Govt. challenged to provide information on Prageeth

Wife of disappeared journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda challenged the government to provide information about her husband’s whereabouts before January 2012.

More than six hundred days have passed since a web journalist and cartoonist, Prageeth Ekneligoda, disappeared after apparently being abducted.

Addressing the media in Colombo on Thursday, Sandya Eknaligoda said “ Mohan Peiris represented Sri Lanka at the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) and he gave evidence on behalf of the Sri Lankan government”.

“I am calling upon the government to tell me which country Prageeth is in and to produce him before a court” she added.

I am calling upon the government to tell me which country Prageeth is in and to produce him before a court Sandya Eknaligoda

No information on his fate has emerged until former Attorney General Mohan Peiris who is also the legal advisor to the cabinet of ministers giving evidence at CAT in Geneva stated that Prageeth is believed to be living in exile.

Speaking at the press conference, leader of the NSSP Vikramabahu Karunaratne alleging that Mr. Peiris made the comment to please the house said “150 000 Tamils were disappeared and the government might claim that they too are living abroad”.

International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) Asian Committee Chairperson Nimalka Fernando said that when questioned about the Prageeth by the UN Committee Against Torture, “former attorney general has made a reckless comment”.

“When authorities claim they are still searching Prageeth’s whereabouts at the courts by saying he is in abroad, former attorney general had impeached the court” she added.

Government "accept responsibility"

At a separate press briefing held in Colombo, the government accepted responsibility for the statement made by the former Attorney General regarding Prageeth's whereabouts.

Former attorney general has made a reckless comment Nimalka Fernando

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that Mohan Peiris attended CAT as a member of the government delegation.

“He has taken responsibility for the statement he made,” the media minister added.

Prageeth, who had written articles and drawn cartoons critical of the government, was apparently abducted on his way home from the office and has not been seen since 24 January 2010.

Media rights groups claim that Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work.

They accuse the authorities of intimidating and harassing journalists critical of the government's policies. The government denies the allegations that it is behind the attacks on the press.

Murdered Sri Lanka politician's family hail MP warrant

Duminda Silva (left) was closely connected to the heart of the Sri Lankan government

The daughter of a Sri Lankan politician shot dead last month has welcomed a court move to arrest an MP in connection with his killing.

Speaking to the BBC from an undisclosed location outside Sri Lanka, Hirunika Premachandra said that the news had restored her faith in the judiciary.

Her father Bharatha Lakshman was killed during a shoot-out in Colombo.

The court issued a warrant for the arrest of Duminda Silva MP who was present during the incident.

Mr Silva was injured when shooting broke out in the capital between rival members of the governing party.

On Tuesday a court said that Mr Silva should be arrested and produced before a court even though his name is not among the list of 15 police suspects wanted in connection with the violence.

He is currently believed to be receiving medical treatment for severe injuries in a hospital in Singapore.

Gun culture

"I think this is the first time I felt happy since my father passed away," Ms Premachandra told the BBC Sinhala service.

"It is not because somebody is being sent to prison but because we can still trust the judicial system in Sri Lanka.

"I salute the judge for making us still believe in the judiciary."

Presidential adviser Mr Lakshman was among four people killed when shooting broke out within the governing United People's Front Alliance as local elections were being held in a suburb of Colombo on 8 October.

Police said on Tuesday that there was not enough evidence to arrest Mr Silva and that he was "not of sound mind".

However, considering the evidence, the magistrate ordered the MP's immediate arrest.

Police quoting Mr Lakshman's driver said that Mr Silva blocked Mr Lakshman's vehicle and shot him. But, the officer said, other eyewitnesses had contradicted this.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says that several other people have been detained in connection with the violence, including Mr Silva's bodyguard and a man widely described as an "underworld figure" who was with Mr Silva at the time.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa countered widespread allegations against Mr Silva by saying he was "not a known underworld king pin or some drug dealer - he's an elected MP".

But Mr Rajapaksa admitted that politicians in the area where the gunfight took place had connections with the underworld and its gun culture.

Leaked Extracts of the ‘notorious’ LLRC Report

Thursday, 17 November 2011

Nearly one hundred soldiers including some senior military personnel up to the ranks of Major will be sacrificed to save the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakshe and President Mahinda Rajapakshe from prosecution for breaching international law, during the war that ended in May 2009. By holding these personnel accountable for some of the heinous crimes committed at the end of the war, President and his sibling believe that the international pressure will be eased from them and their regime.

Fearing that a feeble LLRC report may result in possible travel ban being imposed on senior government and military officials including the President and the Defence Secretary and freezing of personal assets by the US, Canada and European Union, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report will be made public in the next few days by the President’s Office via the Sri Lankan Parliament. This is in light of the Foreign Office Minister of UK Alistair Burt stating in the UK Parliament recently that ‘all options’ are opened and the US, Canadian and Australian foreign ministers have been very vocal on what might happen if the LLRC did not satisfy the international call for an independent credible investigation.

Defence Ministry Intelligence adviser Kapila Hendawitharane and his ‘special branch’ associates have been tasked by Defence Secretary to find some of the soldiers identified in the Channel 4’s documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ and others identified in the video of LTTE ‘Colonel’ Ramesh’s interrogation, released by Global Tamil Forum (GTF) in December 2010 during President Rajapakshe’s utterly failed visit to the UK.

These soldiers will be part of a collection of soldiers who will be held accountable for violations of human rights. The LLRC report will recommend that these identified soldiers be tried under the laws of the land. By claiming to have dealt with these crimes, Rajapakshe regime also believes that media organisations like Channel 4 will become more subdued in its reporting against Sri Lanka.

Family members who reported disappearances of their loved ones in military custody will be recommended to be compensated by way of free housing and one off payments. LLRC report will also recommend that these disappearances to be further investigated.

The panel is well aware of how notorious this government is in investigating disappearances.

LLRC report will also commend the military for successfully rescuing a large number of civilians from the clutches of a terrorist organisation. This is to keep peace with the hardliners in the military who will not be at ease with some parts of the report.

Families of these soldiers have been told through third party agents that once they are imprisoned they will be looked after by the State and that each family will be given a free house. Presidential Secretariat has also verbally confirmed to these selected soldiers that once convicted and after they had served up to two years in prison, the following Vesak (Buddha’s Birth) celebrations, President will pardon most of them.

LLRC report will also recommend that a few out of the thousand or more LTTE cadres held without trial in secret military jails around the country should be prosecuted in open courts. It is learnt that the President will pardon a section of these accused LTTE cadres, once convicted. This will be seen as another step in lending his hand of appeasement to the Tamil Diaspora.

President has commented to his close associates that the biggest single personal headache he faces is from the Tamil Diaspora. President’s wife has told one of her close friends that the President has told his officials not to accept any overseas invitations other than to friendly nations where there is no Tamil Diaspora. It is taking a toll in his health, the first lady has revealed.

LLRC report will also mildly accuse the government for acting irresponsibly and President Rajapakshe will accept blame and promise that lessons will be learnt. No references will be made to targeting hospitals or targeting civilians by the military in the no fire zone. Report will also not refer to the lack of supplies of food and medicine sent by the government during the last leg of the war.

President Rajapakshe and his brothers were not seriously considering dealing with these accountability claims hoping that with time these allegations will fade away, until Basil Rajapakshe was told by a senior US State Department official that they hold a voice recording of Gotabaya Rajapakshe giving orders to shoot and kill senior LTTE commanders even if they surrendered. This was compounded by the fact that both the US intelligence services and another government within the European Union hold text messages sent between UN staff, the former Foreign Secretary and current Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Sri Lanka, Palitha Kohona and Basil Rajapakshe which implicate these individuals in the ‘white flag’ incident.

In a bid to deflect the international community, particularly considering that Sri Lanka may find it difficult to fade off a resolution in the UNHRC session in March 2012, Rajapakshe regime have decided to appoint a South African style Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the LLRC report. This Truth and Reconciliation Commission will mirror the South African model with participations of international players including prominent names from South Africa itself. Others considered are from various other Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries. The idea of bringing the international players is to satisfy adversaries who have been arguing that the local commissions are biased and lack independence from the government.

This 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission' is to have equal representation from women and local religions. Representation from countries such as Norway, India and China will be avoided.

The setting up of this Commission too will be part of a series of recommendations in the LLRC report. This way it will avoid being set up by President Rajapakshe as most observers agree that previous commissions set-up by this President, have not produced any tangible results and have just been smoke screens in one way or other.

President also fears potential backlash from the majority community if too much blame is attributed to the Sinhala people or implied upon them as a result of this commission for the Tamil grievances.

Once this Truth and Reconciliation Commission is announced, Rajapakshe regime will argue through their henchmen like Rajiva Wijesinghe, Mohan Peiris, G.L.Peiris, Mahinda Samarasinghe and Dayan Jayatilleka that any progressive government will be looking to the future when it has dealt with the past via the LLRC report and served justice to the victims.

External Affairs Ministry has consulted an overseas PR Firm and has already launched its pre-emptive strike on the Tamil Diaspora handing an olive branch calling for partnership with the government in development projects in the North and East. The idea is to split the Diaspora by calling at a few as moderates and the ones holding firm on war crimes investigation, seeking justice as hardliners.

It is with these devious intentions that President Rajapakshe will make the LLRC report public via the Sri Lankan Parliament in the next few days.

‘Che Guevara would have supported Eelam’

18 Nov 2011  By A Correspondent

Leftist writer and author, Ron Ridenour, minced no words in making a strong case for bifurcation of Sri Lanka and carving out a separate Tamil nation during a book release function in Chennai last week.

Terming Tamil Eelam as a necessity in view of the bitter history of the struggle spanning several decades, Ron said revolutionary fighter Che Guevara would have supported the Tamil struggle had he been alive.

Ron Ridenour with leaders of Left parties during the launch of his book ‘Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka’ in Chennai

Quoting Che from ‘Socialism and Man’ he said: “The revolutionary is the ideological motor force of the revolution. If he forgets his proletarian internationalism, the revolution, which he heads will cease to be an inspiring force and he will sink into a comfortable lethargy, which imperialism, our irreconcilable enemy, will utilize well. Proletarian internationalism is a duty, but it is also a revolutionary necessity. So we educate our people.”

Ron said, “I believe these principles apply to the Tamils of Sri Lanka. I believe Che Guevara would agree with your struggle for equality and when not possible to achieve within the Sri Lankan chauvinist context, he would understand your fight for your own nationhood.”

Author of several books including ‘Cuba beyond the Crossroads’, and ‘Cuba at Sea’, Ron has written extensively on Latin American affairs.

He said people of Latin America were unaware of the Sri Lankan government’s human rights violations “not just against the Tamils, but also against Muslims, the indigenous tribes, the Sinhalese workers and the poor.”

“I got involved in solidarity with your (Tamil) people’s struggle because you have been so brutally treated,” Ron said tracing the Eelam movement in Sri Lanka

“Perhaps Cubans have not understood the history of struggle that Tamils have undergone to win full equal rights before taking up arms,” he said.

Ron recalled that for thirty years the Tamils in Sri Lanka fought peacefully but they were met with brutal force - even worse than that used against blacks in the US, and against Palestinians by Israelis.

He urged the pro-Tamil outfits to contact the communist and socialist parties and the ‘indigenous’ organizations in Latin America and elsewhere, and explain to them the history of the Eelam struggle.

“You must explain to them your history, why you had to take up arms and fight for separation, for an independent nation. They have to hear of your suffering, of your struggles, why Tamil Eelam is a necessity,” he said.

Ron said that progressive governments have won majority votes for new constitutions in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Venezuela that grant equal rights to their indigenous peoples.

“In Bolivia, under the new constitution there are four official national languages, out of which three are indigenous,” he pointed out, adding that such egalitarian developments were taking place in several progressive-pro socialist governments in Latin America.

“If these people could know you simply want these same rights, they would listen to you and stop backing Sri Lanka,” he said.

“We must unite around the world and struggle for an independent international investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity against Sri Lanka government leaders. We must call for a worldwide boycott of Sri Lanka,” the writer said.

Ron’s book, ‘Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka’ was released at the function.

Also Read

Unified voice emerging in support of Eelam from Tamil Nadu

All is not well for Tamils in Sri Lanka

Published On Wed Nov 16 2011

Sri Lanka High Commissioner Chitranganee Wagiswara tries to justify the war crimes by the government against Tamil civilians by asserting that Tamil Tigers were terrorists. She is by implication accepting that war crimes were committed by both Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers. Terrorism by a rebel group cannot justify war crimes by Sri Lankan government on her civilians.

Ms Wagiswara’s description of the Sri Lankan communities as “peace loving” is a cruel joke. The Tamil majority areas of Sri Lanka (Eelam) are under a massive Sinhalese army of occupation, who are harassing and trampling on the rights of the Tamils after the surrender of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009.

Even the provincial governors of the two Tamil provinces are army generals accused of war crimes. Tamil government agents are being replaced by Sinhalese and the government is colonizing Tamil lands by bringing in Sinhalese from the south with army patronage.

Some 300,000 Tamils were forcibly kept like cattle in detention camps and many are still languishing in camps. Mahinda Rajapakse recently passed a law demanding title deeds from the one million Tamils who fled the country.

Foreign reporters are not allowed freely into Tamil provinces, to hide the facts, and only selected writers are allowed. The Sri Lankan government is spending large sums of money to convince the international community that everything is “peaceful” in Sri Lanka. Since independence in 1948, several laws have been enacted by the Sinhalese majority to deny the Tamils voting rights, citizenship rights, language rights, equal education and employment rights.

Sinhalese thugs, police and army organized the slaughter of Tamils and destruction, rape and plunder of Tamil properties all over the island, in 1956, 1958, 1971, 1977, culminating in 1983, forcing mass exodus of Tamils from Sinhalese areas and out of the country. The Tamil youth in desperation took up arms and one such group was LTTE (Tamil Tigers).

Absence of war is not peace for Tamils, who are kidnapped, tortured, humiliated and treated as third-class citizens. We Tamils thank our Prime Minister Stephen Harper for putting his foot down against human rights violations by the Rajapakse government. An injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.

S. Makenthiran, Mississauga

Sri Lanka: Baffling economic stunts in Colombo

16-Nov-2011

Guest Column by Dr. Kumar David 

Irrespective of whether one agrees or not, programmatically, with a slew of economic signals coming out of Colombo recently, it is not possible to put ones finger on exactly what’s going on and make sense of it. Contradictory moves that confound rational explanation are being played out and since the government is notorious for its lack of transparency, and nothing that Ministers say can be taken at face value, media commentators are reduced to guessing games. Before offering readers a sample of the motives that are being attributed to the government let me summarise the Pandora’s Box of economic moves that the Rajapakse government has opened. 

Incompatible policies 

• The government made a sharp rightward economic policy turn in close consultation with the IMF starting with the 2010 Budget. The IMF provided a $2.4 billion standby facility released in several tranches in exchange for which the government undertook to reduce the fiscal deficit by raising fuel and electricity prices, phasing out subsidies, raising indirect taxes and better tax collection. A business friendly environment was created, incentives provided and a more market friendly import system put in place. Rajapakse reneged on wage increases he had promised as an election gimmick and wage demands to match inflation were resisted. However the centre piece of the strategy was a focus on foreign investment hopes and pipedreams of making Colombo a regional financial hub. Impetus was given to tourism and plans initiated for numerous overseas hotel chains to set up shop. Ministers spoke of tourist arrivals increasing tenfold within five years.    Full Story>>>

Death threats to Yohindra Premachandra

THURSDAY, 17 NOVEMBER 2011 

Sumana Premachandra the wife of the slain former parliamentarian and presidential advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra lodged a complaint with the Cinnamon Garden police regarding anonymous calls she has being receiving threatening her son, Yohindra with death.

 

Police media spokesman Ajith Rohana confirmed that she had lodged a complaint this evening in this regard. 

 

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Mrs. Premachandra said that she has being receiving number of calls to her land line upon the death of her husband.

 

“They say that they will kill my son Yohindra and he will have to face the same fate his father faced. They do not give any reasons,” she said.

 

“But this morning I received a call to my mobile phone and that person made the same threats. Therefore I had to lodge a complaint with the police,” she said. 

 

“The police officers told me that they will look into the complaint and take necessary action. They also told me to inform them immediately if I receive any more calls with the phone details,” she added. 

 

Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was killed along with three others following a shootout in Mulleriyawa on October 8. (By Supun Dias)

Sri Lanka's savage smokescreen

November 15, 2011   By Bob Dietz/CPJ Asia Program Coordinator

Sri Lanka's former attorney general Mohan Peiris, who is now the senior legal adviser to the cabinet and who many Sri Lankans say is aiming to become the next Supreme Court Chief Justice, has made conflicting statements about missing journalist Prageeth Eknelygoda. The discrepancies do more than point up the government's indifference to Eknelygoda's fate and the mental anguish of his wife and two sons. Peiris's statements highlight the disregard with which the government views international opinion.

Eknelygoda has been missing since being abducted on the evening of January 24, 2010after he left his home to work at the Lanka eNews offices, shortly before the presidential elections that kept President Mahinda Rajapaksa in power for another six-year term. (More recently, Lanka eNews has been shut down after an arson attack on its office in January of this year and the arrest and harassment of its Sri Lanka-based staff. The site continues to be run out of England by its publisher, Sandaruwan Senadheera. Access in Sri Lanka to five other websites has been shut down by government order in recent weeks.)

In Geneva on November 8, in a prepared response to questions about Sri Lanka's human rights record from the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Peiris said, "An investigation into the abduction of Prageeth Eknelygoda is being conducted by the Homagama police and by the CCD [Colombo Crimes Division]. Investigation is being continued. So far no one has been arrested in this connection." (See page 46 of that official document.)

But, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission, in a question and answer session after the presentation, Peiris said that, according to reliable information, Eknelygoda has taken refuge in a foreign country and that the campaign against his disappearance is a hoax. Peiris failed to provide detailed information about where Eknelygoda had fled, the AHRC correspondent said.

Well aware of Eknelygoda's case, some diplomatic sources in Colombo say Peiris's statements have caused concern, and a few missions have asked the police and the president's office for clarification. Peiris's statement that Eknelygoda "is living in a foreign country as a refugee -- going against the official written response and without stating where or based on what sources -- is just another smoke screen, I'm afraid," one diplomatic source told CPJ.

When CPJ asked Sandhya Eknelygoda about Peiris's claims, she was incredulous. In remarks translated from Sinhala by a family friend, she told CPJ:

If my husband is hiding as was mentioned by Peiris he would never have stayed without contacting me. He loves our children and would not put us through such pain. Mohan Peiris says he knows where my husband is. I want him brought to me if his claims are true.

For almost two years, the family has been asking the Sri Lankan government for any information about Prageeth, who was a columnist and cartoonist. Not one government official has given them any information, and despite Peiris's claims that the case remains under investigation, other than to set new court dates there has been no movement in the case.

In March, CPJ and four other groups sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking to have the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO, which oversees press freedom, to look into the case of  Eknelygoda's, but there has been no apparent movement from within the UN. Sandhya Eknelygoda's personal appeal to the president's wife, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, has also gone unanswered.

Another note, not unrelated: The report on human rights abuses in the aftermath of the decades-long conflict with Tamil secessionists prepared by the government's Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will be presented to Rajapaksa around November 22. The report will then be tabled in Parliament, but will probably not be taken up for discussion or acted on until next year. The national budget will be presented on November 21 and the ensuing debate will carry on through December, after which Parliament will recess. The timing of the tabling means its official release will be delayed for two months, though details are sure to start leaking as soon as Parliament gets the report.

The government organized the LLRC in the hopes of heading off an international investigation into the brutal conflict, despite calls from the U.N. for an international role in dealing with the aftermath. (It is worth noting that international media coverage of the eight-member commission was prohibited.) The government's international diplomatic offensive has already begun.

Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Palitha Kohona, told the U.N. last week of the LLRC's interim recommendations. Many of them have already been implemented by the government, Kohona said.

A March 2011 report by a panel of experts appointed by Secretary-General Ban called the LLRC "deeply flawed." It recommended that the government should end practices that limit freedom of movement and freedom of expression "or otherwise contribute to a climate of fear."

Amid a steady crackdown on any media critical of the government, that climate of fear not only continues for Sandhya Eknelygoda and the couple's two teenage sons, but has been exacerbated by Mohan Peiris' remarks at the hearings in Geneva, and his facile response to the questions that followed.

UPDATE: The duration of Rajapaksa's term has been corrected in the second paragraph.

Dematagoda Chaminda says Eknaligoda’s body was dumped in the sea

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Underworld leader Dematagoda Chaminda has told the CID recently that a group of persons led by him had dumped the body of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda in the sea off the Negombo lagoon.

Demtagoda Chaminda was arrested on suspicion over the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and four others and is currently in the custody of the CID.

He is a trusted lackey of parliamentarian Kudu Duminda.

Chaminda had said that he was not aware of whose body he had dumped in the sea until that evening when the boss (Duminda) had said it was a web journalist during a party at Jaic Hilton and that he had later found out that the dead person was Prageeth Eknaligoda.

Dematagoda Chaminda had observed that several bodies had been dumped in the sea on the boss’ orders. The bodies had been wrapped in gunny bags and tied to heavy granite stones.

He had added that on every occasion when the bodies were dumped, the boss had told him that they were orders by the big boss (Defence Secretary).

“Sir, these people are going to kill me anyway. It is true that we have killed and transported drugs, but none of these were done for personal reasons. They were done because boss asked us to do so. Please sir, go out and reveal these details. These details will be buried forever if they kill me in a few days,” Dematagoda Chaminda has told the police officers.

While Dematagoda Chaminda made such a statement, the former Attorney General Mohanm Peiris speaking during the Convention Against Torture in Geneva said that information has been received that Prageeth Eknaligoda was living in a foreign country after receiving political asylum.
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How Moron (Mohan) Peiris exposed his chameleon colors before the UN torture and cruelty Committee

Regarding the disappearance of Lanka e news journalist Prageeth Ekneliyagoda , Mohan Peiris better known as Moron Peiris said , according to reliable information he has received , Ekneliyagoda is in a foreign country and has taken political asylum there…
 Full story >>

India emerges as main designer of ‘Asian Model’ in Norway report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 10:25 GMT]
The Norway report on the failed peace in Sri Lanka, concluding that Asian powers in pursuance of military solution were a reason for the failure, cautions that this model of ‘conflict resolution’ will challenge future Norwegian-style mediations. India’s role in the genocidal model of conflict resolution is not adequately discussed in the report, yet bits and pieces in the report along with what transpired in the panel discussion in Oslo on Friday, place India as decisively responsible for the ‘Asian model’ that ended the war in genocide. Meanwhile, citing the upsurge of Sinhala nationalism as a result of the international peace process, the report advises appeasement by leaving the fate of Eezham Tamils to ‘domestic solutions’. But an upsurge of Tamil nationalism resulting from the genocide, snowballing in either side of the Palk Bay, is yet to make impact with the IC.

The geopolitical imbalance affecting Eezham Tamils continue even in post-war politics, as in the assessment of the international community Tamil solidarity or the possibility of an upsurge of Tamil nationalism is not a significant equation to influence the powers as the Sinhala nationalism influences them.

Perhaps the IC is confident that New Delhi or Tamil Nadu politicians could contain any upsurge of nationalism in Tamil Nadu materialising the cause of Eezham Tamils.

The Norway report indirectly or naively accepts that ‘peace’ within the framework of united Sri Lanka failed, either by international peace mediation or by military intervention. In both ways – military intervention by India and mediation by IC-backed Norway – all the attempts hitherto were aiming at preserving the unity and integrity of State in the island.

Obviously, the failure in achieving peace within united Sri Lanka has narrowed down the choice now. There need to be no mincing of words: either secession or genocide of the nation of Eezham Tamils sooner or later.

Norway, India and the IC, know this reality, but refrain from accepting it and naively opt for the latter solution in the name of ‘domestic’ solution or in other words, Rajapaksa’s ‘home-made’ solution.

The Norway report laments at the ‘military solution’, acknowledges the upsurge in Sinhala nationalism and speaks about “old tricks in the Sri Lankan book.”

At the Oslo panel discussion, the team leader of the report, Gunnar M. Sørbø, who as a social anthropology academic rising above the narrow perspectives of politicians, diplomats, and intelligence personnel, reminded the issue of life and death in such peace processes and argued that Norway had the option of quitting in order to signal the world on the realities of the war in the island.

The reality of ‘military solution’ in the context of Sri Lanka is nothing but genocide, as the military is a Sinhala military.

But none of the players, including the Norway report writers, are prepared to spell it out, as it would justify the independence of Eezham Tamils.

There is no point in any of them talking about war crimes because worse crimes are committed by not accepting people’s realities.

They all now talk about ‘domestic’ solutions because they think it is conducive for the competing powers in the island to maintain status quo.

Genocidal Colombo will carefully maintain the status quo to complete its agenda.

The biggest loser is India, even though it cons about its ‘exclusive rights’ in resolving the crisis in the island. But the realities are different. So, it does nothing, sits on any international solution and barters Eezham Tamil interests for its leverage in the island as that is the only thing it could offer to maintain its status quo with the other powers in the island.   Full story >>

Former Sri Lankan President Talks Peace

The Harvard Crimson

Chandrika Kumaratunga, the former president of Sri Lanka, painted a sobering picture of an island nation recovering from civil war during a talk at CGIS yesterday.

Kumaratunga, who led Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005, described her administration’s unsuccessful attempts to resolve through peaceful negotiations the long-standing conflict between Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil populations.

Sri Lanka’s first female president attributed the challenge in part to a “mentality of siege” ­that has become entrenched in the psyche of the Sri Lankan people.

“For 2000 years we were a very strong nation ... but we underwent nearly 500 years of Western colonial rule and were completely subjugated for 450 years,” she said.

This, she argued, helps explain why war, not peace, has held the day.

Identity politics has long been the bedrock of political conflict in Sri Lanka, a nation of 20 million located in the waters off India’s southeastern coast.

Confronting this identity crisis “would require that we manage existing diversity,” Kumaratunga said, “and redirect the richness of that diversity towards positive change.”

Kumaratunga also addressed the failures of previous Sri Lankan administrations.

One “major mistake” that exacerbated identity politics was the now-defunct Sinhala Only Act, which recognized the Sinhalese tongue as the country’s sole official language.

This created a major setback for Tamils and other minority groups seeking equal opportunity in jobs and education, she said.

“We brought all kinds of rules that made it more difficult for the Tamils to get into schools,” said Kumaratunga.

She concluded her talk by discussing the challenges faced by the Sri Lankan people since their civil war ended in 2009.

“The people are fatigués, as they say in French ... fatigued,” she explained.

“The leadership will have to come from fresh, new people.”

At the end of her talk, one audience member asked what American students can learn from Sri Lanka’s history of political conflict.

“They can learn how paradise was lost,” Kumaratunga lamented.

The former president’s lecture was sponsored by the Harvard International Negotiation Program, the Global Institute of Health, the South Asian Initiative, and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Sri Lankan SAARC monument vandalised as PPM file case over import of ‘idols’

By Ahmed Nazeer | November 16th, 2011 

The SAARC monument designed and gifted to the Maldives by the Sri Lankan government, has been doused with crude oil.

The lion statue, representing the national symbol of Sri Lanka, was vandalised last night following the toppling, burning and theft of the Pakistani monument, which protesters had claimed was idolatrous.

Council Member of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Ahmed ‘Marz’ Saleem, meanwhile today filed a case with police against the Maldives Customs Department for allowing  ’idols’ to be imported to the Maldives for the SAARC Summit.

The PPM is the party founded by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, following its acrimonious split with the major opposition party, the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP).

Speaking to Minivan News today, Saleem said that four acts in the Maldives banned the importation of idols, and that the Customs Department should be held responsible for letting the statues be imported into the country.

”It violates the Police Act, Customs Act, Contraband Act and the Religious Unity Act,” he contested.

“I reported the case to the police because it is a criminal offence which has to be investigated by police and sent to the Prosecutor General, to be taken to court according to Maldivian law,” Saleem said. ”We looked into the matter of these idols and found out that these things were not made here, which means they much have been imported from somewhere else.”

He said that displaying the items in public “is another offence. Citizens who love the religion of Islam will not allow such items to kept in public, and will seek to destroy them.”

”Police will have no lawful authority to stop citizens from destroying the idols, because they are illegal and against Islam,” he said, adding that the PPM has filed a second case in the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) demanding investigation of whoever gave orders for police to defend the monuments when citizens went out to destroy them.

”We requested the PIC investigate and find out who exactly gave the orders, who implemented the orders, and to take action against them,” he said.

He also alleged that the current government was attempting “to erase Islam from the country.”

”The current government dissolved the Quran Department, Arabiyya School and women’s mosques, all to erase the religion of Islam,” Saleem alleged.

Spokesperson for the Customs Department, Mohamed Ibrahim, did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam meanwhile confirmed that a case against the Customs Department was filed with police.

Sri Lanka: Still struggling to find reconciliation

16 November 2011 Last updated at 05:30 ET

Sri Lanka is still a country struggling to put decades of civil war behind it.

The final stages - in 2009 - were of particular concern to human rights groups as reports suggested thousands of civilians had been killed.

The Sri Lankan government rejected calls for an independent international inquiry but it did appoint its own commission, and that panel is due to submit its report in a few days. But will it move the reconciliation process forward?

The BBC's Sri Lanka correspondent Charles Haviland reports.

CPJ Blog

Press Freedom News and Views     November 15, 2011

Sri Lanka's savage smokescreen

By Bob Dietz/CPJ Asia Program Coordinator

Sri Lanka's former attorney general Mohan Peiris, who is now the senior legal adviser to the cabinet and who many Sri Lankans say is aiming to become the next Supreme Court Chief Justice, has made conflicting statements about missing journalist Prageeth Eknelygoda. The discrepancies do more than point up the government's indifference to Eknelygoda's fate and the mental anguish of his wife and two sons. Peiris's statements highlight the disregard with which the government views international opinion.

Eknelygoda has been missing since being abducted on the evening of January 24, 2010after he left his home to work at the Lanka eNews offices, shortly before the presidential elections that kept President Mahinda Rajapaksa in power for another five-year term. (More recently, Lanka eNews has been shut down after an arson attack on its office in January of this year and the arrest and harassment of its Sri Lanka-based staff. The site continues to be run out of England by its publisher, Sandaruwan Senadheera. Access in Sri Lanka to five other websites has been shut down by government order in recent weeks.)

In Geneva on November 8, in a prepared response to questions about Sri Lanka's human rights record from the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Peiris said, "An investigation into the abduction of Prageeth Eknelygoda is being conducted by the Homagama police and by the CCD [Colombo Crimes Division]. Investigation is being continued. So far no one has been arrested in this connection." (See page 46 of that official document.)

But, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission, in a question and answer session after the presentation, Peiris said that, according to reliable information, Eknelygoda has taken refuge in a foreign country and that the campaign against his disappearance is a hoax. Peiris failed to provide detailed information about where Eknelygoda had fled, the AHRC correspondent said.

Well aware of Eknelygoda's case, some diplomatic sources in Colombo say Peiris's statements have caused concern, and a few missions have asked the police and the president's office for clarification. Peiris's statement that Eknelygoda "is living in a foreign country as a refugee -- going against the official written response and without stating where or based on what sources -- is just another smoke screen, I'm afraid," one diplomatic source told CPJ.

When CPJ asked Sandhya Eknelygoda about Peiris's claims, she was incredulous. In remarks translated from Sinhala by a family friend, she told CPJ:

If my husband is hiding as was mentioned by Peiris he would never have stayed without contacting me. He loves our children and would not put us through such pain. Mohan Peiris says he knows where my husband is. I want him brought to me if his claims are true.

For almost two years, the family has been asking the Sri Lankan government for any information about Prageeth, who was a columnist and cartoonist. Not one government official has given them any information, and despite Peiris's claims that the case remains under investigation, other than to set new court dates there has been no movement in the case.

In March, CPJ and four other groups sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking to have the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO, which oversees press freedom, to look into the case of  Eknelygoda's, but there has been no apparent movement from within the UN. Sandhya Eknelygoda's personal appeal to the president's wife, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, has also gone unanswered.

Another note, not unrelated: The report on human rights abuses in the aftermath of the decades-long conflict with Tamil secessionists prepared by the government's Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will be presented to Rajapaksa around November 22. The report will then be tabled in Parliament, but will probably not be taken up for discussion or acted on until next year. The national budget will be presented on November 21 and the ensuing debate will carry on through December, after which Parliament will recess. The timing of the tabling means its official release will be delayed for two months, though details are sure to start leaking as soon as Parliament gets the report.

The government organized the LLRC in the hopes of heading off an international investigation into the brutal conflict, despite calls from the U.N. for an international role in dealing with the aftermath. (It is worth noting that international media coverage of the eight-member commission was prohibited.) The government's international diplomatic offensive has already begun.

Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Palitha Kohona, told the U.N. last week of the LLRC's interim recommendations. Many of them have already been implemented by the government, Kohona said.

A March 2011 report by a panel of experts appointed by Secretary-General Ban called the LLRC "deeply flawed." It recommended that the government should end practices that limit freedom of movement and freedom of expression "or otherwise contribute to a climate of fear."

Amid a steady crackdown on any media critical of the government, that climate of fear not only continues for Sandhya Eknelygoda and the couple's two teenage sons, but has been exacerbated by Mohan Peiris' remarks at the hearings in Geneva, and his facile response to the questions that followed.