Our Own Bermuda Triangle

By Sanjana Hattotuwa -

Sanjana Hattotuwa

The growing number of abductions and disappearances in Sri Lanka is not getting the amount of publicity the issue deserves.

In just the past year, the trend is both deeply disturbing and damning. We are living in a country where people are routinely, with complete impunity, picked up, tortured, sexually abused and disappear without a trace. It is entirely unclear how our much vaunted post-war democratic credentials, purported rule of law, independence of the Police and confidence over addressing more serious issues of war crimes accountability can co-exist with this record of systematic abuse, intimidation and violence.

Two recent high profile cases are telling in this regard. Dimuthu Attygalle and Premakumar Gunaratnam, an Australian citizen, were abducted and released in a matter of days because of international intervention. Others haven’t been so lucky. A disquieting article first published on a website I curate, referred to date by the Leader of the Opposition, The Hindu in India and most recently by the Economist, flags fifty six abductions in Sri Lanka over the last six months alone. Incredibly, nineteen abductions were reported while the sessions of the UN Human Rights Council were in progress in Geneva from the 27th of February to the 23rd of March 2012. People have been abducted from the vicinity of Colombo’s court complex in Hulftsdorf, teeming with Police, lawyers and crowds, while being accompanied by Prison Guards. A Tamil man, detained and worse, tortured in custody for two years without any charges being filed against him, when he took his case to the courts, was abducted in broad daylight, again in Colombo. As the Economist notes, “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 government’s responses are getting increasingly farcical. The Ministry of External Affairs, upon the discovery and deportation of Premakumar Gunaratnam, issued a highfalutin rebuttal to claims that the government was involved in the abduction. It failed to convince the intended audience – the diplomatic community in Sri Lanka – precisely because it is not known how the Secretary of Defence – who, lest we forget, is a US citizen – can, in so many instances, decisively influence the discovery and release of abductees. The attempted abduction of UPFA Chairman of the Kolonnawa Urban Council, Ravindra Udayashantha revealed the direct involvement of sections of the armed forces in abduction squads. Every response in the media by the army, police and government spokespersons to explain away the presence of army personnel in a white van that targeted Udayashantha rings utterly hollow. Soon after, Sagara Senaratne, brother-in-law of Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga was abducted and released, according to Senaratne, because of the intervention of the President and Defence Secretary. Though neither the President nor his brother the Defence Secretary have publicly acknowledged Mr. Senaratne’s confidence in their supra-legal powers, revealingly, they haven’t denied it either. To quote the Economist again, “… 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?”

This hugely distressing record of abductions is also not one, to the extent we can see, related to advocacy and work in Sri Lanka that can still generate this kind of violent pushback – the collection of war crimes evidence on the ground for example, or activism over war crimes allegations. Abductees have been former detainees, businessmen, politicians, school children as well as University students, ex-LTTE cadre, ordinary citizens, human rights activists, traders, and even those from our adivasi veddah community. There have also been a number of underworld gang leaders and drug traffickers abducted. The one, bizarre leitmotif of government responses seems to be that all of these people had essentially, and for whatever reason, engineered their own abduction!  Under the moniker ‘Apelankawe’, a vocal and informed critic of government over Twitter publicly noted recently that “If abducted, for rescue pls call Mahinda –            +94112324801      , Gota             +9411243 5879       or Jeevan             +94112422591      . This is a tried and tested method”.

Life in Sri Lanka, dangerously, imitates farce?

Courtesy http://sanjanah.wordpress.com

Sri Lanka: The Defence Secretary is a grim impediment

15-Apr-2012
Guest Column: By Dr Kumar David
Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gothabaya, a brother of President Mahinda Rajapake, together with two other brothers (economics minister Basil and parliamentary speaker Chamal) comprise the inner cabal and power hub in the country. The triumvirate of president, defence secretary and ex army commander Sarath Fonseka are credited with winning the war against the LTTE and enjoy warmth in Sinhalese hearts. But things are changing, public attitudes are shifting in respect of all three; President Rajapakse has lost much of his shine – or that’s my impression still to be tested at any significant local election in a Sinhalese area – and even political opponents of Fonseka now campaign for his release since his incarceration is a politically motivated miscarriage of justice. None of this is new; but in the case of Mr Gothabaya Rajapakse (GR), two recent events have been transformative; the Lankan regime’s UNHRC defeat in Geneva and the abduction and subsequent release of two leaders of the JVP radical breakaways, now organised in the new- the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). In the light of these events GR has become a liability not only to the government but also to the SLFP, the principal party in the ruling alliance.
    
The Geneva setback 

The US sponsored resolution, supported by a reluctant Delhi under the Tamil Nadu whip but after watering down, carried by 24 votes to 15 with 8 abstentions, was a bitter defeat for a regime that had put the prestige of the Rajapakses on the line and spent (SL)Rs200 million in public funds trying to stave off defeat. It was not strongly worded, called for implementation of the counsel of the LLRC commission (appointed by President Rajapakse) and a probe of “accountability”, code for alleged war crimes and human-rights violations by the military during the civil war. Nevertheless it struck close to the Rajapkse heart; leave aside accountability, even calls for demilitarisation and exclusion of the military from civilian and economic life are on collision course with the military and its principal officer, Defence Secretary GR. 
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EDITORIAL: CHANDRAHASAN AS CM/NP TO SAVE RAJAPAKSES?

 by I.S. Senguttuvan

( April 09, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The reputation of the Rajapakses in the eyes of the world, badly bruised and battered long before the Geneva debacle, may find a deliverer from a somewhat unexpected quarter. There have been indications for sometime the Rajapakse regime, more to win the goodwill of both Tamilnadu and Delhi against its consistent record of serious violations against the Tamils of Sri Lanka in the light of recent developments was looking for a well known name to be fielded as a candidate for the post of Chief Minister of the Northern Province . It has to be one not tainted by opportunistic politics or the gun culture that consumed the politics of the NEP in recent decades. The long-suffering Tamil people cannot be blamed if they yearned for someone outside the regular box.

It is upto Mahinda Rajapakse to gather up the necessary backbone to lead the country, lead against the contradictions within his fold and steer the country away from disintegration - towards unity and reconciliation. The time and place are right for this.

The lawyer-son of the late Tamil Nationalist leader S.J.V. Chelvanayakam – S. C. Chandrahasan – has been living in Chennai since 1983. He came into Indian and international limelight during the Rajiv Gandhi tenure as Indian PM when Indian immigration authorities initially refused to allow him in from his plane. The controversy was eventually settled with the then Tamilnadu CM fighting very strongly on his behalf. Since then he has been living a low-profile life - visiting the Lankan diaspora in Britain , E/U, the USA and, occasionally brief visits to Sri Lanka . He heads OfERR – the Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation - dedicated to help the large number

/ Read More »

Are we all shameless Sri Lankans?

(Lanka-e-News-14.April.2012, 3.00 PM) It is very sad for all Sri Lankan for not having strength of character to rise against the heaping injustice, abductions and killings of the murderous regime. It is a shame to refer to all Bhuddist Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils who are citizens of this country to have an impudence attitude and witness these lawless ruling & social injustice of this regime. 

Being a Sri Lankan we always crowing (supremacy) from roof tops that we have a rich heritage of 2500 years behind us and flatter proud of our cultural heritage but it appears that we don’t a back bone to stand up against this social injustice happening to the people of this nation by this monstrous regime.

I wonder the members of this regime are really legitimate humans or born to an illegitimate jackal or beast in the jungle that don’t have the fifth sense of any human should have. It is a crime to see that young people are being abducted and killed in cold blood in order to simply be in power. I wish to ask a simple question from the majority parliamentarians who stooge to the lowest to protect this regime, are you eating solid food from the mouth or consuming from a different place because it is very undisguised of you not having a slightest sympathy feeling of the majority poor fellow countrymen who are suffering without a square meal under this heinous rule and heaping injustice committed to the people of this country. 

We are living under a ruffian ruler, protected by a bunch of numb stooges in the parliament and a politicized judiciary who is capable of changing jurisdictions of the Supreme Court. The government led paramilitary forces are in full force trailing in the white van abducting innocent people who voice against the unlawful activities of the government. People are getting abducted every other day by government led paramilitary/armed groups and subject for abductions, intimidation, torture and killing. The rule of law has gone to the bottom and the denial of justice, the culture of impunity has taken the lead. 

The regime is trying to gain the popularity by creating antagonism of the Tamil people as a weapon to mislead the majority of Sinhala Buddhist in order to be in power. Who ever criticizes the unjust of the regime is portrayed as unpatriotic. This Rajapakse regime can stay in power only when it culminates the communal hatred within the majority gullible competent Sinhalese. The regime uses stooges such as Vimal weerawansa who instigates communal hatred by speaking to the gallery to the majority, Champka Ranawaka and Ellawela Medananda who instigate undue patriotism to the gullible Buddhist masses. These stooges above don’t have an existence within the Sinhala masses and a place in the Sri Lankan politics if they don’t act in such a way. The other stooges remain in the parliament with the regime is to continue their corruption and engage in unlawful activities with impunity. Some Muslims stooges remain silence watching these unlawful activities of the regime fear of being fired and losing benefits are traders who will do any low profile business to gain money

Academician/clergies such as ven. Maduluwawe sobitha, ven Bellanwila Wimalarathna and Athuruliye Rathna should prioritize to brief and guide the majority Sinhala masses not to fall for this racial agitation which is happening in Sri Lanka from 1956. The Tamil community too should understand that it is not the majority Sinhalese Buddhist who are ethnically communal but it is these politicians who instigate the circumstance and expedient the situation in building hatred among the majority for their own benefit to sustain their regime in power. 

All these stooges who witness this unlawful activities and remain silence fearing losing benefits are capable of selling their own mother to gain any low advantage at any cost to remain in power and whoever stooges speaks in favor of this regime deserves to be shot using shit bullets and excrete in mouth.By a Sri Lankan defending HR

M.I.A. Wrote the Music for Julian Assange's New Talk Show

M.I.A., cable TV theme music composer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 

It’s T-minus four days until Julian Assange‘s new talk show debuts on Russia Today, and while no one’s saying who the first guest will be, one interesting detail has come to light: The show’s theme music was written by Sri Lankan hip hop star M.I.A.

The performer, whose offstage name is Maya Arulpragasam, composed original music for “The World Tomorrow,” which is set to air beginning April 17. A spokesman for Wikileaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson, says M.I.A. met with Assange in London, where he has been under house arrest for more than a year.

Julian Assange's Talk Show Debuts Next Week; Watch the PromoJeff BercoviciForbes Staff

The daughter of a leader from the Tamil separatist movement, M.I.A. has been an outspoken supporter of Assange and Wikileaks. In 2010, she released a free mixtape called “Vicki Leekx” in tribute, and she has often mentioned Assange and his cause on Twitter, where she has more than 365,000 followers. Earlier today, she retweeted a post by Wikileaks saying, “M.I.A. is the Julian Assange of pop music.”

Will she also be a guest on the show? I’m guessing the answer is yes, but Assange and RT are keeping the guest list under wraps. In a press release from the network, Assange is quoted as saying his guests will be “global notables” who “normally simply would not be given a voice on TV at all. What is fair to say is that the majority of what they have said to me they could not say on a mainstream TV network.”

Certainly, M.I.A. has been given a voice on TV, but mainstream networks might not be so eager to do that again after she flashed the middle finger during her halftime performance at the Super Bowl in February. NBC and the NFL apologized publicly for the incident.

Lanka army commander warns Tamils to be wary

14 Apr 2012 
A top Sri Lankan Army commander has warned the Tamil people in the country's north to be wary of elements attempting to undermine the hard-earned peace.

Speaking to the local people after distributing grants to former LTTE combatants for their rehabilitation, Jaffna Commander Maj Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe invited the Tamil diaspora to help the needy rather than undermining normalcy.

"Various groups in Tamil Diaspora are now in the process of undermining the hard-earned peace in the country. Instead of disturbing peace now being enjoyed by people of Sri Lanka, those groups must come forward to help destitute people to make their life better using money being wasted on creating dissension among communities in Sri Lanka," he said.

Hathurusinghe said as all communities in the island had suffered irrespective of ethnicity by the LTTE's campaign for a separate state, now it was the time to forget the dark era of the past and unite as one nation that is Sri Lanka.

The civil war in Lanka ended in 2009 with the defeat of the LTTE and killing of its top leadership.

In the first phase, each of some 25 of the ex-LTTE combatants released after rehabilitation were offered rupees 50,000. The balance rupees 200,000 will be granted in future.

The army also handed over a house built by the troops to a war widow. Around 84 kids of four pre-schools in Alaveddy area were given school uniforms, shoes and exercise books as New Year gifts. Another 50 students were given parcels of exercise books.

Sri Lanka is wary of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora domiciled in the West who the government claims are looking for an opportunity to revive the LTTE activity.

Sri Lanka's leader keeps stirring the pot

Illustration: Simon Letch

D.R. Kaarthikeyan is a name renowned in India. He was the police officer who led the investigation into the assassination of the former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 by a woman wearing a belt bomb who came up close in a chaotic election rally.

Through clever detective work, Kaarthikeyan's team from the Central Bureau of Investigation identified the assassin and traced the lines of the plot back to the Tamil Tiger movement then controlling the north of nearby Sri Lanka. Arrests were made and warrants issued against senior Tiger leaders.

Kaarthikeyan is no sympathiser of the Tamil Tigers, who went down to bloody defeat by the Sri Lankan armed forces in May 2009. But like many Indians, particularly those in Tamil Nadu state, he is dismayed by the arrogance of the Sri Lankan government in victory.

''Where there is no justice, there can be no peace,'' Kaarthikeyan told me in an email this week. ''Continued injustice and discrimination against minority Tamils gave rise to the birth of insurgency in Sri Lanka … If Sri Lanka or, for that matter, any society perpetuates injustice it is an indirect encouragement for violent movements to be born and grow.''
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/sri-lankas-leader-keeps-stirring-the-pot-20120413-1wyn4.html#ixzz1rwbMCn9Q

Coalition of Tamil diaspora youth organisations pledges to continue struggle against genocide

Tamil Guardian 12 April 2012

Delegates represent their country organisations at T-League's second annual general meeting

A worldwide coalition of Tamil youth organisations, Global Tamil Youth League (T-League), pledged to continue the struggle against the genocide faced by the Tamil nation and work towards a political solution that was based on the Tamil nation's right to self-determination, at its second annual conference held on the 7th - 8th April.
In a resolution unanimously adopted by all of the coalition's member organisations, T-League called for 'the establishment of an independent, international mechanism to ensure truth, accountability and justice', and pledged to work 'to achieve a political solution that recognises the uncompromising, fundamental principles of the Tamil freedom struggle', 'to raise awareness about the ongoing multi-faceted genocide unleashed on the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state' and 'to promote the identity of the Tamil nation'. 

Global Tamil Youth League second AGM held in UK

The resolution was adopted by Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance, Canada (CTYA); Tamil Youth Network, Germany; Giovani Tamil, Italy; Tamil Youth Organisation, Norway (TYO-Norway); Tamil Youth Organisation, Switzerland (TYO-Swiss) and Tamil Youth Organisation, UK (TYO-UK); and endorsed by Voice of Tamils, Australia; Tamil Youth Organisation, New Zealand (TYO-NZ), Tamil Youth Organisation, Sweden (TYO-Sweden) and  Tamil Youth Organization, USA (TYO-USA).

  

Delegates from member organisations attended a two-day conference held in the UK, which included seminars on project management skills, identity, the Eelam struggle within an international perspective, future strategies of the struggle and a session on the genocide of Tamils run by Jan Jananayagam of the Tamil rights group, TAG (Tamils Against Genocide).

Following the success of T-League's 2011 inaugural event, 'Aadukalam' - an international dance competition held in Germany, the coalition announced plans to hold Aadukalam 2012 in the UK later this year, along side the creation of the Tamil Eelam Football Association and the Global Tamil Archive Foundation, and plans to hold a film festival.

Janarthan Sadacharalingam, a delegate from the Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance (CTYA), told Tamil Guardian,

“It was a great opportunity to meet fellow young Tamil activists from all around the world, and share our experiences and thoughts of how to resist the genocide our nation faces. We are also pleased to have been elected to chair T-League for the following year and look forward to strengthening and expanding this global network of Tamil youth”

Full text of resolution adopted by the Global Tamil Youth League reproduced below:

Global Tamil Youth League 08/04/12
Whereas the Tamil people have historically inhabited Tamil Eelam, the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka, as their traditional homeland; and
Whereas the Tamil people are distinguished from other people living in the island by their unique language, culture, traditions and history; and
Whereas for over sixty years the Sinhala Buddhist ideology of the Sri Lankan state is destroying the economic existence, the political and social institutions, and the demographic and territorial basis of the Tamil national identity; and
Whereas the Tamil people have been historically marginalised in language, education and citizenship and suffered state-orchestrated pogroms; and
Whereas these practices have been continuing for over sixty years in a systematic, intentional and targeted manner, constituting the genocide of the Tamil nation; and
Whereas the Tamil nation called for an independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam in 1977, and reaffirmed this in 2009 and 2010, based on the principles of the Vaddukkoddai Resolution of 1976; and
Whereas the Sri Lankan state cannot provide meaningful accountability or justice into the grave violations of international humanitarian law during the last phase of the armed conflict, through a domestic inquiry; and
Whereas in order to move forward with a meaningful advancement for the Tamil youth it is vital to preserve the Eelam Tamil identity and remember its history; and therefore
Be It Resolved that the Global Tamil Youth League calls for the establishment of an independent, international mechanism to ensure truth, accountability and justice.
Be it Resolved that the Global Tamil Youth League will work to achieve a political solution that recognises the uncompromising, fundamental principles of the Tamil freedom struggle; namely: recognition of the Tamil homeland, the recognition of the Tamil people as a distinct nation; recognition of the right to self determination of the Tamil nation.
Be It Resolved that the Global Tamil Youth League will work to raise awareness about the ongoing multi-faceted genocide unleashed on the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state.
Be It Resolved that the Global Tamil Youth League will promote the identity of the Tamil nation by working to protect, foster and create awareness about the history and sacrifices of our martyrs, the national flag of Tamil Eelam, the national symbols of Tamil Eelam, our social, political and cultural symbols and national festivals associated with our rich heritage and history.

Resettled Tamils threatened in Ampaa'rai - Batticaloa border, girl kidnapped

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 April 2012, 18:25 GMT]
Around one hundred and fifty uprooted Tamil families of Chinna-veddai, a village situated in the Poara-theevup-pattu division of Batticaloa district, bordering Uhuna village of Ampaa'rai district, complain that they are being harassed by the Sinhala paramilitary personnel and settlers, who have occupied their village for 22 years, since 1990. A Sinhala electricity worker, who came to the village from Kurunegala two weeks ago, abducted a 17-year-old Tamil girl forcing her to marry him, complain the family of the girl and her relatives. In the meantime, the Sinhala paramilitary men of the ‘Civil Defence Force’ have been harassing the Tamil families, who have recently resettled in the village. The CDF men are plundering fish and vegetables belonging to returnees at gunpoint and are warning the Tamils to vacate the village. 

The man who kidnapped the under-age girl was a former CDF paramilitary man and was already married, news sources said. 

Another Sinhala paramilitary man has assisted him in kidnapping the Tamil girl.

When the family of the girl rushed to Ma'ndoor police station, seeking help, the Sinhala policemen there refused to assist them or register their complaint. The SL policemen have said that they could not help the family as the ‘couple’ had registered their marriage and ‘ran away’ to Kurunegala. 

The resettling Tamil villagers, who had earlier registered themselves as IDPs ever since 1990 at the offices of the concerned Village Officers (GS) and Divisional Secretaries, have been living in the nearby villages of Aanai-kaddiya-ve'li and Puthiya Chinna-veddai. Despite their entries in the registries, the families have not been provided with any humanitarian assistance or any other form of relief by the civil authorities, they complain.

The District Government Agent, Divisional Secretaries, Village Officers and the politicians in the district are reported to have turned deaf ear to their complaints.

In the meantime, complaints have also been made that the Tamil Mixed Government School in the village is functioning without proper management. 

The students attend the school from Grade 1 to GCE O/L. However, the teachers only work between 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., and they vanish from the school every half an hour or so, the parents complain.