Religious tensions flare in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has been hit by fresh religious unrest between Buddhists and Muslims. In a recent incident in Dambulla, a group of Buddhists – including several orange-clad monks – stormed into a mosque claiming that the building was illegal. Fears are now mounting over a possible escalation of religious violence in the region.

Two weeks ago, a mob of around 2,000 people, led by a group of Buddhist monks, stormed into the mosque in central Dambulla. The previous night, petrol bombs had been hurled at the building which is close to the world famous Buddhist Rangiri Temple in Dambulla.

The riots that ensued made it impossible for the Muslims to attend Friday prayer.

Representatives from the Buddhist local clergy told media afterwards that the reason for the protest was the apparent illegal state of the Dambulla mosque. They have filed a protest with local authorities against the mosque, saying it was built on sacred Buddhist ground and urging its closure.

Long time coming
Sanjana Hattotuwa, a journalist from Sri Lanka, told RNW that the unrest was a long time coming: “According to the monks in Dambulla, it was the frustration of several years boiling over,” he says. “Many believe the violence was orchestrated and riding on a wave of what is seemingly a growing hate campaign against Muslims in Sri Lanka.”

Mr Hattotuwa points out that there are several Sri Lankan anti-Muslim groups active on Facebook, which attract several thousand followers.

While Buddhism remains Sri Lanka’s largest religion – with approximately 70 percent of the population calling themselves Buddhist – other religions are free to operate in the country, including Islam, which around 8 percent of the population adhere to.

Tensions
Tensions between various religious groups in Sri Lanka are not new – there have been occasional outbreaks of violence against Christians since 2004 – but these tensions rarely ever erupt into large-scale violence or hatemongering. Attacks on mosques, like in Dambulla, are also rare.

Holy land
Buddhist claims that the mosque has been built on sacred ground that is part of the Rangiri Temple compound have angered Muslims in Sri Lanka, including cabinet members and MPs.

Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs A.L.M. Hizbullah, a Muslim, has said that the mosque is fifty years old. “I prayed at this mosque as early as 1985 and there have been no issues in the past. Only recently have there been problems when the number of people coming into the mosque on Fridays for Jummah prayers increased,” he said.

Extremists
Muslim MP Hasen Ali says the instigators of the violence are extremists. “The government can’t come out with any stale explanation,” he told local media. “These incidents will further polarize the ethnic population in this country.”

The government’s official response to the violent protests has been muted so far. A press release from the Government Information Department said it was a “minor misunderstanding”, stressing that Sri Lanka is a “multi-religious, multi-ethnic society” and that Sri Lankans have a “long standing tradition of being respectful to each other”.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s President Rajapakse has promised to look into the matter and to “resolve it amicably”.

Petition
Sanjana Hattotuwa has started a blog, Not in Our Name, where people can sign an online petition against this violence. “This behaviour is not remotely associated with the philosophy of the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha,” he says. “We renounce a fringe lunacy and we resist extremism. We oppose mob violence and bigotry as ways to resolve disputes.”

National unity cannot be imposed by force

May 7, 2012,

by Jehan Perera

The dominance of national security considerations in the actions of the government have been highlighted again in the hundreds of detentions that have taken place in recent days in the East, especially in the Trincomalee area. It is reported that most of those detained have been released after being screened by the security forces.  But the sudden search and detain operations have sent a wave of fear amongst the Tamil people living in those areas. It has served to revive bitter memory of the past. At this time when Sri Lanka is under special international scrutiny on account of alleged human rights violations that took place during the war, the government will be adding fuel to the fire regarding international doubts about its commitment to human rights and the Rule of Law.

The government has sought to justify this latest security operation on the grounds that those targeted were members of the LTTE or had some connections with it. The government is constantly on the alert to suppress any possible revival of the LTTE.  Those found to have had associations with it are detained and are to be subjected to rehabilitation.  The government has taken pride in its rehabilitation programme that was set up to deal with the approximately ten thousand LTTE cadre who surrendered in the final phase of the war in the North.  Some of the government’s rehabilitation activities have been models for other post-war societies, but others have been less so.

Read more...

January 12, 2012

WikiLeaks: Rajapaksa Trio Powerful, But Increasingly Isolated

By Colombo Telegraph –

“Ever since the 1978 Constitution transferred broad executive powers from the Prime Minister to the new Presidency, power has tended to gravitate toward the President. Although Rajapaksa’s electoral campaign manifesto promised to abolish the executive presidency, the concentration of power in the Presidency has accelerated during the Rajapaksa administration.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” details the Presidend Rajapaksa’s decision making process. The cable was written on May 15, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.

“At the same time, the Rajapaksas are increasingly isolated. The President both fears and despises what he disparagingly refers to as the "Colombo 7 Crowd,"

Under the subheading “Rajapaksa Trio Powerful, But Isolated” the Ambassador wrote “The recent cabinet reshuffle, which left Sri Lanka with one of the largest Cabinets of Ministers in the world, perversely has contributed to the centralization of power in the Rajapaksas’ hands because many ministers have overlapping or undefined responsibilities. The resulting confusion has meant that most important issues are handled by the President and his advisors, not by the ministers. The President himself holds ministerial portfolios including Finance, Defense and Ports and Aviation. He thus directly supervises over a hundred government departments and administrations. Together with discretionary Presidential spending powers, he personally controls over 60 percent of the national budget.”

“The President also has bypassed the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which says the President should appoint the heads of key commissions and certain senior government officials on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. His personal appointment of these officials calls into question their independence, and means there is little oversight of his decisionmaking. The constitutional changes that his SLFP put forward in its ‘devolution’ proposal would, rather than decentralizing power, actually tend to increase the President’s prerogatives. For example, he would appoint two-thirds of the new Senate’s members under the SLFP draft.” he further wrote.

Ambassador Blake wrote “At the same time, the Rajapaksas are increasingly isolated. The President both fears and despises what he disparagingly refers to as the “Colombo 7 Crowd,” Colombo’s western-educated, wealthy elite (most of whom live in the 7th district of the city). He has not included them in his inner circle and is not in touch with their views. In addition, his brothers lived out of the country until just before the election in 2005. As a result, they have a limited understanding of the Sri Lankan public’s concerns and few contacts within the country’s elite. This isolation has meant that almost all important decisions are made by a small inner circle with limited exposure to input and ideas from the country’s public or elite.

Below we give the relevant part of the confidential cable;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000698

GTF invited to South African state funeral


May 7, 2012

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The UK based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) will be represented at the funeral of top South African politician, Roy Padayachie (62) at the Cricket Stadium in Durban tomorrow (May 9).

The GTF is scheduled to be represented by Suren Surendiran, its UK based chief spokesman.

Well informed sources told The Island that Surendiran would address the state funeral of the veteran ANC member on behalf of the Sri Lankan Tamil community. Surendiran has been involved in talks with UN and US officials on behalf of the group established at the conclusion of the conflict in May, 2009 to pursue their right to self determination.

Public Service and Administration Minister Roy Padayachie was found dead in his hotel room in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was visiting Ethiopia to attend the African Peer Review Mechanism.

Padayachie joined the public service and administration ministry in October last year. He was former minister of communication and before that deputy minister of public service and administration.

Germany based GTF leader, Rev. Father S. J. Emmanuel issued a condolence message on behalf of the organization.

GoSL sources alleged that the GTF was one of the frontline organizations pursuing the eelam project, though the LTTE no longer retained a conventional military capability. With a vast network spread in all continents, the GTF was campaigning for an international war crimes inquiry, sources said. Obviously an invitation for a state funeral in South Africa would boost the GTF’s image overseas, sources said, pointing out that it was at the forefront of the anti-Sri Lanka campaign at the 19th sessions of the UNHRC in Geneva in February-March.

The GTF also participated at the centenary celebrations of the ANC several months ago causing a dispute between the GoSL and the SA government.

Sources said that the both GTF and one-time LTTE negotiator, V. Rudrakumaran’s outfit TGTE were competing with each other for international recognition, though the former seemed to be leading the way.

Military Cutback and Separatism in Sri Lanka

by Keerthi Illangaratna May 08, 2012

RECENT Indian delegation, led by opposition MP in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, requested Sri Lankan government to scale down military deployment in North. However, military cutback due to political pressure can strengthen the separatist movement, which is trying to undermine the hard- won peace. Therefore, the government should reduce Armed Forces in North after careful analysis of the security needs of the country.

Nevertheless, the government rejected the call for the removal of Security Forces from North saying that such a request is unreasonable. What the government accepted was to reduce Armed Forces and to hand over military occupied areas to civilians gradually.

Indian delegation seems to have considered the military deployment as an obstacle to reconciliation. They forget, or pretend to forget, that Security Forces defeated terrorism, which many believed unwinnable, and brought about peace after three decades of conflict. Therefore, it is absurd to consider military presence in the north as a hindrance to peace.

Nationalist Agenda more

GL writes to Indian CMs ahead of his USvisit

Lalith in charge of LLRC implementation mechanism

May 7, 2012,

By Shamindra Ferdinando

 In the wake of an Indian parliamentary delegation visiting Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission, External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris has written to Chief Ministers of all Indian States on the progress made in the post-war national reconciliation process.

Responding to a query, Prof. Peiris said that the GoSL felt that it would be useful to brief Chief Ministers as part of the overall efforts to keep all stakeholders up to date.

Minister Peiris said that GoSL was confident that they would appreciate GoSL efforts to address issues, including the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

Although Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram’s ruling AIADMK pulled out of the delegation at the eleventh hour, Prof. Peiris wrote to her. Tamil Nadu Opposition DMK, too, boycotted the visit.

Meanwhile, the government has set up a high powered committee to implement LLRC recommendations, which would acceptable to the government. Headed by presidential secretary, Lalith Weeratunga, the committee was in the process of formulating a list of recommendations.

Asked whether LLRC proposals in their entirety would be implemented, Prof. Peiris emphasized the majority of recommendations would be implemented. But it wouldn’t be realistic to expect the GoSL to implement the entire set of proposals, the minister said adding that all UPFA constituents were recently asked to furnish their proposals to the Weeratunga Committee, which would function as the implementing mechanism. Elaborating further, the minister said that choosing LLRC recommendations would be a political decision, whereas the Weeratunga Committee handles implementation.

Prof. Peiris said that the SLFP, too, would provide its own response. Although there is no deadline for UPFA constituents to furnish their response, many political parties made available their position.

Responding to another query, Prof. Peiris said that forthcoming bilateral talks with the US would give GoSL an opportunity to discuss the entire gamut of issues. Prof. Peiris said that Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa was invited to join the delegation as he headed the Sri Lanka-US parliamentary friendship association.

The Sri Lankan delegation is scheduled to leave on May 14 for five-day visit, with the meet with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton scheduled for May 18th.

A Defence Ministry land used for private reasons

Tuesday, 08 May 2012

A 41.23 perch land in Dambulla owned by the Urban Development and Defence Ministry has been given to a person from Kolonnawa to put up a rest house. The land has been allocated to the person through the Cabinet paper number MD/UD/01/75 presented to the Cabinet of Ministers on March 24th under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s signature.

The land was given to the Milco Company in 2009. The land was allocated to Milco on August 2nd, 2009 through the Cabinet memorandum numbered 09/1383/320/062. The Cabinet memorandum states that the land in Dambulla be given to the respective person in exchange of the Nawalapitiya Resthouse near the Nawalapitiya court complex.

18th May as a mockery of history

TUESDAY, 08 MAY 2012

The third is 14th May, 1965, the day the JVP, the political party of the downtrodden masses of Sri Lanka, was founded. There is another event that is important to the people in Sri Lanka, may be to the whole world that took place in the month of May. On 18th May, 2009 the military front of separatism in Sri Lanka was defeated. The termination of the thirty year war that tortured and distressed the Sri Lankan sociopolitical body could have marked a decisive juncture of the history of this country. However, the importance of this victory of the society has been relatively devalued due to the attempt by the government to pocket it for their political agendas. A giant step of blending Sinhalese, 

Tamil, Muslim, Malay, Burgher ethnic groups into one Sri Lankan Nation was lost due to this idiocy. Also, the government regime paved the way for international interventions as a result of casting away immediate measures that should have been taken proposed by the JVP and other intellectual organisations. Three years have passed since this decisive event. The bitter reality is that not only the government but the whole country have to suffer the consequences of this idiocy. It is no secret that the intensification in international interventions regarding the national question and the adoption of the resolution at the UNHRC in Geneva is the logical end result of the undiplomatic sloppy politics of the government. However, it is all too evident that falling into this abyss has not been a lesson for the government. A letter written by Ms. Tamara Kunanayakam, Sri L a n k a ’s Pe r m a n e n t Representative to the UN in Geneva to Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris states Sri Lanka has paid a heavy price for the lack of cohesion as it was essential to project an image of unity rather than that of discord. She also talks about “Sri Lanka’s instability in diplomacy and an ad hoc character, when, in a multilateral Mission, it is essential to display cohesion, unity and stability.” Exposing the utter chaos in Geneva during the sessions of UNHCR Ms.         Read more..

Rising prices and ‘accountability’

by S. L. Gunasekara

May 7, 2012 

There was a time, not too long ago when even a relatively small increase in prices led to consternation among the public. Thus, an increase of even 10 cents in the price of a gallon [not litre] of petrol; or of 2 or 3 cents in the price of a cigarette made the people throw up their hands in collective horror and seek to cut down on purchases of such commodities. Accordingly, an increase in the price of petrol led to there being fewer cars on the road, while an increase in the price of cigarettes led to smokers endeavouring, with some success at the start, to cut down on their smoking. However, Sri Lankans being Sri Lankans, none of these counter measures lasted long and the people having become used to the price increases, went back to their usual patterns of consumption.

Today, however, things are different, and the people who have become virtually anaesthetized by frequent price increases by successive governments which now increase them not by a few cents but by varying sums of rupees from about Rs 10-15 to Rs. 100 or 150 or more, do not even throw up their hands in collective horror or make even a short-lived effort at consumer resistance. By and large they just ‘grin and bear’ because they have little or no alternative.      Read more...

Radio Times poll provokes online battle for Baftas

Fierce opposition to al-Jazeera's Bahrain documentary generates a million votes

Vanessa Thorpe  Sunday 6 May 2012

An excerpt from Shouting in the Dark by May Ying Welsh. Photograph: al-Jazeera

An excerpt from Shouting in the Dark by May Ying Welsh. Photograph: al-Jazeera

This year's Bafta award for the best current affairs television programme, to be awarded later this month, has provoked an international struggle to undermine the content of at least one of the four powerful documentaries on the shortlist – a film about the uprising in Bahrain last spring.

A fortnight ago the Radio Times magazine launched an online poll to allow readers to vote for their favourite Bafta nominees. There are no prizes on offer, but the current affairs category has now registered an incredible one million votes, even though participants will not decide the final outcome. While fans of Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes or of Dominic West's role as Fred West have together clocked up only 4,000 votes in the best leading actor poll, more than half a million voters across the world have backed the film Shouting in the Dark, made in Bahrain by journalist May Ying Welsh for al-Jazeera. Another half a million have voted for Channel 4's film Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, fronted by Jon Snow.         Full Story>>>

China expels al-Jazeera English reporter

8 May 2012

Al-Jazeera says it has been forced to close its English-language bureau in Beijing after its reporter was expelled.

China's decision not to renew the press credentials and visa of Melissa Chan is the first such action against a foreign reporter for many years.

Officials have also refused to allow a replacement for Ms Chan, al-Jazeera's China correspondent since 2007.

China's foreign ministry refused to say why the reporter had been expelled.

"We stress that everybody must abide by Chinese laws and regulations and must abide by their professional ethics," spokesman Hong Lei said, responding to repeated questions.

Al-Jazeera said it would "continue to request a presence in China".

The channel expressed its disappointment in a statement, adding that it had been requesting additional visas for correspondents for ''quite some time''. The move does not affect its Arabic-language service.

The move will be viewed as an attempt by the Chinese authorities to intimidate foreign media operating in the country, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing.

'Violating rules'      Full Story>>>

May-06-2012

Justice for Genocide: Tamil Americans to Hold UN Rally

146,000 Tamil civilians were lost to the Sri Lankan state during the last eight months of the war.

The Genocide of Tamils continues by many accounts, rape is a daily event in the refugee camps and disappearances and killings continue in the north. 148k remain unaccounted for.

(NEW YORK CITY) - On May 18, 2012, the Tamil Diaspora of North America will be holding an awareness rally and candlelight vigil in front of the United Nations in New York City paying their solemn respect to the victims of Tamil Genocide in the Island of Sri Lanka and to observe the Tamil National Mourning Day. The rally participants will once again reiterate their demand for an independent, international investigation into the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide perpetrated on the Tamil civilians by the leaders of the Sri Lankan government and its military.

The UN Secretary General appointed a Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka to investigate the mass atrocities, international humanitarian law and human rights violations. The Panel of Experts submitted its report in April 2011 calling for international independent investigations into the deaths of up to 40,000 Tamil civilians, mostly caused by Sri Lankan government’s indiscriminate military assault on civilian enclaves and “no-fire-zones” and blocking of emergency food and live-saving medical supplies. The report confirmed violations of international humanitarian law which could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The well respected Catholic Bishop of Mannar, Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph has publicly stated that a total of 146,679 civilians who lived in the area of the conflict are unaccounted for in the final two years of the conflict. Ms. Suba Suntharalingam, speaking for the groups organizing the rally said, “In the absence of credible international investigations to ascertain the truth, we Tamils hold the Sri Lanka government responsible for the deaths of up to 146,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the blood bath on the beaches of the Tamil homeland.”

Sri Lanka came under severe criticism at the UN Human Rights Council meeting held in Geneva in March. The UN body passed a resolution calling for accountability, investigation of incidents of grave violations of international humanitarian law and immediate implementation of positive recommendations of Sri Lanka’s own internal commission. It also mandates the UN Human Rights Commissioner and Special Rapporteurs to monitor and report progress back to the Human Rights Council.

“While we welcome the UNHRC Resolution on Sri Lanka, we note it fell short of the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts’ call for Independent International Investigations,” said Ms. Suntharalingam. “The captive Tamil population is heavily militarized, and abductions, disappearances and deprivations continue in the Tamil homeland. We will continue to push for independent probes, accountability and compensation. The call of the hour is the establishment of an effective International Protection Mechanism,” she added.

The UN rally for “Justice for Genocide” will take place on May 18, 2012 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at 1st Ave and E 44th Street, New York, NY 10017. A candlelight vigil will also be held from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the same venue.

Poison contaminated food at function attended by Rajapakse -Who poisoned whom?
Monday 7 of May 2012

First time poisoned food served at a Govt. function -38 hospitalized

(Lanka-e-News-07.May.2012, 11.30PM) Was there a conspiracy to poison Mahinda Rajapakse? Or did the President’s group engage in a conspiracy to kill the people by poisoning them? This is a big question mark preying on the minds of the people. At the function attended by President yesterday (06) , at Mahiyangana at the 18th bend , to hand over the renovated road at the 18th bend to the people , 40 persons who participated in the event have been admitted to the Hospital following food poisoning. After the inauguration of the road at the 18th bend , those participants at the event had been served with meals. The President however had not partaken of any meals , surprisingly. The people who ate the food at the function had begun incessant vomiting and diarrhea. 38 of them who were critical were admitted to the Ududambara Hospital. Those who turned for the worse were transferred to the Kandy Hospital. Ududambara Hospital spokesman speaking to Lanka e news said, it had been confirmed that food served at the Govt. function had been contaminated with poison. This is the first time at a Govt. function food had been contaminated with poison. Never had this happened in SL before. It is therefore most serious . The people of the area are of the view that somebody or group with the aim of harming and hurting the President had deliberately done this , or somebody or group of the President had done this deliberately to inflict suffering on the villagers. A SLFP front liner who is antagonistic to the MaRa regime speaking on this incident made a rudely startling comment : anybody who is eating from the Rajapakses should be ready to eat even the poison the Rajapakses serve. The Public health inspectors have begun an investigation into this food poisoning. The irony of this whole deadly poisoning episode is , while the food being served at the function where Rajapakse attended was contaminated with poison , 800 health Inspectors had also been doing their inspection rounds at 6119 dansalas during this Wesak. They had detected that the food served at 192 dansalas were unfit for consumption , and food at 37 dansalas had to be discarded, the media reported.

Magically Cheran

Themes of love and war are powerfully yoked together in fine lyrical verse. K. Srilata
K. SRILATA   May 6, 2012

A Second Sunrise, Poems by Cheran (Edited and translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Holmström and Sascha Ebeling).

It is a book I didn't want to get to the end of. Because I wanted to taste the poems slowly, word by word. The Sri Lankan Tamil poet Rudhramoorthy Cheran writes with tenderness and precision about love, the sea, war, loss and devastation. Brilliantly translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Holmström and Sascha Ebeling, A Second Sunrise contains some of Cheran's finest, most lyrical poems. The poems are like mini-bombs set to blow a hole through your heart. They bear witness to the tragedy of the Sri Lankan civil war, a war that Cheran describes as an “apocalypse” in a poem of the same name: “We have all gone away; / there is no one to tell our story./ Now there is left/ only a great land wounded.” And yet Cheran is telling us that story.

As Sascha Ebeling points out in his afterword, there is hope in the story that Cheran tells us, hope in the fact that writing survives even in a wounded land. Words must bear witness where nothing else can. “I could forget all this,” Cheran says, proceeding to list half a dozen gruesome war sights. The poems conclude by gesturing gently towards the rape and killing of an upcountry Tamil woman, a tea estate worker who was cooking rice in a pot even as her children sat hidden beneath the tea bushes. “How shall I forget the broken shards/ and the scattered rice/ lying parched upon the earth?”

Full Story>>>

The patriotic mighty, are they right?

Sunday 06 May 2012

The economic consequences of the decisions made by the Mahinda regime, to satisfy the international money lenders, are becoming intolerable. Apart from those who contribute to the Sinhala Buddhist ideology of the regime and those who are profiting by the regime’s excesses, the rest fight on a daily basis without much coordination, to cope with the rising cost of living. It is usual to see people buying one egg, half a loaf of bread, and 100gms of sugar; more seriously, even cutting down on essential medication because that too has become a luxury. What Bandula suggested was forced austerity. Actually today, in general, a family is forced to survive on Rs 7,500.00 per month or less, so that children could go to school. Though I did not mobilize, there were enough people who would have marched upto the Ministry of Education and physically hurled him out on to the street. That was the level of anger.

Middle classes      Full Story>>>       

Tamil refugees need help to cross legal hurdles, says TAG

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 May 2012, 15:41 GMT]
Reports from Trincomalee confirmed that a Tamil civilian recently refused asylum in the U.K. and deported to Sri Lanka, was found killed on the 18th April. The killing occurred amidst arrests by the Sri Lanka miltary of more than 300 Tamils in the east, many of whom were refugee returnees from other countries, reports said. Tamil activists say systemic issues such as lack of information on asylum application procedures and sources of funding, a lack of affordable advice in the refugee's own language, combined with out-of-date, biased or inaccurate 'official' country information relied on by immigration officials and judges have resulted in many potentially vulnerable refugees being returned back into the waiting hostile hands of Colombo . 

• European Convention on Human Rights

• UK Human Rights Act

• British Refugee Guide

• UK: Sri Lanka Country of Origin Information

Tamil activists said fear from burgeoning refugee populations are forcing Western governments, notably UK and Australia, and many European countries, to play down the "well founded fear of persecution," of ayslum seekers, even while Colombo has demonstrated its intent to violate rights of Tamils, including torture and disappearances.

Colombo has been successfully weathering pressure, perceived or otherwise, in spite of seriously incriminating commentary from Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and International Crisis Group (ICG) among others, on the credible persecution fears of Tamil refugee returnees, Tamil activist circles said.

Legal Steps in UK Asylum process

Legal instruments for UK asylum seekers

A spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US and UK based activist group which has been engaging with the legal process in the U.K. with a few successful tribunal decisions on asylum applications, said, "while in the U.K. we are becoming more familiar with the legal system, and with the help of a handful of legal professionals setting up a system to help the Tamil asylum seekers, the refugee situation is worse in Europe and in South Asia. 

"There is an urgent need to help these refugees to gain easy access to legal and financial support, and to lessen the burden on the same people who have already undergone harrowing experiences, and inhumane and demeaning rights violations at the hands of Sri Lanka military," Jan Jananayagam said. "TAG is working on setting up such a system to provide material help and advocacy for asylum seekers, and the diaspora should shoulder the financial burden if such a support system is to be sustained to meet the needs of the refugee inflow," she added. 

A document providing legal and other relevant information to Tamil Refugees in the UK, is under preparation by TAG, and a draft released to TamilNet contains information that relates to the (a) legal procedure followed in asylum cases in the U.K., and (b) the legal instruments used in the adjudication in the tribunals and UK Courts.

Legal procedures and associated appeals processes available are shown in the adjoining chart where the asylum seeker has the opportunity to establish the "well-founded fear of persecution" at the interview (2nd), the two tribunal hearings, and at the possible multiple hearings in the Court of Appeals. The case proceeds to the following phase only if the application fails in a step as the case progresses through increasingly stringent scrutiny. 

"TAG considers medical and psychological evidence from an expert witness is very important for obtaining a positive result in an asylum application, but only a few attorneys encourage or help their clients to obtain such information before tribunal hearings. A central refugee-aid repository of past cases of persecution in Sri Lanka, affidavits from victims, legally admissible video, photographs of harassment and other similar evidence, are essential prerequisites that will materially benefit Tamil asylum seekers in U.K.," Jananayagam said.

In the U.K., legal aid is also available from the British Government for eligible asylum seekers. However, to obtain this aid, the representing legal firm should also be certified as "legal-aid eligible." Due to stringent documentation requirements to qualify, many legal firms decline certification, and lose the opportunity to obtain legal aid for their clients.

Collection of past rulings and proceedings in the Courts of different countries including the U.S and Switzerland can help expose the culpable conduct of Colombo in committing international crimes and will aid asylum applications of Tamils in the Western legal systems, legal sources in UK said.