Lalith and Kugan at the Police Welfare building

Two activists of the Movement for People’s Struggle, Lalith and Kugan are being held at the 6th floor of the Police Welfare building, it is reliably learnt.

The new state of the art building is located opposite the Manning Market in Pettah and was built when retired DIG Combalavithana was heading the Police Welfare Division. Although the building was constructed utilizing millions of rupees to be used for police welfare work, it is now being used as a torture chamber for persons who are abducted on the Defence Secretary’s directives.

The ground floor and the 6th floor of the building are operated under the supervision of DIG in-charge of Colombo, Anura Senanayake. Only a few police personnel whose names have been given to the security can enter this division and special security has been deployed to the building.

The torture chamber is being managed by one “Hangman Perera” who is a police inspector loyal to Senanayake. Perera was assigned the post of sub inspector in the sub police service and within two years was absorbed to the permanent cadre and promoted as an inspector of police on a directive by the Defence Secretary.

This police officer has no clue about police administration work and serves as an active member of the Defence Secretary’s special unit. He is linked to many of the abductions that have been carried in the past few months.

We first published about this inspector of police in January 2011 as the officer who had spearheaded the operation to abduct and torture journalist Poddala Jayantha.

Lalith and Kugan, who were abducted last December 9th, are being held at the Police Welfare building under this IP’s supervision. Lalith and Kugan are being continuously questioned while being held in one room on the 6th floor. The government has so far remained silent about the two persons even when the Habeas Corpus filed on them before the Court of Appeal is taken up because the torture marks in their bodies are yet very visible.

We reiterate that reports that they have been murdered are completely false and they are being held on the 6th floor of the Police Welfare building.

Also, Frontline Socialist Party members Premakumar Gunaratnam and Dimuthu Attygalle were also questioned in a secret room near the car park of this building.

Lalith and Kugan had been asked to identify them. They have been interrogated at length since the statements made by Lalith and Kugan and Kumar and Dimuthu were contradictory.

Kumar had also been taken to the torture chamber at the Welisara Navy Camp and interrogated at length. He was brought the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) afterwards.

"We had to witness at first cultural genocide and then all out genocide"

Rani Moorthy, Tamil Sri Lankan actress, discusses cultural dislocation, civil war, and her new one woman show.
BY SAMIRA SHACKLE 05 APRIL 2012

What impact did the civil war and the subsequent defeat of the LTTE have on the Tamil diaspora?

Rani Moorthy.

For those of us who did not grow up in Sri Lanka and especially did not grow up during the war, being displaced and bearing witness to the death and devastation has always been a complicated mix of emotions.  Being a pacifist, I could not understand the relentless fighting force that the LTTE cadres evolved into. Intellectually and politically however, I could empathise with the feeling that lives and the entire Tamil culture was being threatened by hatred. We had to witness at first cultural genocide and then all out genocide. In the end you  feel grief and mourning and this has made way to a feeling of a deep sense of injustice at how Tamil civilians were exposed to the most horrific atrocities from both sides and the virtual silence of the international community. That is particularly chilling.    Full Story>>>

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka May Be The Next Victim Of Abduction

April 13, 2012 

Prof. Laksiri Fernando

The alleged abduction and the subsequent release of Premakumar Gunaratnam and Dimuthu Attygalle, two key leaders of the breakaway JVP Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) in Sri Lanka, reveal the importance of ‘international pressure’ in safeguarding human rights of people in any country, including the right to life, at least as a ‘necessary evil’ under trying conditions of suppression of dissent and threats of enforced ‘disappearances,’ ‘torture’ and ‘extra-judicial killings.’

It is believed that during the last six months or so, over 50 persons and mainly political activists and journalists have disappeared from the streets of Colombo and Jaffna in Sri Lanka, and two of them were Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan who belonged to the same political movement as Gunaratnam and Attygalle. The previous two disappeared in Jaffna on the Human Rights Day on 10 December 2011 and their whereabouts are still unknown.

Luckily this time, Premakumar Gunaratnam was a dual citizen of Australia and Sri Lanka and the Australian government brought pressure on the security establishment of the country to release Gunaratnam, along with other missions and UN agencies. As a result, Ms Attygalle also was released relatively unharmed. This matter was handled quite delicately on the Australian side by the Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Ms Robyn Mudie, who is supposed to have immense experience in human rights matters.

Circumstances      Read More

CTC TV interview with Vani Selvarajah

Amidst many hurdles, beyond intimidation and fear tactics, there were individuals from many parts of the world who played a significant role in the outcome of the UN resolution on Sri Lanka - one that ultimately altered the predictable voting pattern of many nations for the first ever vote against the actions of the Sri Lankan state. Among them, Gary Anandasangaree and Vani Selvarajah of the Canadian Tamil Congress were on the ground on behalf of Lawyers Rights Watch Canada to help advocate for the passage of a UN resolution regarding Sri Lanka.

In a one on one interview with Sarujan Kanapathipillai, Vani talks about the experiences leading up to the vote and the likely impact it will have on the future of Tamils in Sri Lanka in the current political and constitutional landscape.

Vani is an articling student and will be called to the Ontario Bar in June 2012. The Toronto Star recently published an opinion piece by Vani titled ""

Also:
- CTC TV interview with Gary Anandasangaree

Published on: 04/12/12 20:20

Sinhala and Tamil New Year's Greeting

Press Statement

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

April 12, 2012

---

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to Sri Lankans around the world as you celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year.
This celebration brings people together to renew bonds of friendship and family. It also gives Sri Lankans of all backgrounds, living inside and outside the country, an opportunity to help build a prosperous, democratic nation defined by tolerance and respect for human rights. As a partner and friend of Sri Lanka for more than 150 years, the United States looks forward to supporting your efforts to foster national reconciliation and development, and to build even stronger ties between our people.
Congratulations and best wishes for a safe and happy holiday and a prosperous New Year

US presses Sri Lanka over human rights

AFP
Friday, Apr 13, 2012

COLOMBO - US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on Friday urged Sri Lanka to build a "democratic nation" with full respect for human rights as it emerges from decades of ethnic war.

Clinton's message, coinciding with the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, came weeks after the UN Human Rights Council adopted a US-tabled resolution urging Colombo to probe war crimes charges related to its 2009 defeat of Tamil rebels.

Sri Lanka condemned the resolution as wanton interference in its internal affairs.

"This (new year) celebration brings people together," Clinton said.

"It also gives Sri Lankans of all backgrounds ... an opportunity to help build a prosperous, democratic nation defined by tolerance and respect for human rights."

Clinton stressed US willingness to support the island's efforts "to foster national reconciliation and development."

Rights groups have said that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final offensive by Sri Lanka's Sinhalese-dominated military against Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

The two communities share a common new year marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the monsoon.

The resolution adopted in Geneva urged Sri Lanka to probe war crimes charges, implement the recommendations of a domestic inquiry into the war and seek UN help for reconciliation with the ethnic Tamil minority.

Colombo has denied its troops were responsible for any non-combatant deaths and refused to allow any independent probe into allegations of military excesses.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris is due to hold talks with Clinton in Washington next month.

SRI LANKA: Lalith Kumar Weeraju and Kugan Murugan kept in detention

April 13, 2012

The Asian Human Rights Commission, as well as other human rights organisations have kept up a constant vigil on Lalith Kumar Weeraju and Kugan Murugan who were abducted on December 10, 2011 while engaged in putting up posters for the Human Rights Day. There had been no news about them since. However, some media channels in Sri Lanka and human rights activists have brought to our notice that, in fact, both Lalith and Kugan are being held in detention at the Police Welfare Building at Pettah, Colombo 11. According to the information we have received the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has been informed about their detention at this building and requests have been made for the Human Rights Commission to visit the premises and obtain their release.

Lalith and Kugan also belong to the same political faction of the JVP as Mr. Gunaratnam and Ms. Attigala who were abducted and released after the intervention of the Australian government. This JVP faction formed themselves into a new party just this week under the name of the Frontline Socialist Party.

Concerned persons request everyone to take steps to pressurize the Sri Lankan government to release these two persons immediately.

For details of the abduction of Lalith and Kugan kindly see: SRI LANKA: The disappearances of Lalith Kumar Weeraju and Kugan Murugan

Document Type :

Statement

Document ID :

AHRC-STM-090-2012

Countries :

Sri Lanka

Issues :

Arbitrary arrest and detention

MSF denies "abandoning" Sri Lankan war survivors

By Nita Bhalla

Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:16pm IST

NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has denied abandoning traumatised war survivors in Sri Lanka by closing down a mental health project in the north.

Despite "massive needs", the decision was made because MSF no longer deems it an emergency, the medical charity said. MSF announced on April 5 that it was shutting down a programme counselling survivors of the Indian Ocean island's almost three-decade-long conflict, most of whom witnessed the deaths of loved ones.

"There are still clearly massive mental health needs, but we felt that this was not something that MSF could continue as it requires longer-term support," Katrien Coppens, MSF's Sri Lanka operations manager, told AlertNet by phone from Amsterdam.

"We talked to many people - patients, authorities, staff - and there were different feelings about us closing down," she added.

"Of course, people were not happy that we were leaving... and the sense that people felt abandoned is partly true, but not a feeling I got across the board."

Almost three years since Sri Lanka's civil war ended, experts say thousands of people are still living in torment, haunted by memories of the final months of fighting between separatist Tamil Tigers and government forces.

As a result, many of the war-affected exhibit anti-social behaviour and experience flashbacks, hallucinations, nightmares and suicidal thoughts. Mental stress over poor rehabilitation and resettlement, combined with a lack of jobs and hope, has also driven men, in particular, to alcoholism. There have been many reports of domestic violence, child abuse and family separation in war-hit communities.

DIFFICULT CLOSURE

MSF's mental health project had run for 18 months in the island's war-torn northern district of Kilinochchi, providing one-to-one counselling for almost 500 patients.

Coppens said the decision to close it had been difficult because of the ongoing need for support. "MSF opens a project knowing that when the situation changes, we will eventually shift our resources to other emergency crises. Knowing when to open is pretty easy," she said.

"Deciding when to close is always less clear. Closures are always difficult because the situation is never perfect, but it is time for MSF to put its resources into operations that are more in line with our mandate as an emergency humanitarian relief organisation," she added.

Coppens said MSF is continuing mental health support in the neighbouring district of Mullaitivu. She is hopeful that other agencies, as well as the Sri Lankan authorities, will honour commitments to provide aid of this kind.

Restrictions on aid groups working in the former war zone have now been removed, she said. This should help bring in better-equipped charities to train doctors and nurses, and mainstream mental health support into general public healthcare.

"We will continue to watch the situation there. So we will not abandon the people," Coppens said. "We will continue to follow and if the situation worsens, we will continue to assist again."

Indian multi-party delegation to visit Sri Lanka despite Tamil Nadu boycott

2012-04-12

COLOMBO, April 12 (Xinhua) -- India's multi-party delegation is to continue goodwill visit to Sri Lanka despite the boycott announced by Tamil Nadu representatives, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Sarath Dissanayake, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said the delegation comprising members from multi-parties is to visit Sri Lanka on April 16 as scheduled.

"This is a goodwill visit meant to promote bilateral relationship between the two countries," Dissanayake said.

The delegation of parliament members is to visit the island nation from April 16 to 21 to assess the resettlement and political process in war-torn areas.

"The delegation will visit former war-ravaged northern areas and also will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa," the spokesman said.

On Thursday, the Chief Minister of south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa Jayaram announced representative of her party would not join the delegation to Sri Lanka.

In a statement she complained the itinerary in Sri Lanka provided no opportunity to interact with the Tamils. "The itinerary looks as if the tour itself is a formality and that the agenda has been chalked out by the Sri Lankan government to create a favorable impression for itself. This view is strengthened by the absence of journalists, human rights activists and independent observers in the delegation," Jayalalitha said.

The visit by the delegation comes close on the heels of India voting against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last month.

Whose Arms Will Embrace You? The United States and the Beijing Consensus

groundview journalism For citizens 

Amarnath Amarasingam     13 Apr, 2012

China’s President Hu Jintao shakes hands with Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sanya, Hainan province, April 10, 2008. Image by Reuters, courtesy Transcurrents.

The United States is increasingly playing a game of subtle communication in the international arena. I suspect we had a passing glimpse of this at the 19^th Session of the Human Rights Council, which gathered in Geneva last month. The question is: who is the United States talking to and what is it trying to say?

There has been much discussion about President Obama’s “Return to Asia” strategy, arising out of a 2009 speech during which he declared that as an Asia Pacific nation, the United States will seek to be more involved in the issues affecting the region.

There has been an equally vibrant discussion in policy and scholarly circles about the so-called Beijing Consensus, a term used to describe the Chinese government’s embrace of capitalism, while remaining autocratic. It is to these nations who have “bought into” the Beijing Consensus, that the United States is subtly and guardedly, but increasingly, speaking.

The (B)end of History                     Continue reading »

Sri Lanka- The disappeared

Banyan     Apr 12th 2012

DIMUTHU ATTYGALLE was abducted on April 6^th.  A leader of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), a small Sri Lankan opposition group, she had attacked the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa on its grim human-rights record. Four days later she stumbled into a press conference held by the party, dishevelled and with a disturbing story to tell. Burly men with weapons, who drove a white van, had grabbed her from a suburb of Colombo, the capital. She had since been kept blindfolded, manacled and shackled. She was also gagged, except when being grilled about her about political work, the party and its members.  

Elsewhere in the city, another FSP leader went missing. Early on April 7^th a colleague found Premakumar Gunaratnam gone from his home amid signs of struggle. He was also freed after a few days, but “not out of the kindness of his abductors’ hearts”, says a party member. He (and presumably Ms Attygalle) got away because he has Australian citizenship and his wife had alerted authorities in Canberra. Robyn Mudie, Australia’s high commissioner in Colombo, then asked Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa—the widely-feared brother of the president—to help find the missing Australian. As pressure grew, Mr Gunaratnam was dumped on a roadside, then deported.

Their fates might have been worse. Two others from the group, who were snatched in December, remain missing. A terrifying spate of abductions (as reported by The Economist) of critics of the government continues unchecked. It is “mindboggling how brazen and frequent” the disappearances have become, says a rights activist who dares not be named. Groundviews, a citizen journalism website, counts 29 abductions reported by local media in February and March. It tallies 56 abductions in the past six months. These have taken place even as Sri Lanka fought a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council that called for it to “credibly investigate widespread allegations of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances”. The resolution passed with a clear majority on March 22nd.

No one has offered proof of a government role in the abductions, but circumstantial evidence suggests it. The high number of cases, use of weapons, the daring of the perpetrators and police inaction all point to a degree of official direction. Nor is it clear who else could possibly wish to kidnap human-rights activists. The main opposition United National Party says that country’s image as is being tarnished as the government lets abductions go on. 

Others are more direct. The Lawyers for Democracy, another activist group, says it is reasonable to infer that the defence authorities, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s men, were involved in these abductions. Another case suggests so. Last month Sagara Senaratne, a politician and businessman, was snatched at a busy roundabout by men in a white van. Mr Senaratne, from the ruling party, is the brother-in-law of a minister. His friends told the authorities and he was released. He says that intervention by the president, the defence secretary and his in-law saved his life. But rights groups naturally ask how such powerful men knew whom to contact to get him free. And precisely how, too, did Gotabaya Rajapaksa help with the Australian request to find Mr Gunaratnam? Such mysteries go unanswered—and worries grow about Sri Lankan democracy.

It’s all in the family for the Rajapakses

Suhas Chakma says the making of Sri Lanka into a hermit kingdom suits the ruling clique
ON APRIL 4, 2012, Sri Lanka’s parliament concluded debate on the resolution adopted at the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which asked Sri Lanka to report back on the implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in March 2013. The Mahinda Rajapakse government, however, failed to inform parliament as to which recommendations of the LLRC will be implemented. Earlier on March 27, 2012, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management, stated that the LLRC went beyond its mandate. India will have to take tougher decision than the controversial voting at the UNHRC to ensure the rights of the minority Tamils.    Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka-India Resolution Row Goes Nuclear

April 12, 2012

Sudha Ramachandran

By Sudha Ramachandran -

BANGALORE/ Asia Times Online – Sri Lanka’s Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka’s recent announcement that Colombo was considering raising the issue of the safety of India’s nuclear power plants with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been widely interpreted in the Indian media as retaliation for India’s vote supporting an anti-Sri Lanka resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) recently.

“We respect the right of India to have nuclear power stations,” Ranawaka told journalists in Colombo. “But our concerns are on the possible radiation affects they could have on Sri Lanka,” he said.

Ranawaka drew attention to nuclear plants located in southern India and pointed out that in the event of a nuclear disaster in India, Mannar in Sri Lanka’s northwest would be hit hard. 

Read More

Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore. She can be reached atsudha98@hotmail.com