Those who committed Genocide on Tamils should be brought to Justice: BJP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 04:18 GMT]
“We are not going to give up till all those people involved in genocide are brought to justice,” said India's former Foreign Minister and a top leader of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) Yashwant Sinha Friday, questioning the motives behind New Delhi’s silence on the UN Chief’s expert panel report that found credible evidences for the wide-spread allegations of war-crime committed by the Sri Lankan troops. According to media reports from India, leaders of various mainstream political parties, including the BJP, on Friday have expressed solidarity with Eezham Tamils, saying that they would continue to raise their voice until everyone responsible for the “genocide” there were brought to justice.

At a protest rally organised in New Delhi by MDMK chief Vaiko to protest the Centre's “silence” on the UN report, BJP's Yashwant Sinha and Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan have criticised the Congress-led Indian government for citing China's growing influence as a reason for India's engagement with Sri Lanka.                            Full story >>
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Reminding the Kurdish nation of 'the case of Tamil'f

Saturday, 13 August 2011,

The Kurdish Globe
Mehmed Sabri Akgönül- Istanbul

The Iranian attacks against Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) are followed closely by Turkish officials, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

It has been mentioned by both Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) members that Turkey is in search of new ways for the war with the PKK. The use of the police and special forces in the struggle against the PKK started to be argued after the conflict in Silvan, a province of Diyarbakir. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) great blow last year in Sri Lanka, which had witnessed one of the bloodiest civil wars in recent history, has led pro-AKP writers, from time to time, to bring to the agenda the idea of whether PKK could be eradicated like the LTTE. The current Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek, made a comparison between PKK and LTTE last year and put forth some ideas about what the government of Sri Lanka did to Tamils could be a model for Turkey in its struggle against the PKK. Recently, Fehmi Koru who is known for being close to AKP, in his article in which he evaluated the military operations carried out by Iran against the PJAK, illustrated that the model of Sri Lanka could be discussed in Turkey.   Full Story>>>
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Friday, August 12, 2011

’What happened was predictable’

12 August 2011
In his recently published book ‘The Cage’ former United Nations spokesman Gordon Weiss is critical of the UN and points to evidence of the government of Sri Lanka committing war crimes.
Could you give a brief account of what happened with the UN in the last phase of the war?

As the last phase of the war gathered pace, and as air attacks began on the nominal capital of the Tamil Tigers (Kilinochchi) in 2008, the government warned the UN that it should pull its staff out of the north. There were government air strikes and those came dangerously close to UN positions in Kilinochchi. Our staff were spending time hiding in bomb shelters. They were unable to effectively carry out their duties, which were largely to distribute humanitarian aid. So the UN complied with the government request and pulled out. From that point onwards there was effectively no international independent presence inside the northern region, except for the International Red Cross. They have a history of not talking about the things that they see when they’re working behind the lines. But the UN was certainly no longer there and no longer capable of making judgements on what was going on. Thereafter it had to rely on the government, and the government alone for access to Tamil areas to deliver humanitarian aid. Whether the UN ought to have stayed, despite the attacks is a moot point and something that an accountability investigation needs to answer rather than me. Full Story>>

Sinha, Paswan join Vaiko’s protest on Sri Lankan Tamils

August 12, 2011

Leaders of various political parties, including the BJP, on Friday expressed solidarity with Tamils in Sri Lanka, saying they will continue to raise their voice until everyone responsible for the “genocide” there are brought to justice.

At a protest rally here organised by MDMK chief Vaiko to protest the Centre’s “silence” on the U.N. report, BJP’s Yashwant Sinha and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan criticised the government for citing China’s growing influence as a reason for India’s engagement with Sri Lanka.

Mr. Sinha, who was External Affairs Minister during the NDA regime, criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his reported remarks that India cannot impose economic sanctions against Sri Lanka as it would encourage China to displace it as a strategic and trading partner of the island nation.

“This shows mere helplessness that we have lost all out clout and friends and that we have to surrender ourselves to China. It is a matter of shame for our country and it is matter of greater shame for the government,” he said.

Dr. Singh, the BJP leader said, made the remarks when Mr. Vaiko met him last week demanding economic sanctions against Sri Lanka.

Mr. Sinha suggested to Mr. Vaiko to organise a rally in Tamil Nadu in which he would also participate.

“I will also join you and we will all set sail for Sri Lanka and go there and tell the world that India is with you.

We will mount an unarmed attack on Sri Lanka. We would like to tell the world that Indians are solidly behind the Eelam Tamils,” he said.

“We are not going to give up till all those people involved in genocide are brought to justice,” Mr. Sinha said.

Ecohing his views, Mr. Paswan said the LJP would raise its voice for the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils both inside and outside Parliament.
==========================================================

In India, one protest results in two stories

AlJazeeraEnglish

Tamil protesters in India have called for Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to be hanged following the final offensive in the island’s war - but demonstrators have been labelled as ‘terrorists’ by authorities [EPA]
There was a protest, unannounced, not sanctioned by police, on July 9 in Chennai - the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Outside the Sri Lankan Airlines office, around 30 “youth” blocked a busy road for about 30 minutes. The police arrived, broke up the protest, and arrested 11 protesters on the (usual) charge of public disturbance. The “public”, however, heard the protesters’ demands, which were repeated in the media.
They were demanding that the Indian government implement resolutions passed by Tamil Nadu’s assembly the month previously to economically blockade Sri Lanka. For president Rajapaksa to be indicted as a war criminal, responsible for the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka in 2009. For Sri Lanka to stop killing and attacking fishermen from Tamil Nadu who “stray” into its waters.
Later, while at the police station to enquire after those arrested earlier, three other protesters were arrested. In the evening, all 14 were released.
    Full Story»>

Refugees "punished" by cutting water

11 August, 2011
Refugees "punished" by cutting water

 

Sri Lanka authorities have cut off water and electricity supplies to Internally Displaced People (IDP) in the Poonthottam Camp in Vavuniya.

The services have been terminated to punish those refusing to leave the camp to resettle in the Vanni, IDPs told our correspondent Dinasena Ratugamage.

The IDPs who came to the camp since the beginning of the war between the army and LTTE have been living there for nineteen years.

Out of sixteen thousand IDPs, one thousand one hundred and sixty three from 183 families refuse to leave the camp on the grounds that they are not provided with the bare necessities to lead a life in Vanni.

Everything destroyed

"There is nothing there and no work. Everything is destroyed by the war. Children born here refuse to go," they told Dinasena Ratugamage.

"If they have built house we can go. They have promised to give only some roofing sheets," another IDP said.

"With our men lost in the war, how can we, women build houses on our own?" asked a war widow.

Students living in the camp have been the worst hit by officials terminating basic necessities.

Thirteen students in the camp are studying for the forthcoming, General Certificate of Education (GCE) advanced level examination while twenty eight are sitting the GCE ordinary level examination.

Students affected

In addition, 53 students preparing for five year scholarship examination.

"They have to use makeshift kerosene lamps to read and write," parents say.

Officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) visited the IDPs on Thursday.

An official at the Poonthottam Camp said that this action has been taken as the government plans to resettle them in the Vanni area in the immediate future.

International human rights organisations and concerned governments including India have requested the speedy resettling of Tamil IDPs from the north.

Prof. Hoole leaves Sri Lanka

Friday, 12 August 2011

Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole, a respected Sri Lankan Tamil academician and a prominent returnee after the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers, said on Thursday that he was forced to leave the country.

“Yes, I left through Colombo airport for London before [sic] I am arrested. I will work in the U.S. till lawyers can sort this out for me,” he told The Hindu via e-mail, when asked if he had fled Sri Lanka. “I will return because Sri Lanka [Jaffna in particular] is my home,” he asserted.

Prof. Hoole, one of the few Tamils who was vocal in his criticism of the Tamil Tigers when the outfit ruled the Northern Province had had to flee Sri Lanka then. This time he had to leave because of his differences with the lone Tamil Minister in Sri Lankan Cabinet, Douglas Devananda. Mr. Devananda had filed a defamation case against Prof. Hoole in the Kayts court over articles that the academician had written in the media, which were highly critical of Mr. Devananda's role in the North, and the ruling UPFA in general.

“My story is in the last three [editions of] the Sunday Leader. In the first of three articles, I saw what was going on during the Local Government elections [July 23] and reported it. That has upset Douglas [Devananda] in whose hands the government has… placed the full goverment apparatus, especially in Kayts [island],” he said in an e-mail communication. “The next Court date is the [August] 15th [fortunately for me, because this week is court vacation]. I was advised to be out of the island by then — not only by my lawyers but by all my friends in Jaffna,” he added.

Prof. Hoole had come back to Sri Lanka to help rebuild systems in the island after the conclusion of the war. “When he [The President] invited displaced expatriates to return, Prof. Carlo Fonseka approached him and he promised to have me and my wife reinstated as a professor if I was here. Although he issued the order when I came, it has not been implemented. My wife has been unemployed for a year. I was on an appointment until further notice,” he said when asked to clarify on him coming back to Sri Lanka.
Earlier, in 2006, Prof. Hoole, an engineering professor, was the Jaffna University Vice Chancellor. Because of his outspoken ways, the LTTE did not allow him to function and he went back to the United States.

VC panel
After he came back following the defeat of the LTTE, he was in the panel of three candidates for the Vice Chancellor post, but medical faculty Professor Vasanthi Arasaratnam, was appointed to the post. “I applied for VC [post] by the appointed process. At that time when I was elected by the Council to the list of three from which the President selects one, various people have recommended me for appointment. That is the only time I have had to deal with him or communicate with him. In December at the only one-to-one meeting during the VC appointment process, he promised to appoint me at a personal meeting,” Prof. Hoole said.

Ever since he returned, Prof. Hoole has also been critical of the government's approach to the ethnic issue and has spoken in many fora. “True nation building is about celebrating our differences without suppressing them and addressing grievances. I am afraid that the government is missing the point in its ever effervescent and exuberant pronouncements about unity,” he told an audience at the Naro Udeshi Lecture at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre recently, his last lecture in Colombo.

Tourist paradise for some - but still living hell for many Tamils

Friday, 12th August 201

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Western holidaymakers stroll along a Sri Lankan beach, as the government tries to lure foreign visitors with new roads, new airports and new hotels

THE roadblocks have been dismantled, the sandbags removed, and Sri Lanka is again a palm-fringed tourist paradise, the government says. But for ethnic Tamils living in the former war zone, it is still a hell of haunted memories, military occupation and missing loved ones.
Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, and no effort has been made to reunite families separated two years ago during the final bloody months of the war between the now-defeated Tamil separatists and the ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government.

A power-sharing programme the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised to enact after the 25-year conflict has gone nowhere.

In the meantime, the government has worked hard to project an image of peace and redemption to the world. It insists Tamils have embraced its plan to rebuild homes and shattered lives. It is playing up the Indian Ocean island's reputation as a tourist destination, building airports, seaports and new roads. It has even ordered an army headquarters to be converted into a luxury beach hotel.

But in the ethnic Tamil heartland in the north, resentment is building.

From the school where he sleeps at night, principal Asirvatham Soosainathar watches the troops who are still living in his house in the village of Murikandy. At weekends, he visits his family in the home they have rented 50 miles away.

More than 100 families in the village were displaced by troops, and the government has promised to return their homes soon. But in two years, Mr Soosainathar, 44, has seen no evidence of it.

"I have 106 coconut trees on my land, but nowadays I have to pay for my coconut," he said. "The army has been telling me for two years that it will leave my house, but they are still cultivating my land."

Many Tamils fear the soldiers in their homes are the vanguard of a government plan to send in majority Sinhalese settlers to dilute Tamil power and prevent any new push for a separate homeland. Tamil MPs say the military is seizing land that was in private hands before the war. "The army is doing everything to be there permanently," said Suresh Premachandran, MP, of the Tamil National Alliance. "They are putting up permanent camps and are very much part of the entire administrative system in the northern province."

Electricity has been restored and roads repaired. Supermarkets, banks and internet cafes have opened in areas closed to business during the war.

But many people whose homes were destroyed continue to live under tents or in small huts covered only by tin sheets. Many families who lost their belongings and breadwinners remain in extreme poverty.
==============================================================

Red Cross brands assaults on medics in conflict zones a 'humanitarian tragedy'

Mark Tran    Wednesday 10 August 2011

Violence against medical personnel in areas of unrest costing millions of lives, according to ICRC report

International Committee of the Red Cross director Yves Daccord says disregard for healthcare delivery is costing millions of lives. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Attacks on doctors and healthcare workers in conflicts from Somalia to Afghanistan have a drastic knock-on effect by jeopardising the health of millions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report on Wednesday.
"Violence that prevents the delivery of healthcare is currently one of the most urgent, yet overlooked, humanitarian tragedies," Yves Daccord, ICRC director-general, said in a statement. "Hospitals in Sri Lanka and Somalia have been shelled, ambulances in Libya shot at, paramedics in Colombia killed, and wounded people in Afghanistan forced to languish for hours in vehicles held up in checkpoint queues. The issue has been staring us in the face for years. It must end."
According to Dr Robin Coupland, who led research carried out in 16 countries, millions could be spared if the delivery of healthcare were more widely respected.             Full Story>>>

Sri Lankan protest over 'disappeared'

South Asia     11 August

  By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

The families demanded that more should be done to find their loved ones

Weeping parents have been demonstrating in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, asking what has become of close family members who have disappeared.

The protesters gathered on a hot street corner near the town hall.
Most of those grieving were Tamil and from the former war areas of north and east Sri Lanka. They solemnly held pictures of their missing loved ones.
The issue of disappearances still causes agony for many Sri Lankans, who do not know where to get help.
"We want our children," the protesters chanted. "Where are our children? Dear president, please listen."
The war has been over two years, they said, but their children remain missing.
About 100 family members of disappeared people demonstrated, supported by a student organisation.
Many broke down as they spoke.
Weeping Maneswari Chandrarasa said her 19-year-old son, Prabhakaran, had no political connections but was taken away three years ago by men claiming to be from the Criminal Investigation Department.
But the CID subsequently denied any knowledge of it, she said.

Missing person Mayurathan is believed to be third from the left

"They came inside the house and took my child who was asleep," she said, weeping. "I'm still looking for him. So far there's no reply from the officials. Please give me my child."
Neranjini Nirmalanathan, who had earlier lost her husband to the Tamil Tigers, said soldiers took her son, Mayurathan, in 2007. He was an altar boy at church in Jaffna.
Her enquiries to the authorities since then had gone unanswered. But in June a Tamil newspaper published a photograph of him and five other youths that it says it found on the internet.
She clutches the photograph, which she thinks shows the six in a prison.
"I want my son," she said, sobbing, in English. "Please try and understand, I want my son, without my son I will commit suicide."
Large numbers flocked to testify before the government's own war inquiry commission during its public hearings late last year, though relatively few could be heard.
During the war many saw their children forcibly conscripted by the Tamil Tigers, only to be later detained by the government side and never seen again.
A recent police announcement that families could now seek news of their loved ones at police stations seems to have made little difference.

Reduction of Jaffna MPs 'erodes Tamil sovereignty'

10 August, 2011
Reduction of Jaffna MPs 'erodes Tamil sovereignty'

	The EC has decided to reduce the number of seats allocated to Jaffna district

The biggest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka has objected the decision to reduce the number of parliamentary representatives from Jaffna district.

In a special statement to parliament, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) described the decision by the elections commissioner (EC) as an "erosion of sovereignty" of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

But the government said the Commissioner has made the decision in line with regulations.

"The seat allocation is done annually by the commissioner of elections according to the constitution," Prime Minister DM Jayaratne told parliament in response.

EC has recently decided to reduce the number of seats allocated to Jaffna district from 10 to six.

Full Story>>> 
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China assures SL of backing in international fora: Peiris

Colombo, Aug 11 (PTI) China has promised to extend its "fullest" support to Sri Lanka, which has been under pressure over alleged rights violations, at international forums whenever the need arises, External Affairs Minister G L Peiris said today.

Peiris, who is accompanying Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on a visit to China, told a state radio here today that China has assured the country of its support in situations of discomfort.

Peiris said the assurance was made by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when Rajapaksa called on him in Beijing.

"Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said he will extend its fullest support in all necessary situations to Sri Lanka in international fora," Peiris told the ''Lakhanda'' radio on a voice despatch from Beijing.

Peiris added that the Chinese Premier also promised action for Sri Lanka''s exports to increase its gains in China.

Rajapaksa''s four-day China visit came on an invitation by the Chinese Premier extended at the economic summit in St Petersburg, Russia.

Analysts say Sri Lanka banks on Chinese veto power to annul any UN Security Council resolution that may lead to economic sanctions against it.

China came in support of Sri Lanka when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon''s advisory panel issued its report on Sri Lanka in April, accusing the government of committing war crimes during the last stages of the military conflict with the LTTE.

It called for the establishment of an independent investigation.

The Sri Lankan government dismissed the UN panel report as a devious Western plan backed by the pro-LTTE diaspora to undermine Sri Lanka''s post conflict development.

'Lankan Army killed 40,000 Tamils'

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/video/lankan-army-killed-40000-tamil-civilians-un/1/147707.html

Headlines Today | August 10, 2011

The UN says thousands of people probably died during the last stages of the war, the Sri Lankan government denies this charge.       Full Story>>>
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Jayalalithaa slams Lanka defence secretary's remarks on war crimes

Headlines Today Bureau  | Chennai, August 11, 2011 |

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa's remarks on the alleged war crimes rocked the Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday, with Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa saying they were highly condemnable.
Hitting back at Rajapaksa after the latter had asked her to mind her own business and not interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, Jayalalithaa said the Tamil Nadu assembly resolution was not passed for political gains.
"Gotabaya claims that there were no war crimes and the reports are false and misleading. The Tamil Nadu resolution on Lankan Tamils is beyond politics," Jayalalithaa told the assembly.
Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka war crimes: War survivors relive horror of Sri Lanka's killing fields

  Priyamvatha  | Vanni (Sri Lanka), August 9, 2011 | Updated 23:22 IST  

Scenes from a camp in Vanni

The closing stages of the Sri Lankan civil war were a story of extreme brutality against civilians by the army. Despite being widely documented, Colombo remains in denial about atrocities on Tamils in the country’s north and the east.
The survivors of the war still live in fear, in one of the most densely militarised zones of the world, devoid of any hope of ever getting justice.
Headlines Today correspondent Priyamvatha travelled (undercover) to Vanni, the former stronghold of the Tamil Tiger rebels in north Sri Lanka, to unravel the facts behind the claims and counterclaims in the land that was witness to one of the worst war crimes committed on civilians anywhere in the world.
 Full Story>>>
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No One, in the US or Sri Lanka, Should Be Above the Law

Human Rights Watch  

by 

Brad Adams

Published in: 

Groundviews

August 9, 2011

 

In a report released last month Human Rights Watch called on the US government to launch criminal investigations into allegations of detainee abuse authorized by senior Bush administration officials. The 107-page report, “Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees,” presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as “waterboarding,” the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured. Such acts violated the Convention against Torture, the Geneva Conventions, and other international treaties binding on the United States. 

Full Story>>> 

Jungles cleared for "forced" resettlement

 

August, 2011

Clearing Kombavil The internally displaced Tamils of the Menik Farm camp in Vavunia are to be resettled in a newly cleared area against their will says the major Tamil party in Sri Lanka. Parlimentarian Sivashakthi Anandan revealed that at a meeting held last week attended by Mullaithivu Security Forces Commander Major General Leonard Mark, Government Agent A Pathinathar and members of several government and non governmental organizations including UN agencies had disscused resettlement plans. TNA allege that IDPs from Puthumathalan, Mullivaikkal West, Mullivaikkal East, Ambalavanpokkanai, Valaignar Madam and Anandapuram in the Mullaitivu district who are presently at the Menik Farm camp at Chettikulam or with host families, largely at Vavuniya are not to be resettled in their original hometowns. Government accused “Alternately arrangements are being made by clearing forest areas in Kombavil to resettle these people.” Said MP Anandan. Sri Lanka's military spokesman General Ubaya Madawela admitted that land clearance for resettlement is taking place in the Kombavil. At the Kombavil Progress Review Meeting held on the 3rd of August was informed by the military that 225 acres were cleared whithin 40 days. TNA parliamentarian Sivasakthi Anandan also accused the government of preventing people returning to their respective villages in a bid to cover up war crimes. He said that the government is claiming delays in land mine clearance to settle the internally displaced far from their respective villages. “These were the areas where the final phase of war took place and thousands of people died. The government is depriving these people from their lands to cover up atrocities committed during the last days of war,” said MP Ananthan. The government agent has informed the meeting in Mullaithivu that it is impossible to free six villages in Puthukudiyirippu division from landmines in near future as demining has not even started in the area. Allegations denied Military spokesman Maj Gen Medawela denied the allegation saying, "the Sri Lankan military did not commit any war crimes". The newly-arrived chief of the United Nations in Sri Lanka following a visit to Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu said that the situation of displaced people in Menik Farm from Mullaitivu 'whose areas of origin were not yet tasked for demining and could not return to their homes in the immediate future was of concern'. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka Subinay Nandy further said, “I am looking forward to hearing from the Government the future plans for these people and we want to work with them so this group of displaced can begin to look forward to the future with some certainty and have a durable solution to their plight,”.

Set up standard war-crime probe: US to Lanka

Rediff.com

rediff News

The United States asked Sri Lanka [ Images ] to carry out credible probe on violations of human rights during the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam war, as it warned it of more international pressure on the issue.
If Sri Lanka wants to take the responsibility to solve the issues related to the war crime victims then they need to do it quickly or else there would be an increasing international pressure on the Mahinda Rajapaksa [ Images ] regime, the US State Department said.
"We want to see the Sri Lankans do this themselves in a way that meets international standards. So what I would say to Sri Lankan critics is, take your responsibility and mount an investigation that meets international standards," she said.
"If Sri Lankans want to take the responsibility to solve these issues themselves, then they need to do it, and they need to do it quickly," State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told newsmen at a daily news conference.
Nuland said the United States has said repeatedly for a long time that it supports a full and credible and independent investigation of alleged violations of international human rights and law and international humanitarian law in Sri Lanka.
"We continue to urge the government of Sri Lanka to do just that and to do it quickly. And we hope Sri Lankans will do this themselves. But if they do not, there's going to be growing pressure from the international community for exactly the kind of international action that Sri Lankans say they don't want," Nuland said in response to a question. 
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Rajapaksa blackmails as guilt haunts India: CPI Secretary D. Raja

[Tue, 09 Aug 2011, 05:51 GMT]

“They [Rajapaksa regime] think they are too intelligent to use the geopolitical equations in South Asia, they think they can manipulate to win the support of China, Pakistan or other countries including Russia, so that India can be pressurised. But India also feels down the line guilty, because India gave all the support for the war against Tamils to Rajapaksa govt. So, if you go by that, then India was also collaborative in the war. So that guiltiness haunts India. So India succumbs to a blackmail or pressure exerted by Rajapaksa govt. So this is what the international community should understand,” said D. Raja of the Communist Party of India, congratulating Headlines Today bringing out the truth about the war to the peoples of India. While the programme focussing on genocidal perspectives of the war is aired Tuesday, Rajapaksa is on his second visit to China within a year. Full story >>

IDPs 'not allowed' to return home

08 August, 2011  By Charles Haviland - Colombo

Unlike most of the other refugees, the residents of Mullivaikkal have not been able to go to back home

An opposition party in Sri Lanka says the government has decided that the original residents of a key area of the former war zone will not be allowed to resettle in their home villages.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is the biggest ethnic Tamil party in the country, has demanded an explanation.

The government has declined to comment.

In early 2009, villages with names such as Mullivaikkal and Putumattalan became synonymous with the horrors of the Sri Lankan war.

Here on the north-east coast hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped as the army fought, and conquered, the Tamil Tigers.

'Sinister reasons'

Unknown numbers of people died or were gravely injured.

The surviving people to whom these villages were once home, remain in displacement camps.

Unlike most of the other refugees, they have not been able to go to back home.

The government says their home area awaits demining.

But the opposition TNA now says it has learned that the people are to be permanently resettled at an inland site and not permitted to return to the Mullivaikkal area.

Interviewed by a newspaper, The Island, the TNA leader, R Sampanthan, asked for an explanation, saying these people were fishermen and wouldn’t be able to do their job inland.

In a separate statement the TNA said that there must be what it called “sinister reasons” for their non-resettlement.

Contacted by the BBC, senior military and civilian officials declined to talk about the matter or were unavailable on the phone.

At the same time a wider row has broken out between the same party, the TNA, and the government.

They have held 10 rounds of talks this year on political reforms to solve the ethnic problem.

The TNA has now accused the government of using the talks as a mere facade of reconciliation.

The government, in turn, has accused the TNA of trying to – in its words – sabotage peace and unity.

Fighting for press freedom in Sri Lanka

9 August 2011

“If you are not with the government, you become an instant traitor to the country. They said I should be killed; very clearly, they said I should be killed.” In his 30-year career as a reporter and editor in Sri Lanka, Sunanda Deshapriya says he was non-political, but his reporting on the 25-year civil war and human rights violations in the country rubbed the government the wrong way.
Branded a traitor, his life threatened, Deshapriya sought asylum in Switzerland. Although he continues to write about his home country from afar, Deshapriya knows his stories would be stronger if he was free to be a reporter in Sri Lanka.
“I talk to people back home and try to get a feeling for the story, but... I know my stories are not really full of flesh and blood,” Deshapriya says. “Because I am a marked person, I don’t want to associate with anyone openly in the country; I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. In that sense, it’s difficult sometimes to get the information about what’s happening.”
What press freedom?                                 More >    
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Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa in China as West turns up war crimes heat

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa smiles as he walks the red carpet at the Presidential Secretariat building after taking the oath of office for a second term in Colombo, November 19, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

By C. Bryson Hull     COLOMBO | Tue Aug 9, 2011
 

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa landed in China on Tuesday seeking tighter economic ties in a stormy financial world, and against the backdrop of an aggressive Western push for a probe into war crimes allegations.
Rajapaksa was due to attend the Universiade sporting event in Shenzhen and will later meet President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing, in the latest of his several visits to one of Sri Lanka's closest allies.
The Sri Lankan leader on Monday said economic cooperation was the focus of a trip made on an invitation from Hu in June, with the aim of expanding ties and learning from China's economic growth example.
China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral donor and in June committed $1.5 billion to Sri Lanka's $6 billion post-war rebuilding plan, having already financed a power plant and new port in Rajapaksa's southern Hambantota electorate.        Full Story>>>

Daily Press Briefing - August 8, 2011

 

Daily Press Briefing - August 8, 2011

www.state.gov
QUESTION: The defense secretary of Sri Lanka, Rajapaska, in an interview with headlines today, has rejected calls by the UN, U.S., and other international communities calling for war crimes investigation. He said actually, how can an international mechanism kick in? He says we have done nothing wrong. So what is the reaction of the U.S. and the ongoing UN efforts on this?
MR. TONER: Well, we continue to call on a transparent accounting of Sri Lanka’s actions, and we believe the UN panel of experts is a mechanism that should be taken advantage of in order to carry out that kind of examination and accounting. I’m aware that Sri Lanka has also conducted some reporting on human rights abuses, alleged human rights abuses, but we still believe that an international mechanism to look at these is in everyone’s interest.    Full Story>>>

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SL war crimes: Gotabaya hits out at Jayalalithaa; confident of Indian support

Rajesh Sundaram  | Colombo, August 8, 2011
Sri Lanka's defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has hit out at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa for her recent comments seeking international war crimes investigations and economic sanctions on Sri Lanka.
Talking to Headlines Today exclusively in Colombo, Rajapaksa said. "This (the resolutions in the assembly and statements by J. Jayalalithaa) must be for her to gain political advantage...It is not reasonable, because in Sri Lanka regardless of being Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim, we are Sri Lankans. We are more worried about our citizens than anyone else. This (the resolution and statements by Jaya) is without knowing facts."
"If she is so concerned about the welfare of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, the first thing you know what she must do...they must stop Indian fishermen coming into Sri Lankan waters and fishing in areas predominantly dominated by the Tamil fishermen of Sri Lanka.      Full Story>>>

Chaos in Colombo: Mêlée over jobs indicates a serious economic problem in Sri Lanka?

*groundviews journalism For citizens   8 Aug, 2011

Anushka Wijesinha (who blogs here), a Research Economist at the Institute of Policy Studies, sent us these incredible photos and video of the chaos in Colombo today when thousands of Korean job seekers appeared for Korean exam applications at the Police Park down Havelock Road. Mainstream media reports a figure of 10,000, which going by the video and photos appear to be mostly young men.

Anushka Wijesinha (who blogs here), a Research Economist at the Institute of Policy Studies, sent us these incredible photos and video of the chaos in Colombo today when thousands of Korean job seekers appeared for Korean exam applications at the Police Park down Havelock Road. Mainstream media reports a figure of 10,000, which going by the video and photos appear to be mostly young men.

As Anushka notes, of the 4.5% unemployment rate overall in Sri Lanka, 18.1% of youth (age 15-24) are unemployed and within this around 10.7% of those qualified with A/Ls are unemployed. He further noted that,

• Many were queuing from 5pm yesterday, which means they had spent the night on the pavements.
• By the time the centre closed at 11.15am (as was informed by the officials there to those gathered 3,500 applicants had been registered. There was at least 1,000 more in the queue at that point, who were turned away.
• Many had gone to the Kalutara centre and had been unsuccessful, and had came to to the Police Park centre today
• IPS did a snap survey of the profile of the applicants seeking work in Korea and the results will be published along with an article soon, on the blog www.ipslk.blogspot.com. Sample of around 50 youth.
• Preliminary results: majority were from Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha, Matara, Galle and Hambantota districts (Emphasis ours)
• Majority of those interviewed in the snap survey had A/L as their highest qualification, with few even having degrees
• Yet, the majority stated they were seeking ‘any type of work’ or ‘manual labour’, while a minority were seeking specific occupations.
• The remaining crowd of youth were informed that they can try again at 28 other centres across the country

The route Anushka took down Havelock Road is plotted below, around 1.5km.

Continue reading »

Emergency likely to go from next month

   
By Kelum Bandara
Fresh after the reiteration by India that Sri Lanka should do away with the state of emergency immediately, the government has decided to lift it from next month, a senior government minister said yesterday.
Last week in Lok Sabha, India’s External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna, making a suo motu statement, said that he stressed to his Sri Lankan counterpart the need for an early withdrawal of emergency regulations, investigations into allegations of human rights violations, restoration of normalcy in affected areas and redress to humanitarian concerns of affected families.
The government reintroduced the state of emergency in 2005 after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar by the LTTE in August 2005. Since then, the ruling party continued to extend the state of emergency in Parliament every month after a debate.
The government, however, scaled down some of the regulations in May last year, and cited the need to retain the rest to legally deal with those involved in terrorist activities.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) opposed the extension of the emergency right from the beginning. The opposition parties such as the JVP supported it during the war time. However, the UNP and the JVP started voting against its extension some time after the end of the war in 2009.
The Minister who wished to remain anonymous said the state of emergency would remain this month. Accordingly, he said that Parliament would debate it tomorrow as scheduled. “Most likely, it will not be extended from next month,” he said. 
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  Monday 8 of August 2011 
By judges trying to become ‘joker’ superstars: Sri Lanka will soon become ‘Kolamka ?’

(Lanka-e-News -07.Aug.2011, 10.PM) According to senior Lawyers , because a Magistrate (female) of the Anuradhapura court tried to create a record by delivering court verdicts maniacally subordinating the sacrosanct justice , she has become a laughing stock in the eyes of all. The legal circles say , owing to this effort to show ‘ magic’ incompatible with the legal profession , she ought to be brought before the judicial service Commission immediately for an investigation.

Ms. Dharshika Wimalasiri who is the Chief magistrate and additional district judge of the Anuradhapura courts has recently delivered verdicts on 206 cases from 10.00 a m to 6.30 p.m. in one day, according to media reports.. She had also pointed out that a majority had been found guilty and several others were discharged owing to police lapses.      Full story >>