Remembering Sivaram Dharmeratnam

April 29, 2012

By Mark P. Whitaker -

Prof. Mark P. Whitaker

Taraki Sivaram or Dharmeratnam Sivaram (11 August 1959– 28 April 2005) was a popular Tamil journalist of Sri Lanka. He was kidnapped by four men on April 28, 2005, in front of the Bambalapitya police station. His body was found the next day in the district of Himbulala, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had been beaten and shot in the head.The following lecture was given by prof. Mark P. Whitaker in London on April 2010.

Taraki

To begin with I want to thank Mr. Arun Gananathan and Mr. Uvindu Kurukulasuriya and the Tamil Legal Advocacy Project for inviting me to speak at this Sivaram Memorial Event.  It is entirely fitting and proper, I think, that a memorial for Sivaram should also entail public remembrance of the many Sri Lankans of all ethnicities who, like him, have sacrificed their homes, their freedoms, and, in all too many cases, their lives as journalists. Their sacrifices bespeak the intense need to protect freedom of speech as a fundamental right not only in Sri Lanka but in any state proclaiming itself a democracy. Now it is exactly five years since April 28, 2005, the night Sivaram Dharmeratnam — one of Sri Lanka’s most original, important, and (obviously, to some) infuriating  journalists — was abducted on a Colombo street and, as we soon learned afterwards, murdered.  Since I was unable to attend his funeral and actually see that, yes, the impossible had happened and my friend of over twenty years was now dead, I long felt a nagging, ridiculous suspicion that it was not true. That another late night phone call would come, another impossible knock on the door, and his inimitable voice would say again, “Ah, Mr. Whitaker, what have you been up to, machchaang[1].” I knew, of course, that this was not the case. His cousin called and told me, immediately after the funeral, that he had touched Sivaram’s surprisingly cold face in the casket. I knew he was indeed gone. But knowing is one thing; understanding quite another; and so a chance, periodically, to grieve for my friend officially is to me still very helpful.Read More

The Government must apologise to the Muslim community

by Dr Laksiri Fernando

Buddhism as far as I understand is one of the most tolerant and peaceful religions. I am also one who is highly attracted to the Buddhist philosophy and thinking. It is therefore unfortunate that some of the Buddhist priests in Sri Lanka are denigrating the religion and denigrating it in the most sacred places.

Apart from the matter being a case

 of the executive branch stepping into

 the judicial and justice matters,

completely on an arbitrary manner, which

 is in itself is a dangerous tendency,

 what is abundantly clear is the

 ‘political mess-up’ of the whole matter

 by the government.

( April 29, 2012, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) The violent mob attack on the Dambulla Muslim Mosque in the presence of the Police on 20 April is a serious event that can ignite communal disharmony in the country, including open violence, if the government fails to apologise to the Muslim community and take appropriate action to thwart the efforts by communal elements among its own ranks to create rift and mischief. 

Dambulla Attacks

1. For the mob attack on the Dambulla Mosque.

2. For hearting religious feelings of the Muslim community in the country and internationally.

3. For the inaction of the police and the security forces who failed to prevent the event.

4. For the arbitrary decision of the PM which ignite the whole episode.

Laksiri Fernando, Senior Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Colombo, is currently is a visiting scholar at the University of Sydney in retirement.

 Read More »

March 29th, 2012

Sri Lanka: Targeting a daughter of a journalist in exile by the government backed media in Sri Lanka should be condemned

NfR Sri Lanka, a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders, vehemently condemns the virulent campaign launched by the Government backed media in Sri Lanka , against a daughter of a journalist in exile, in the wake of Human Rights Council’s resolution on accountability in Sri Lanka . This is a deliberate effort to suppress dissenting views being expressed in the country.

ITN the State controlled TV channel has shown visuals of the daughter of the exiled journalist Poddala Jayantha, 24 times over last few weeks.

Award winning journalist and defender of press freedom, Poddala Jayantha was abducted, tortured and left to die in June 2009, presumably by a state sponsored killer squad, after he returned to the Island from India after staying there temporarily for security reasons. He fled to the United States of America with his family in early 2010 as threats to his life didn’t cease and lives in New York .

Jayantha’s daughter, a 13 year old student was shown walking with her father as a back ground visuals on State controlled television while the journalist was blamed by the commentator for unfounded anti-government activities.

NfR considers the use of visuals of an innocent child as a back ground to dangerous attacks on her father, to be a crime that should be condemned in the strongest terms and its perpetrators should be brought to justice.

NfR condemned this unethical and totally unacceptable behaviour of the Sri Lankan state media and holds the GoSL responsible for this action. GoSL continues to keep a complete control over state media by appointing the members to its board of directors, editor s and even news casters. There is no truth in the statement that State media is free and GoSL is not responsible for these virulent attacks on journalists.

The NfR joins the growing local and international opposition to hostile rhetoric by GoSL against journalists, press freedom defenders and human rights defenders in the wake of the passing of a resolution at the UN HRC demanding the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC.

NfR calls upon human rights organisations to voice their strong opposition to all these attacks and demands that GoSL should tender an open apology to the daughter of journalist Poddala Jayantha.

Steering Committee, NfR Sri Lanka

Steering committee : Kshama Ranawana ( Canada ) Lionel Bopage ( Australia ), Nadarasa Sarawanan ( Norway ), Nadarajah Kuruparan (UK) Padmi Liyanage ( Germany ), Raveendran Pradeepan ( France ), Rudhramoorthy Cheran ( Canada ), Saman Wagaarachchi ( USA ), Sunanda Deshapriya ( Switzerland )

Written by editor

Basil and Gota on an ideological clash over Mervyn

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is displeased with the governing party Gampaha District Leader and Minister Basil Rajapaksa for publicly expressing support to Minister Mervyn Silva, a senior government minister said.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa got several of Mervyn’s lackeys who were involved in the drug business and extortion using white vans and were later released on Presidential directives.

It was Colonel Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who instigated and supported the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman and other governing party members in the Council against Mervyn. Gotabhaya had acted in this manner with the consent of the President and Minister Basil Rajapaksa had also supported the moves.

The minister who gave us the information said that Mervyn managed to score Brownie points and became the President’s loyal servant after standing by the President when he was isolated after the Geneva crisis. The President had then asked SLFP General Secretary and Minister Maithripala Sirisena to slowly set aside the disciplinary inquiry into Mervyn’s conduct and asked Gotabhaya to stop all operations against Mervyn.

Basil Rajapaksa expressed support to Mervyn after this incident. Regardless of the clashes between the Rajapaksa brothers or their wives, they have always managed to unite when their positions and authority have been under threat.

Therefore, the minister said that none of the government ministers believed when they say the Rajapaksa brothers were at loggerheads.

YAHOO! NEWS  

Sri Lanka rejects Indian offer to upgrade refinery

Colombo, April 29 (IANS) Sri Lanka has rejected an Indian offer to upgrade a refinery that is built to refine only Iranian oil, a minister said Sunday.

Petroleum Minister Susil Premjayantha said the offer to upgrade the Sapugaskanda oil refinery had come from the Indian Oil Corporation(IOC) but Colombo rejected it.

He said since IOC already operates a majority of fuel stations in Sri Lanka and as a result increases the fuel prices at will, handing over the refinery to the same company could hurt the local fuel distribution sector, Xinhua reported.

Premjayantha said Sri Lanka needs to upgrade the facility to refine oil from other countries as Iran oil imports will be reduced due to US sanctions on Iran.

Over 90 percent of Sri Lanka's crude oil requirements come from Iran.

"We are being compelled to cut our oil imports from Iran because of the US sanctions so we are considering Oman and other countries.

"But to refine the oil we get from other countries we need to upgrade the facilities at the Sapugaskanda because that was built to accommodate only oil from Iran," he said.

He added that about $500 million will be required to upgrade the facilities at the refinery and Sri Lanka will seek expressions of interest to carry out the work.

IOC controls one third of Sri Lanka's retail fuel market and has been operating in the country since 2003.

Sri Lanka is seeking alternative crude oil suppliers in view of the US sanctions on Iran coming into force from June this year.

SRI LANKA: A call for rebellion against the scheme of injustice
April 29th, 2012

“I am expected to take my oaths next year, but now I have to rethink whether an attorney could work according to his or her conscience and seek justice for the aggrieved party giving the extreme political pressures the judicial process is subjected to in this country. There has to be a serious rethink about it.”

The above statement from young Hirunika Premachandra reflects the sheer hopelessness of lawyers today in the face of a criminal justice system which has lost its credibility. It is not only young lawyers contemplating entering the profession that feel the same way. Most professionals, particularly those who were practicing in the areas of public or criminal law also feel the same way. Many of them may not air their views as publically as she does but they make their voices quite loudly aired in private conversations.

The crisis of the criminal justice system is not a new one. The slow degeneration of the system begins in the manner in which the police and the military were used to suppress the JVP uprising of 1971 where 5,000 – 10,000 persons were killed and most of the killings happened after their arrest. That approach has continued to-date.

What has happened is not mere political pressure exercised on the judicial process but in fact, making the law itself irrelevant in the actions of ‘the law enforcement agencies’. The agencies, such as the criminal investigation division which enjoyed a reputation for competence and independence, have now been reduced to a political agency. The change from law enforcement within the parameters of the law and legal procedures into politically directed work which engages in witch hunts against the opponents of the governments on the one hand and the protection of those who are loyal to the government on the other is quite visible and n secret to anyone anymore.

Investigations into crime are the first step in the judicial process relating to the prosecution of crimes. When the investigators are politically directed and motivated the whole process loses its legal character. It becomes a political persecution. This is what has happened to the country’s most important agency that was created for the purpose of investigating crimes which were considered most serious.

When the judicial process is interfered with at the very start of the investigations hardly any justice can be expected. In fact, it becomes a highly sophisticated and well organised injustice. Today, criminal justice in Sri Lanka has turned out to be organised injustice.

What role does a lawyer have within this setup? The lawyer’s role is essentially to safeguard the legal rights of his or her client. When the parties to a case no longer have legal rights and when they are victims of a scheme which does not tolerate any kind of opposition then the lawyer loses any kind of legitimate role. The lawyer is expected to play a monkey role when the justice process has become a façade. Naturally, no self-respecting professional wants to play that monkey role. Of course, always there are some who will play any role with base expectations.

It is no wonder that a young girl exposed to face crass manipulations by the most powerful elements in a case which involves the assassination of her own beloved father has soon discovered the scheme of injustice that has become a normal affair now. In fact, every average person in society knows the decadence that has entered into what was once called the criminal justice process.

The only option left to any intelligent person is to fight back against this whole process, not only in cases where one has a personal interest, but against the entire scheme itself. If one has any concern for justice this is the only path that is left now in Sri Lanka.

In a famous drama shown throughout the country in the nineties, entitled Magatha, produced by Asoka Handagama, there is stark exposure relating to the problems of justice facing the contemporary Sri Lankan society. In that drama there is the character of a young woman who symbolises the rebellious call against injustice. Perhaps the young people like Hirunika and others are called upon to play that role in they are to make any meaning of the learning of the law that they have been engaged in.

Written by Basil Fernando/AHR

Sunday, 29 April 2012 

President ignores diplomatic protocol

External Affairs Ministry officials and responsible ministers have been faced with a great difficulty due to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s failure to adhere to accepted diplomatic protocol, a senior External Affairs Ministry official said.

The official made this statement citing several incidents that had taken place during the visit of the Indian parliamentary delegation to the country.

The official said that the Indian parliamentary delegation led by the Opposition Leader that visited the country was a second level delegation, but the President had met them twice giving the delegation an undue importance while putting the External Affairs Minister in a difficult situation.

He added that Minister Basil Rajapaksa had also ignored protocol by meeting the delegation on several occasions in Colombo and even traveling with them out of Colombo to meet CWC Leader, Minister Arumugam Thondaman in Thalawakele.

According to him, officials who pay this much attention to a second level delegation that visit the country could only be found in Sri Lanka.