. However usually in criminal cases this material is used as evidence in a supporting way rather than as the main evidence on which the prosecution relies.
So before a war crimes tribunal then obviously witnesses would be the main source of evidence and this footage that we can now see on TV would be possibly playing a supporting role.
How would such a role apply to rules of evidence?
You can see it all the time in tribunals, that video footage is used as evidence in a supportive manner. Of course the main evidence will always be the testimony of witnesses - be it witnesses of specific crimes or be it insider witnesses. Any other sources are documents - for example, in this case from the military, etc. So it doesn’t necessarily have to play the most important role within a prosecution case.
Is there a difference in presenting such video evidence in national courts, compared to international courts?
I don’t think there would be really any difference because I cannot imagine any criminal case focussing solely on this footage - simply because there will always be a risk that it is falsified or not authentic. So as a prosecutor in a tribunal or in a national domestic court, you would never want to rely solely on footage from a mobile phone or whatever.
Would such evidence be more easily accepted in an international court like the ICC, than in a national court?
Not necessarily. I think the rules of evidence don’t differ that much between domestic courts on the one hand and international tribunals on the other.
Evidence is usually what witnesses present. It’s about the way they present it and if the evidence is reliable then it is also about the footage and I think the basic rules of evidence don’t differ that much.
How would you present evidence like this video in court?
I would solely use it as supporting evidence which comes from primary sources like witnesses, people who have been present while those crimes were committed. That could be deserting soldiers from the ranks of the Sinhalese army or it could be people from the Tamil population who witnessed those horrific events.
They would be the primary sources and I would back it up with this material.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) is listed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union. Why are you in favour of lifting that ban, even though the Tamil Tigers are regarded internationally as a terrorist group because of their attacks on civilian targets during the conflict?
Well we have filed an application against this ban a few weeks ago in Luxembourg and one of our main arguments is that the Tamil groups are fighting a legitimate battle for self-determination.
You know the right to self-determination is one of the fundamental principles of international law.
And it is within the context of an armed conflict that there were two parties fighting each other.
Obviously things have gone wrong - but to call the LTTE a terrorist organization rather than one of the two fighting parties is in our opinion contrary to international law.
Lead photo - ECCC on flickr.com - all further use subject to this CC licence
==========================================

D Raja demands political solution for Sri Lankan Tamils

New Delhi, June 20 (ANI): Lawmaker and senior leader of Communist Party of India, D Raja, on Monday met Foreign Minister SM Krishna in New Delhi, and appealed for a political solution for the ethnic Tamil community living in Sri Lanka. Expressing concern about the row that has long been a bone of contention between both the nations, Raja said that he had also asked the central government to provide financial assistance to Tamils, besides a political solution 
                             Video    Full Story>>>

SRI LANKA - ALLEGED CONFLICT OF INTERESTS SERIOUSLY COMPROMISE NSA MENON’S AND UN NAMBIAR’S ROLE

The Ground Report India
 by Vssubramaniam    June 14, 2011
Though NSA Menon hyped up that the recent visit to Colombo of a high powered team was primarily to find a political solution to the Tamil problem, but the hidden agenda for both Delhi and Colombo was to hijack the UN’s ‘crimes against humanity’ initiatives to save those implicated in the crimes (Narayanan and Menon included) to appease SL. NSA Menon was in the team with M’kal Narayanan visiting Colombo in May 2009 whose announced mission then was also the mysterious political solution and most importantly to ensure that SL caused minimum civilian casualties in the final days of the war in 2009. However their hidden agenda was to destroy the Tamil resistance (LTTE) to deprive the SL genocide victims of the saviors of their lives. The Narayanan/Menon plotting went miserably wrong to cause the horrendous Mullivaykkal massacres the subject of UN’s crimes against humanity initiatives. 
Full Story>>>
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Channel 4 Documentary: Sri Lanka’s “Killing Fields” and What was the UN Doing?

20-June-2011Guest Column by Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

The film, billed as “one of the most shocking films ever screened by Channel 4” did, true to its word make “a powerful case for bringing those guilty of war crimes in Sri Lanka to justice.” It had an explicit message to the UN and the international community:

Unquestionably the next step to Channel 4’s (C4’s) documentary on ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ is to start the wheels of justice moving. Establishing an independent international inquiry should be the logical and most pressing first step that needs no second thought – decidedly it should be the natural response of every civilized human being, let alone any member of the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council. The UN cannot flounder and fall short of the mandate for which it was created.    Full Story>>>

Exclusive interview with Callum McCrae, Director of ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ produced by Channel 4

groundviews journalism For citizens

21 Jun, 2011

Groundviews caught up with Callum McCrae, Director of the highly controversial and very disturbing film by Channel 4, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, in New York, a day before the film was due to be screened for senior diplomats, UN staff and others at the Church Centre, in front of the UN Headquarters. Callum was joined by Marion Bentley, Channel 4′s Publicity Manager.

Interview with Callum McCrae on Sri Lanka's Killing Fields by Sanjana Hattotuwa
The interview is around 43 minutes. Download the MP3 (~51Mb) of this interview here to listen offline. This podcast is anchored to the following questions.     Continue reading »