Key issues for Govt., time running out

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Security situation in north worsens as PSC faces boycott by UNP, JVP Tough letter of demand from Jayalalithaa as battle over Channel 4 video intensifies By Our Political Editor Balachandran Sathkunanthan (30) set out from his house in the farming town of Avarankal in the Jaffna peninsula the previous Saturday evening for a leisurely ride on his motorcycle. The next day (last) Sunday morning, his blood-drenched body was hanging from a goal post in a playground in Putur, just two kilometres from his home. It bore torture marks. The nails of fingers in both hands had been plucked out, Jaffna Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), Dr. S. Sivaruban, testified at the post-mortem inquiry. He said there were no suicide signs on the body that hung from a nylon cord. The inquest is still pending. On the good side, it is now possible for citizens of Jaffna, to decide at the spur of the moment to move to any corner in the peninsula without fear. They are no longer under the watchful eyes of Tiger guerrilla cadres who would have punished them if there was no convincing reason for doing so. On the bad side is a disturbing reality. In the northern Jaffna peninsula where some 50,000 troops and policemen are deployed, recurring incidents are posing a serious question -- whether total normalcy is yet to return to the once-beleaguered peninsula with the defeat of the Tiger guerrillas more than two years ago. During the past six months, the Sunday Times learnt, at least 30 killings have taken place. They include the death of four soldiers. That such incidents recur when the government says it wants to restore democracy in the north raises more questions for it than to others. Polls to local councils are due this month. President Chief Minister Jayalalithaa meets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 15 in New Delhi. Pic courtesy Hindu Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared that elections to the Northern Provincial Council would be held "early next year." That violence is increasing in the peninsula could only drive more fear into the people and thus create instability is no secret. It also throws in bad light the on-going post war reconstruction efforts.  read more..

Tightening the noose on Pakistan and Lanka

 

Sunday 03 July 2011

The strategy of the Western powers, especially the US, Britain and France, in dealing with contentious human rights issues in the MEM (Middle East and Maghreb, that is Arab North African) countries, Asia and Africa have hardened considerably in the last year. There are three reasons; first when MEM uprisings showed a road to replacing authoritarianism with more democratic and also pro-Western regimes, ‘Why not’ they reasoned. Second, internal lobbies such as the Tamil diaspora, members of Parliament or Congress, human rights groups and the press have become effective as public voices, and thirdly, the behaviour of some Third World regimes have turned so horrific that even the Chinese and Russians are sometimes willing to go along with sanctions. A variation of the last theme is Delhi’s reluctance to give Colombo further succour because it has become a headache -- Darusman Report, Channel 4 (UK Sunday Times Food & Restaurant critic A. A. Gill not withstanding) and Jayalalitha. Placating Tamil Nadu is more important than pandering to Rajapaksa.
I have been highlighting this Western policy shift for a long time and events are bearing me out. Of course when it is not in the West’s interests (Bahrain or Saudi Arabia) to use pressure or too difficult to handle (Syria), strategy will differ. Indeed every case is different and the way the West deals with Libya, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is palpably case specific. Managing the relationship with Islam - all three manifestations (conventional, fundamentalist and radical) -- is another conundrum. At no time in US history, except during the two wars, has foreign policy been as much a Pandora’s Box as what Obama and Hillary Clinton are entangled in today. The Cold War may have been more dangerous, but at that time the game plan was clear and as straight as a die.
Read more...
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UN rights chief warns of action in absence of S.Lanka probe

   Sun, 3 July 2011  
The UN's human rights chief Thursday warned Sri Lanka not to take too long in probing war crimes allegations, saying failure to carry out a credible inquiry could lead to international action.
"There is now a high level of expectations expressed by member states that Sri Lanka should seriously inquire into these allegations" of prisoner executions and assaults, said Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"But this should not be an open-ended process," she stressed, noting that a previous Sri Lankan internal inquiry "failed to complete its task, never published its report and never led to a single prosecution."
"If that should be the case again, there is an intention for the international community to take further action. I certainly believe that the Human Rights Council should actively consider this matter," said Pillay.
Pressure has mounted on Colombo since Britain's Channel 4 broadcast a documentary that showed what it said were prisoner executions and bodies of female Tamil fighters who appeared to have been sexually assaulted.
A recent UN report accused government forces of war crimes, alleging that they executed rebel leaders who had surrendered.
An estimated 100,000 people were killed in the nearly four-decade-long Tamil separatist conflict, which began in 1972.
Pillay's remarks echoed that of the United States, which on Tuesday urged Sri Lanka to move quickly to address allegations of war crimes.
Colombo has questioned the authenticity of the Channel 4 footage but said that a local panel, known as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, would take action if the allegations are proven.
 

CAN SRI LANKA DITCH AMERICA AND EMBRACE CHINA?

Saturday, July 02, 2011By Gamini Weerakoon

Sri Lanka’s friends - Dimitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa went into warm embraces with Presidents Hu Jintao of China and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia at the St Petersburg International Economic Conference last month but there were only brickbats for Rajapaksa from British political leaders such as David Cameron and the US State Department during the same period.
The Russian and Chinese leaders had assured the Sri Lankan president of their backing against attempts by the UN, which is strongly urged by leading western nations such as the United States and Britain, to compel Sri Lanka to probe alleged war crimes by its armed forces.
On Wednesday the US State Department urged the Sri Lankan government to ‘quickly address allegations of war crimes and ‘demonstrate that it is able and willing to meet these obligations as it seeks reconciliation’. If Sri Lankans do not do this there will be ‘growing pressure from the international community to examine other options’ the State Department had said.
While the issue of whether the United States and its allies have the moral right or the right under international law to make such demands on a sovereign state has been questioned before and will no doubt be reiterated, it also appears to mark a point of departure in foreign policy of Sri Lanka and the West.
Sri Lanka in Shanghai Organisation                          Read More »   
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Tamils deported, Iraqis win reprieve

By IRR News Team

30 June 2011, 4:00pm

The government has been organising deportations of Sri Lankans and Iraqis despite the dangers they face on return - but has met with resistance.

On 16 June, just two days after the screening of Channel 4's shocking exposé of the war crimes against Sri Lanka's Tamils in 'Sri Lanka's killing fields' and the day after prime minister David Cameron called for an investigation into the allegations, forty-two refused Sri Lankan asylum seekers were deported from the UK to Colombo. The flight went ahead despite Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressing their grave concern that those deported face the risk of detention and torture, as most are Tamils, and are therefore suspected of belonging to or supporting the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Labour's Siobahn McDonagh MP claimed that when the flight landed, the Sri Lankan CID was waiting for it, but no representative from the British High Commission. But the Home Office claims that the situation in Sri Lanka has improved and that it is safe to remove people there. It was reported that on the eve of the flight, on 15 June, one of the detainees, 31-year-old Nagendrarajah Suthakaran, attempted to hang himself after receiving a phoned death threat from Sri Lanka. He and two others who had also had death threats won a last-minute reprieve from the High Court. According to the Medical Foundation, another removal flight to Sri Lanka was scheduled for today.                 Full Story>>>  

‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’

“You can bend it and twist it... You can misuse and abuse it... But even God cannot change the Truth.”

by Gareth Thomas

( July 02, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) I rise to raise two issues. First, I want to ask a series of questions on the Government's view of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and, through them, to ask a series of questions of the Sri Lankan Government. I understand that the UN Secretary-General is due to receive a report on 13 April produced by a three-member panel that has been mandated to advise him on options for addressing accountability for crimes committed during the final stages of the recent conflict with which all who have an interest in Sri Lanka will be familiar. I ask whether that document will be published, and if not-or, indeed, if we are unsure whether it will be published-I ask the British Government to call on the UN Secretary-General to publish it.                                  Read More
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The Anti Tamil Dialogue of Shiv Shankar Menon with Rajapakse

July 1, 2011 – 1:16 pm  By Guest Writer Sundaram Aiyer, New York
In the second week of June an Indian delegation led by Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of India met Srilankan President Rajapakse and discussed for two hours. There is a mystery about what transpired between them.
Mr. Menon was one of the troika comprising him, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and defense secretary Pradeep Kumar which went to Colombo immediately after a change in Government in Tamil nadu. At that time Colombo was panicked by the resolution passed by the Tamil nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa that called upon the Government of India to impose economic sanctions against Sri Lanka and declare President Mahinda Rajapaksa a war criminal. Therefore the high level delegation might have been meant for giving assurance to Rajapakse on the continued support to him. But anyone can guess that such assurance if made public will invite the wrath of people from Tamil nadu.      Read More  

Batticaloa Bank heist: 'we know the political force behind ; we will not cringe' –Commanding chief of East warns

(Lanka-e-News, 02.July.2011, 2.45PM) Commanding chief of the East Major General Boniface Perera at a special media briefing held yesterday at Deavar Hall, Batticaloa referring to yesterday’s Bank heist at Batticaloa said , this robbery is not only a threat to the security not only of Batticaloa , but of the entire Island.

‘After one and half years , looting , killing and crimes have shot up in Batticaloa. We know who are behind these crimes. We have received accurate details of the politicos who are responsible. We know illegal weapons and arms are with whom. These weapons should immediately be surrendered .If not , we will not hesitate to go there are and seize them. When these individuals were told to hand over their arms , they kept back 40 weapons and handed over ten of the fifty in their possession. Nobody except the Govt. security divisions can possess arms’ These were the statements made by the Commanding chief two years after the war ended.
Speaking further , Boniface Perera added , there is a political force behind these crimes. No matter what rank or position they hold, the arms illegally with them should be surrendered . Otherwise he would take action . He warned that measures will have to be taken again to introduce barriers and conduct search operations.
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Bank heist in broad daylight at Batticaloa: The marauders had come in a white Van armed with T-56

Saturday 2 of July 2011(Lanka-e-News, 02.July.2011, 4.45AM) A massive Bank robbery took place in Batticaloa in broad daylight at about 3.30 p m on 30th June

Five masked robbers had stormed into a State bank situated at Nimlaitheevu, Putur, Batticaloa. After locking up those in the bank in a room , they have taken the cash and jewelry which were in the Bank , and have fled, police spokesman from the Batticaloa police said ,when speaking to Lanka e news.

According to the police these criminals have been armed with T 56 rifles and had come in a white Van (notorious vehicle used for several earlier crimes with the opposition accusing the Govt. of having a hand because most abductions and disappearances of persons were carried out using a white Van ). At the time the heist was committed there had been only three staff members in the Bank who were all females.
The police spokesman also said , it is impossible to assess right now how much of cash and jewelry had been stolen.
Residents say , looting and robberies in Batticaloa had shot up now much more than those during the period of the LTTE.

Rajapakse regime’s knowledge hub or drinking pub? –Educational zonal Director has only GCE ord. level and has failed in Maths

(Lanka-e-News, 02.July.2011, 4.45AM) While the Rajapakse regime is waxing boastful of making Sri Lanka an educational hub , the Govt.’s Matara Zonal education Director’s putrid record has come to light. Unfortunately we are compelled to reveal the details in the national interest - the Govt.’s loud and proud boasts notwithstanding.

The number of Govt. Schools in the Matara educational zone is 12. Provincial council Schools are 97. The total number is 109.The number of students who are learning are about 66000. There are 3900 teachers including graduates , diploma holders and Philosophy teachers. The Head for all of them is the zonal education Director , W R Weerakoon. Will you believe if we tell that this Head and zonal Director has only passed the G C E ord. level and he has failed in Maths.? It is incredible but true. (the certificate is pictured herein). He has joined the educational service as a non certificated Assist. teacher .

Though he is unqualified he had entered the teaching service on the basis of the concessions granted to politically accepted individuals during the period of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike. This was the’ sweep ticket’ given to political stooges. According to this appointment during that period , it is therein clearly stated that ‘ you are entitled only to a salary pertaining to the service and no other benefits whatsoever ’ (the relevant letter of appointment is shown herein ).Hence, when that is what is clearly stated based on laws , how come Weerakoon who was appointed on political grounds and not on merits reach the position of Director.?

The biggest joke of the century and most disgusting from the point of view of the education of students is , this Weerakoon who has no proper education and always showing an antipathy to University education and who knows no value of a University has been appointed to a highest seat in the national education system – this educational Director is now an advisor for the University Board .

Whither SL’s education ?

Date set for Sivaram murder trial

01 July, 2011
Date set for Sivaram murder trial

	Sivaram was abducted in Colombo in April 2005 and his body was found dumped in a HSZ, a day later

A court in Sri Lanka has set the dates for the trial of the abduction and murder of a senior Tamil journalist.

The Colombo High Court has decided to proceed with the trial on the murder of Tamilnet editor Dharmetnam Sivaram (Tharaki) on 01September.

Mr Sivaram was abducted in Colombo on 28 April 2005. His body was found dumped in Sri Jayawardenepura, a high security zone, a day later.

The Attorney General has filed charges against Arumugam Sri Skadharaja also known as Peter in 2006.

But the case did not proceed further despite having taken for hearing few times for over five years.

International and Sri Lankan media watchdogs have voiced anger over lack of progress in murder investigation.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Sri Lanka Free Media Movement (FMM) have urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa not to let the murderers go unpunished.
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On the government’s political solution and ‘Southern Suaveness’

groundviews journalism For citizens -1 Jul, 2011

Photo courtesy Amal Jayasinghe | Agence France-Presse

The stage is set to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee in order to formulate a political solution to the north and east crisis. During a meeting with the print and electronic media heads on Tuesday at Temple Trees, President Mahinda Rajapakse had stated that he would accept any solution that will be outlined by the parliament. In an interview with a weekend newspaper last week the Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Pieris revealed that the government will carry out a dialogue with all the political parties parallel to the ongoing discussions with the TNA. Ultimately, according to the minister, these discussions will be intersected at a certain point. Therefore, the ‘point of intersection’ will be the provenance of the ‘political solution’ of the government.
Can this be termed as a bona fide attempt? This is, of course, an important question. The track record of the government in this regard would provide a reasonable answer for this. In the very same manner, the present regime took various steps to find a political solution for the North-East crisis, but all these efforts ended up being time-consuming exercises. The government deliberately transmuted these ‘efforts’ to become fruitless, inefficacious and time-buying exercises. In this context, there is a big question mark about the ulterior motive of this ‘Parliamentary Select Committee’. Let’s revisit the history.        Continue reading »  

UN rights chief warns Lanka

Friday, 01 July 2011

The UN's human rights chief Thursday warned Sri Lanka not to take too long in probing war crimes allegations, saying failure to carry out a credible inquiry could lead to international action.

"There is now a high level of expectations expressed by member states that Sri Lanka should seriously inquire into these allegations" of prisoner executions and assaults, said Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"But this should not be an open-ended process," she stressed, noting that a previous Sri Lankan internal inquiry "failed to complete its task, never published its report and never led to a single prosecution."

"If that should be the case again, there is an intention for the international community to take further action. I certainly believe that the Human Rights Council should actively consider this matter," said Pillay.

Pressure has mounted on Colombo since Britain's Channel 4 broadcast a documentary that showed what it said were prisoner executions and bodies of female Tamil fighters who appeared to have been sexually assaulted.

A recent UN report accused government forces of war crimes, alleging that they executed rebel leaders who had surrendered.

An estimated 100,000 people were killed in the nearly four-decade-long Tamil separatist conflict, which began in 1972.

Pillay's remarks echoed that of the United States, which on Tuesday urged Sri Lanka to move quickly to address allegations of war crimes.

Colombo has questioned the authenticity of the Channel 4 footage but said that a local panel, known as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, would take action if the allegations are proven. (AFP)
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IBAHRI expresses regret at Bar Association of Sri Lanka’s unreserved condemnation of appointment of UN Panel on Accountability

27/06/2011
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is disappointed by the recent Resolution of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) condemning both the appointment of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka, and its subsequent report.
The UN Panel of Experts was appointed to advise the United Nations Secretary-General on issues of accountability with regard to international humanitarian and human rights law violations allegedly committed by both the Government of Sri Lanka and the insurgent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the final stages of the internal armed conflict in Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, the BASL ‘denounces the findings and recommendations’ of the Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka and ‘calls upon the Secretary-General of the United Nations to refrain from taking any action aimed at directly or otherwise implementing the recommendations of the said Panel of Experts.’
The establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into alleged war crimes and human rights violations is one of the recommendations to which the BASL objects.       Full Story>>> 

Relatives demand Sri Lankan government disclose info on relatives said abducted in civil war

The Washington Post's world news 

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, June 30, 6:38 AM

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hundreds of people protested Thursday demanding to know the whereabouts of their family members abducted by “white van squads” allegedly operated by the Sri Lankan government during the height of the country’s civil war.
The protesters said they have not heard from their sons or husbands since they were bundled into often white-colored vehicles or surrendered to the army over involvement with the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.

Ramakrishnan Lalitha held the photographs of her two sons, Prathapan and Jegarupan, who were taken away on the same day in 2008 by men who identified themselves as navy personnel in the eastern port town of Trincomalee.
“My sons were at home, and some men came in and showed their navy identity cards and took my sons away saying they needed to be questioned,” Lalitha said. She has not heard from her sons since.
Elarin Indrani said her son Mathew was taken away in 2007 by four masked men who arrived in a white van.
“They must identify the four men who took my son away. Only then we will know who gave the orders,” she said.
Parents and relatives say their complaints and appeals to security authorities and foreign governments have been futile.       Full Story>>>

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On Sri Lanka, Ban Won't Push to Get UN Heyns In, Have Been Given Killing Fields, Will Watch if Has Time, Ranil on July 5?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- Despite UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's statements that he is “checking every day” to see if the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka has deigned to respond to the UN Panel of Experts report documenting war crimes, there is very little follow-through.

  On June 30 Inner City Press asked Ban's acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq if Ban has done anything about Sri Lanka blocking the visit requested by UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executing Christof Heyns, who has said “I have asked to visit Sri Lanka, but this has so far been denied.”

  Haq couldn't not say anything that Ban has done or even tried to do in this regard, instead “referring” the questions to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

  Heyns authenticated video used in the Killing Fields documentary, saying that the “video that I have examined in detail shows textbook examples of extrajudicial killings -- naked, blindfolded people whose hands are tied, are being shot through the head by people in military uniform. They speak Sinhalese. This clearly raises major concerns that cannot be ignored by someone tasked to investigate arbitrary executions.”

  For more than two weeks Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokespeople if he has taken the time to see the Killing Fields video.                                          Full Story>>>

DUAL CITIZENS TO INTL’ CRIMINAL COURTS

• Sunday 26 June 2011

  - UN RAPPORTUER SAYS

By Namini Wijedasa

The UN chief on extra judicial killings has warned that Sri Lankan leaders and officials with dual nationalities could be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes.
In an exclusive interview with LAKBIMAnEWS, Christof Heyns, UN  Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions said: “Over the last few years the doctrine of universal jurisdiction has been used in new and, in some cases, extended ways. People with dual nationalities may be under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.”
Prof. Heyns also said there is enough reason to investigate Sri Lanka’s last phase of war in full where there was systematic targeting of civilians.
He however added that despite the evidence to the contrary, the official response continues to be a blanket denial of any wrongdoings, which is ‘difficult to accept in view of the evidence.’
He said the stronger involvement by the international community in Libya has demanded a greater international involvement in Sri Lanka.
When asked about the legality of the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US Navy Seals, the UN rapporteur replied that there is considerable controversy about fact and applicable legal principles.
However, he was quick to add: “There is no controversy about shooting blindfolded, naked prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs in the head; it cannot be justified under any conceivable circumstances.”
He said he has asked to visit Sri Lanka, but his request has so far been denied. But, Sri Lankan officials whom he met in Geneva, explained to him the “agony” due to the allegations that are being made.
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Websites banned to protect children and culture - Minister

Sunday 26 June 2011

Websites banned to protect children and culture - Minister

Websites may be publishing lies, yet Lanka violates signed treaties!

By Jayashika Padmasiri

The United Nations (UN) recently released a report declaring that disconnecting the internet from the public is a human rights violation. Sri Lanka is a country that has seen the banning of several media websites in the recent past. The two websites: Tamil Net, and LankaeNews are good examples. LAKBIMAnEWS conducted an investigation to ascertain the truth in this regard:
As the first step LAKBIMAnEWS contacted Minister of Technology and Research Pavithra Wanniarachchi --- and while discussing the UN report questioned her about the banned news websites in Sri Lanka. To our amazement the minister made the following statement: “By stating that violations of human rights are taking place, I don’t believe that we should let the people in this country, especially the children, access everything through the internet and be exposed to harmful information. Other countries might be different. But Sri Lanka is a country that has a rich culture and a heritage. We should help to protect this. So I don’t think that everything that takes place in the world should take place in our country.”
Speaking further about the banned websites Wanniarachchi concluded, “too much freedom is unnecessary.” 
                                                           Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka’s Diplomatic Offensive Won’t Make Killing Fields Disappear

groundviews journalism For citizens

 30 Jun, 2011

Screen grab from Channel 4′s Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields
(New York) – The Sri Lankan government continues its diplomatic offensive, denying and dismissing the growing evidence of war crimes during the final bloody battles between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended in May 2009.
Last week, at a panel presentation of the Channel 4 film, the ‘Killing Fields of Sri Lanka’, Sri Lanka’s United Nations Ambassador Palitha Kohona said, “To suggest that the Sri Lankan military was so foolhardy as to deliberately target the civilians, I think is a blatant lie… We had no intention of creating martyrs, we had no intention of creating more volunteers for the LTTE.”
If the killings of civilians were not deliberate, the Sri Lankan army attacks were clearly indiscriminate, which is no less a war crime. The recent findings of the panel of experts set up to advise UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concluded that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final stages of the conflict, many as the result of indiscriminate shelling by government forces. The report also concluded that both government forces and the Tigers conducted military operations “with flagrant disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians and failed to respect the norms of international law.”             Continue reading »  
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groundviews journalism For citizens 

 30 Jun, 2011

Two years after the end of the war in Sri Lanka

30 Jun, 2011 War Crimes
Photo courtesy Deshan Tennekoon, Groundviews
The UN panel report or the Darusman report was condemned and rejected. The stand taken by the government was that “not a single civilian was killed during the last stages of the war. If some of those dead were found to be in civilian clothes, they were Tigers in disguise, even if they happened to be children or elderly women. No one can say we committed war crimes because no one saw what happened during the last stages of the war. Therefore we don’t have to answer any questions raised by UN or the international community.” In a way this is true – no one saw what happened at Mullivaikal, Pudukudiyiruppu and Nandikadal in May 2009. There were no witnesses. The UN and the international community actually abandoned those 300,000 civilians, who were left alone to face the LTTE on the one hand and the Sri Lankan army on the other, and God knows who killed more civilians, the army or the LTTE. We are only told that about 40,000 to 60,000 people died during the last stages of the war.     Continue reading »  

Grievances of tamils in Sri Lanka legitiamte: PM

Published: Wednesday, Jun 29, 2011, 20:29 IST
Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI
Terming the grievances of tamils in Sri Lanka as "legitimate", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India's efforts was to persuade the Sri Lankan government to ensure that all are treated as equal citizens as what is happening there has a domestic dimension.
During an interaction with a group of Editors, Singh said he has discussed the issue with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who has "good cooperation" and was conscious of the complexity of the issue.The Prime Minister also talked about India's "good" relations with Bangladesh, saying the government there has helped in apprehending anti-India insurgents. Singh said he would like to visit that country.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna is going to visit Dhaka next week during which he will discuss important bilateral and regional issues with the Bangladeshi leadership.
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India, Lanka hold first Army-to-Army staff talks

India  Jun 30, 2011

NEW DELHI: India and Sri Lanka began their first Army-to-Army staff talks on Wednesday to bolster bilateral military cooperation with joint exercises and training programmes. 

The three-day talks, led by Sri Lankan military secretary Major-General HCP Goonetilleke and Indian Army's additional director general (international cooperation) Major-General I P Singh, will chalk out the programmes to be undertaken by the two armies over the next one year.

"Such interactions will result in a more robust and pragmatic defence cooperation," said an official. India over the last several years has trained thousands of Sri Lankan personnel at its military institutions ranging from Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte (Mizoram) to School of Artillery at Devlali (Maharashtra), apart from providing specialized naval courses in gunnery, navigation, communication and anti-submarine warfare.

The importance of the talks can be gauged from the fact that India has similar staff talks with only nine other countries, namely US, UK, Israel, France, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Singapore.

European Conservative bloc calls for maximum autonomy for Tamil areas, justice for war crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 June 2011, 03:36 GMT]
A center-right bloc of Conservative parliamentarians in the European Parliament Tuesday expressed support for “a just and peaceful solution for the Tamil community of Sri Lanka” and for “a negotiated political solution which can achieve maximum autonomy and regional devolution to Tamil majority areas within a single Sri Lankan state”, as well as “justice for all alleged war crimes committed by both sides during the conflict.” In a statement, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group and British Conservative MEPs said whilst they support the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, they also support the “peaceful and democratic pursuit of all political goals.”

The influential ECR Group of MEPs, formed in 2009, consists of a core of 56 MEPs from nine countries and is the fourth largest group in the European Parliament.

The full text of the statement follows:

The ECR Group and British Conservative MEPs support a just and peaceful solution for the Tamil community of Sri Lanka by for instance supporting calls for a negotiated political solution which can achieve maximum autonomy and regional devolution to Tamil majority areas within a single Sri Lankan state, as well as justice for all alleged war crimes committed by both sides during the conflict.

We support the territorial integrity and unity of Sri Lanka and hope all communities can find a way to live together in future, but we also support the peaceful and democratic pursuit of all political goals. We totally oppose the pursuit of political goals by violence.

We condemn any climate of impunity anywhere and strongly insist that any alleged war crimes or other reported atrocities be fully investigated and, if proven, the perpetrators punished. The EU listed the LTTE as a terrorist group in 2006, a decision we support absolutely, but we also demand that Sri Lankan government forces also be held accountable for possible violations of the rules of war.

We are horrified by the events detailed in the Channel 4 documentary, and note that footage of summary execution of prisoners has been deemed authentic by the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.

We call on the Sri Lankan government to respond positively to the UN Panel of Expert’s and to consider including a foreign component to the LLRC and to fully implement its findings. If the LLRC by the end of this year has not delivered on a full impartial investigation into the credible allegations of atrocities at the close of the civil war in 2009 then an international commission of enquiry is something the UK Government and the EU member states may wish to consider given the atrocious scale and horrendous nature of the credible allegations made.

The EU currently has suspended GSP+ trade concessions. Under the terms of the suspension they will not be extended to Sri Lanka, until Sri Lanka meets its international human rights obligations, which should include action on the issue of war crimes.

Khmer Rouge and Killing Fields: Pol Pot on the docks and it’s Mahinda Inc. next

If Mohamed cannot go the mountain, the mountain will have to come to Mohamed.

by Pearl Thevanayagam

(June 28, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Thirty years on, Khmer Rouge’s Pol Pot mass murderers (the ruling regime at the time) are standing trial in one of the most expensive and prolonged tribunals convened by the UN and democratic West against war crimes in Cambodia today.

An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians, almost a quarter of Cambodia & apos’s population were wiped out under in The Killing Fields revolution the ultra Maoist Pol Pot regime through torture, execution, starvation and exhaustion between 1975 and 1979. Practically every Cambodian alive today lost family members and the tribunal should give answers.                  Read More   
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Sri Lanka: Accountability for Alleged Violations of International Human Rights Law (Taken Question)

Taken Question

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

Question Taken at the June 27, 2011 Daily Press Briefing

June 28, 2011

 

Question: What is the U.S. view regarding accountability in Sri Lanka?
Answer: As we have stated before, the United States supports a full, credible, and independent investigation of alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law and accountability for such violations. While domestic authorities have primary responsibility to ensure that those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law are held accountable, international accountability mechanisms can become appropriate in circumstances in which a state is unable or unwilling to meet its obligations. We continue to urge the Government of Sri Lanka to quickly demonstrate that it is able and willing to meet these obligations as it seeks reconciliation. We hope the Sri Lankans will themselves do this, but if they do not, there will be growing pressure from the international community to examine other options.

Wednesday June 29, 2011
Jun-29-2011 00:47

Sri Lanka Continues Genocide, Thumbing Nose at UN and World

Tim King Salem-News.com

Video shows man hanged by neck; executed without a trial on the side of the road.

Tamil man hanging by neck; this video was posted 3 days ago.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Even though Sri Lanka's government is suspect in a massive Genocide two years ago that left possibly one hundred thousand Tamil civilians dead, reports indicate that in spite of statements from the Rajapaksa regime to the contrary, war crimes still continue in small scale.

We're being told ex-Tamil rebels who were were previously in custody and then released, are eventually ending up raped or murdered by "unknown" men.

Who are these unknown men in a land which is occupied by Sri Lankan savages?

Could they be the same who drove the notorious 'white vans' that were used to disappear people like Tamil friendly journalists, for a period of time preceding the final push?

Sri Lankan intelligence has two goals to achieve ...

1) Tell the world that military presence is needed to avoid such massacres.

2) To threaten the local Tamils who know the truth.

As we reported many times in the past, the journalists were killed or simply disappeared without a trace, and the handful of United Nations observers in Tamil country; northern Sri Lanka, were told to leave for their own safety.

The only group that ever implied they were in danger was the Sri Lankan government itself. Their departure marked a nightmarish journey for hundreds of thousands of Tamils who have as much right to Sri Lanka as the majority Sinhalese Buddhists.

That is the back story, the current story is that Sri Lanka's president and his cadres are thumbing their nose at the world, continuing to commit crimes they deny. So they deny them, what war criminal does not?

As always, anyone who has additional information should contact our newsroom.  Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields shame exposed in major documentary

By Kshama Ranawana

| June 29, 2011

  The camera pans across a host of hands thrust through a gate and focuses on a young girl. The deep sadness etched in her face shows the despair felt by thousands of Tamil civilians caught up in the tail end of the 30-year war fought between the government of Sri Lanka armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Filmed by United Nations staffer, Benjamin Dix, it showcases the anguish of civilians who congregated outside the UN compound in Northern Sri Lanka as UN officers left the area following a communiqué stating the Sri Lankan government could not guarantee their safety as its forces advanced into LTTE-held land.

Read More
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Tamils remember victims of Genocide in Sri Lanka

June 29, 2011 By Guest Writer Raj Palanisamy.
Chennai, Jun 29 (TruthDive): June 26th was a day to remember for all Tamils of the world and also this day has been declared by the United Nations as an International day for victims of torture. A Candle light vigil organized at Marina beach in remembrance of the victims of Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka had a huge attendance from the people of the state and neighboring region.
The event was organized by “May 17 movement” and was backed by number of Tamil organisations, activists, common people and politicians of Tamil Nadu. The organisers managed to spread the news about the event via social network media. Majority of the people were in their twenties and thirties. In this respect this is considered as first such event in the history of Tamil Nadu and shows that in future lakhs of people can assemble at places at no time.
More than 50,000 people attended this mega event and most of them came along with their friends, children and family. Many came from distance cities like Bangalore, Madurai & Coimbatore to Chennai exclusively to participate in this candle light vigil for the Tamils brutally killed by the Sri Lankan government in the final stages of Eelam war 4.                      Read More       

Sri Lanka: Effects of the global economic wobble

29-June-2011

Guest Column by Dr. Kumar David 

The impact of the global economy on small countries can be severe and we are passing through a phase when stocktaking is timely. First, a few paragraphs regarding the beast itself – the world economy, which, mainly, is the advanced capitalist world. A recession is called V-shaped if recovery is steep and U-shaped if recuperation is slow. When stuck at the bottom for a long time (Japan’s lost decade) the appropriate shape is an L, a double-dip or W is when a second recession follows before recovery from the first. However, none of these terms provide a pictorial handle of the Great Recession (GR) that started in Q3-2008. 

At the time I developed a model, the Wobble-U, to deal with the difference and illustrate a hypothesis. The Wobble-U is more complex than a double-dip which lay at the heart of the Great Depression (GD) of the 1930s. It is a seesaw of ups and downs, small recoveries and flops and slumps, depicting a long-duration limping economy. (My case, based on fundamental reasoning, is in Essays on the Global Economic Crisis, published by the Ecumenical Institute, Sri Lanka). In fact it is a depression in its own way, and anyone expecting the next depression to manifest the same symptoms as GD is awaiting the wrong Godot. Capitalism is different now, more globalised with new strategies. A depression manifests itself with different symptoms, the Wobble-U. The new strategies are: a) new tools developed by policy economists, and b) global state-capitalism, that is the coordinated responses of world political leaders and central bankers.

 The Wobble-U shape (Very long duration)
(Any major economic indicator)                            Full Story>>>