Sri Lanka military to issue death certificates for disappeared

31 JULY 2012

 Relatives of the disappeared in northern Sri Lanka have been forced by the military to accept death certificates for Tamils  in state custody.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran informed JDS that the military has ordered parents and family members in Mullaitheevu to furnish details of their loved ones who have been reported missing in order to issue death certificates. He said that he has had reports of similar military activity in other areas of the north.

"On 20 July, about 30 parents, whose children are missing were summoned by the military to the Mullaithivu police station" Premachandran said. "The military officers who were at the police station had asked the parents to write down all the details about the missing members of their families which they did. But when the military asked them to sign a blank sheet of paper, they had become suspicious" he added.

Family members are shocked by the military ruling as most of their loved ones have either surrendered or been handed over to the Sri Lankan military following the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009. The details have already been supplied to police as well as to the military. The military has approached the family members of the disappeared through contact details provided when registering the surrender or handover.

Relatives of missing people have been told by military that the government has decided to issue death certificates to those disappeared as ‘it has been three years since they have gone missing’.

'Military has no authority'

Opposition legislator Premachandran said that the angry relatives approached him to question the government motive in handing over death certificates instead of investigating the disappearances. He said that family members have questioned the police how their loved ones have gone missing after the Sri Lankan military took over their custody.

“I was told that that even in Kilinochchi, the military has followed the same procedure. They have no authority to summon the people and force them to accept death certificates ” charged the TNA parliamentarian who said that TE Anandarajah, a commissioner of Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, has also been made aware of the military action in Mullaitheevu and Kilinochchi.

The Sri Lankan military forcing relatives of the disappeared to accept death certificates comes following the government’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and United Nations Human Rights Council call for government accountability on safeguarding human rights in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s human rights record is due to be reviewed in October by the UNHRC.

Photo courtesy: Sampath Samarakoon | vikalpa.org

Reminiscences of a Sri Lankan Gandhian

“LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran failed to take into consideration the changing geo-political situation”

 

S.A.David

There is nothing about the wizened old man with a free-flowing beard that suggests he was a sought-after architect, who’d been a senior town planner in Liverpool, United Kingdom, and later became the chief architect and town planner of Mombasa in Kenya.

Living as the guest of a family of Sri Lankan Tamils here, 88-year old Solomon Arulanandam David, who arrived in Chennai in 1984 in the wake of ethnic riots in Sri Lanka, has only bitter memories of his homeland, but clings to the hope that one day his people will achieve their political objectives through peaceful and democratic means.

He was the founder of ‘Gandhiyam’, an organisation involved in the rehabilitation of riot-hit Tamils from the hill country in Sri Lanka, and was a witness to the Welikade prison riots in 1983 in which 53 Tamils, including early militants Kuttimani, Jagan and Thangadurai, were killed. His friend and co-founder of Gandhiyam, Dr Rajasundaram was also killed.

“The Sri Lankan government came to the conclusion that we were training militants in our Gandhiyam training Centre and arrested me and Rajasundaram in 1983. After the riots, I saw a heap of human bodies, some still writhing in pain,” recalls Mr. David.

Later he was shifted to Batticaloa prison, but he and 42 other inmates broke out and escaped to India after spending 27 days in the Vanni jungles. “If we had been given three more years, we would have established ‘Ram Rajya’ as Gandhi dreamt. The war would have been avoided. But Sinhala chauvinists wanted to liquidate Tamils and they wiped out Gandhiyam,” Mr. David says.

It was while working in Mombasa that he discovered Mahatma Gandhi. “An Indian lawyer’s clerk had collected 9,000 books on India and donated all of them to the Mombasa library. I lived in this library between 4 and 8 p.m. nearly every day. It was there I discovered India and Gandhi who was to play a leading role in my life,” says Mr. David, who studied B. Arch in Melbourne University after winning a scholarship.

He worked for the Public Works Department of Sri Lanka for some time before going to England to study town planning in Leeds.

He quit a lucrative career to plunge himself into a movement to benefit the people. He said large-scale human casualties could have been avoided if LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran had disbanded his force when he realised that the whole world was united in supporting Sri Lanka in the war.

He said the LTTE leader failed to take into consideration the changing geo-political situation and went too far in his attempt to achieve Tamil Eelam.

“I have no doubt that it was he who saved Tamils. But I always had reservations about accepting him as a leader of the Tamils. There was a flaw in his personality,” Mr. David argues.

With the 25th anniversary of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord evoking bitter memories, Mr. David feels the only way out for Tamils is to follow Gandhian ideals and democratic means while helping one another on the lines of the community of Aga Khan’s followers across the world.

“They meet once a week and take care of the members of the community and the education of their children. Sri Lankan Tamils can do the same. But unfortunately, our people have become selfish and stingy,” he said, reiterating that the transnational government set up by a section of the Tamils could also work effectively for the community’s benefit.

Simultaneously, the transnational government could put pressure on the United Nations to bring to book Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for war crimes and the documents of Professor Francis A. Boyle, an American expert on international law, could be used for the purpose, he said.

“Boyle’s efforts proved effective in the case of Bosnia. We can do it Sri Lanka also,” he said.

New Zealanders call for international investigation, back right to self-determination

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 August 2012, 06:51 GMT]
“We support your demand for self-determination,” said New Zealand’s parliamentary leader of the Green Party, Metiria Turei MP, speaking at an event in Auckland on Sunday, convened to remember Black July 1983. Her view was echoed by John Minto, a respected human rights activist saying, “I know you have been consistently airing your right to self determination and we support your demand because you cannot live in a country that does not recognise and respect your rights.” Labour MP and shadow foreign minister Phil Goff who spoke at the event as well as the other two guest speakers called for an international investigation on the war crimes. The Green leader announced that her party is determined to work with Australian Greens in expelling the war-crimes-accused SL High Commissioner for Australia. 

Excerpts from the speeches of Guest Speakers:

Metiria Turei MP, Leader of the Parliamentary Group as well as Co-Leader of the Green Party:

Metrina Turei

We are closely watching your consistent and consolidated efforts to win your rights. You are very active and unrelenting. As a result we are familiar with the crises in Sri Lanka. 

We support your demand for self-determination and will extend our support to win your goal. 

We support the global demand for a transparent inquiry by an independent international tribunal into war crimes and human rights violations and crimes against humanity under international law enumerated in the report of the Experts Panel appointed by the UN Secretary- General. 

I also make this announcement. Along with the Greens in Australia, we are determined to mount pressure to expel the Sri Lankan High Commissioner for Australia and New Zealand Commodore Tissara Samarasinghe, formerly of the Sri Lankan Navy. 

We cannot allow people associated with human rights violations and war crimes to defile the decorum and ethics hitherto maintained in diplomatic practices.
* * * John Minto, Human Rights Activist:

John Minto

We support the rights of all people. We voice the rights of indigenous people anywhere in the world. Rights are universal and belong to all alike. There are no minority rights and majority rights. The tyranny of the majority cannot be tolerated. 

I know you have been consistently airing your right to self determination and we support your demand because you cannot live in a country that does not recognise and respect your rights – the human rights guaranteed by UN instruments. 

There can’t be two words that an independent international tribunal must investigate the alleged violations of human rights and the war crimes enumerated by the report of the Experts Panel appointed by UN Secretary- General.
* * * Phil Goff MP: shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Labour Party:

Phil Goff

Your continued consistent activities have helped us to keep abreast of the continuing atrocities committed against the Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

Human rights violations, crimes against humanity under international law and war crimes cannot be allowed to pass without proper investigation. 

We will lend support to the growing international demand for a transparent inquiry into the alleged violations of human rights and crimes against humanity under international law and war crimes enumerated in the report of the Experts Panel appointed by the UN Secretary-General. 

No reconciliation can be achieved without justice being meted out first and the victims adequately compensated. But nothing towards reconciliation has taken place in Sri Lanka except words and more words. 
* * * The event was in the form of a seminar, presided by Dr. Siva Vasanthan who called for direct UN monitoring of the processes in the island. 

Mr. A. Theva Rajan spoke on the futility of expecting the regime bringing in Tamil–Sinhala goodwill and on its interference with judiciary. 

Janaki Paskaran, Tharuni Ashok and R. Danisha were among the Eezham Tamil participants presenting papers on Genocide, Culture Demolition and Emerging Trends; The Quest for Justice and on A Generation Condemned to Extinction

Sri Lanka: The Rise Of The Security Apparatus And The Decline Of The Criminal Justice System

By Basil Fernando -August 2, 2012

Basil Fernando

A few decades ago, Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system was organised on the basis of the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the departmental orders of the police . The Penal Code defines crime and lays down penalties for each particular crime. New crimes were identified or defined either through amendment to the Penal Code or through separate statues. The Criminal Procedure Code describes basic protocol that should mechanisms in the justice and law enforcement institutions should comply with and provide proper processes along which those in authority must operate. This includes how complaints are to be taken down, how to and who should conduct the investigations into crime, how the findings of the investigations are to be submitted to the Attorney-General, how arrests should be made, how indictments are to be made by the Attorney-General, how the indictments are to be filed in courts, how the trial process is to be carried out and how bail and appeals are to be made. The Criminal Procedure Code also lays down the manner in which people are to be summoned to courts and how to deal with persons who evade the summons, as well as many other matters incidental to the investigation, prosecution, trial, appeal, sentencing and punishment of an accused in accordance with accepted legal principles within the country. This system that had been gradually developed over centuries was supported, implemented and enforced by the police departmental orders, and guaranteed to large extent fairness through equality before the law and equality of protection by the law.Read More

Int. Airline Cos. complain to IATA on SL inferior fuel racket

(Lanka-e-News- 01.Aug.2012, 10.00PM) The Airline Companies have informed the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that because the SL Govt. is at Govt. level using inferior fuel not in par with international standards , the use of SL fuel for aviation purposes is not safe , according to reports reaching Lanka e News.

Since the authority over SL refined oil is completely under the Govt., and the Railways Dept. of the Govt. which used the fuel is of inferior quality, nearly 15 trains were stranded midway, the attention of the Int. Airlines Co. had been drawn to this grave issue.

As the Airlines Companies will have to take the responsibilities if the airlines get stranded mid air due to the supply of inferior quality fuel by SL uncaring about its responsibilities , the Airline Companies have urged the IATA to focus special attention on this.
SL importing inferior quality aviation fuel some months ago from B P Co. Singapore had been given consideration. About 240 Airlines Companies are members of the IATA. They exercise control over about 85% of the world ‘s air transport . This International organization shoulders a great responsibility in regard to the safety of the world’s air transport .

Meanwhile, the main harbor of SL, the Colombo Port had ground to a halt for the last two days because of the use of inferior fuel. The international shipping Companies too which have showed concern in this regard are holding discussions to decide on the use of fuel from SL, according to reports.

Italian academics, activists, political groups endorse TSC declaration

 [TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 August 2012, 18:04 GMT]
Concluding that the only way for Eezham Tamils to live with freedom and peace is in a sovereign Tamil Eelam, a range of Italian academics, left parties, antiracist groups, civil society activists, immigration groups and NGOs endorsed the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition declaration at a conference titled “Tamil, l’identita negate” (Tamil, a denied identity) organized in Palermo, Sicily on 28th July. Speaking at the event, academics from the University of Palermo argued that what happened in the island of Sri Lanka was genocide against the Tamil nation, besides pushing for an independent international investigation into war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state. "In the diaspora, the youth organizations should work with solidarity groups, political groups, and NGOs using this historic declaration as an action plan," Stefano Edward Puvanendrarajah from Giovani Tamil told TamilNet. 

• Tamil Sovereignty Cognition adopted in Italy

Giuseppe Burgio

Barbara Evola

Fabio Petrino

Fulvio Vassallo

Clelia Bartoli

The conference was jointly organized by Giovani Tamil and the Italy Council of Eelam Tamils at Palazzo delle Aquile in Sala delle Lapidi, where the Palermo municipal council assembly takes place. 

Italian anthropologist Fabio Pettirino provided the conceptual basis for the title of the conference, sources in Italy told TamilNet. 

NGOs from Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mauritius and Ghana were also present at the conference. 

Prof. Giuseppe Burgio from the University of Palermo talked about the armed struggle phase of the liberation movement of the Eezham Tamils, talking extensively about the de facto state of the LTTE and the popular support it enjoyed among the Tamil people.

Complementing him, Prof. Fulvio Vassallo spoke on the negative impact the EU ban on the Tamil Tigers had, urging the international community to press for an independent international investigation into war crimes by the Sri Lankan state. 

Giving a conceptual understanding on war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and genocide, Prof. Clelia Bartoli who specializes in Human Rights alleged that what happened to the Eezham Tamils was an intended genocide. She further criticized the media silence and the failure of state institutions in Sri Lanka, attributing it to the vested economic interests of powers like India and China. Prof. Bartoli opined that it was the duty of the IC to stand by a solution favourable to the Eezham Tamils at least now. 

After the presentation of the case of human rights violations and genocide against the Eezham Tamils by Italian academics, besides Tamil diaspora activists, Barbara Evola, the Palermo minister in charge for education, said that she would do her best to push for action corresponding to the situation. 

Sergio Cipolla from CISS, a NGO concerned with developments in the global south, and Prof. Provenza from Amnesty international also shared their thoughts. 

Citing the UN panel report on Sri Lanka, Prof. Provenza argued for an independent international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka. 

Anthropologist Fabio Pettirino gave suggestions on how the Tamil diaspora can take their case to the establishments and how to get aid for positive plans from the states in the West. 

Stephano Edward, Thanushan Guhathasan and Braveen Nagendram from the Giovani Tamil spoke briefly at the event about the work that their Tamil youth organization and the country councils are doing in Italy. Mr. Edward also briefed the audience about the history of the genocide of the Eezham Tamils in unitary Sri Lanka. 

Sebastiampillai Dunstan Rajakumar from the Italian Council of Eelam Tamils presented the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition declaration to the audience, explaining its significance in the contemporary scenario. Following this, the gathered individuals signed a resolution favouring the creation of a state of Tamil Eelam, as implied in the declaration. 

Speaking to TamilNet, Mr. Rajakumar said "To Tamil people, a proper and just solution is only sovereign Tamil Eelam. This declaration, after being passed in Italy, should be replicated in other countries as it contains vital concepts for our struggle. All Tamil organizations in the diaspora should take forth the declaration and the proposals elaborated in it in their political interactions."

Adding that the declaration being approved by such a wide range of Italian activists was historic, he said that this declaration contains all the important conceptual requirements for the Eezham Tamil people. 

WikiLeaks: EX CJ Sarath Silva’s Judicial Pedigree

By Colombo Telegraph -August 1, 2012 

“The Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Sarath De Silva, has shifted over the past month from regularly supporting the President in its rulings to deciding against the Government on key issues. When former President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed De Silva over more senior judges to sit as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1999, the public criticized De Silva as a tool of the Kumaratunga administration. However, in 2005, De Silva ruled that Kumaratunga would have to step down from office one year earlier than expected, paving the way for then-Prime Minister Rajapaksa to run for President.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

A Leaked “CONFIDENTIAL” US diplomatic cable, dated June 27, 2007, updated the Secretary of State on Sri Lanka’s Judiciary under the Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva details Silva’s judicial behaviour. The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable was written by the charge d’affairs James R. Moore.

James wrote “After Rajapaksa won the Presidential election, De Silva continued to support him in significant court cases. In 2005, De Silva’s bench issued an injunction to keep police from further investigating the President’s alleged misappropriation of tsunami funds. In March 2006 the Court ruled the investigation violated Rajapaksa’s fundamental rights and ordered a United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian and two others to pay the President compensation for opening the investigation. In October 2006, De Silva ruled to de-merge the Tamil dominated North and East provinces, a politically sensitive and important decision for the President and the JVP (ref B).”

Referring to Silva’s shift from regularly supporting the President in its rulings he wrote “In the following cases this month, however, De Silva reversed this trend and ruled against the President in a string of popular decisions many hailed as brave and just in its protection of fundamental rights. –June 8: The Supreme Court issued an interim order to prevent the Inspector General of Police from taking steps to evict Tamils from Colombo or prevent them from entering Colombo despite orders widely believed to have come from the Ministry of Defense (ref A). (Note: De Silva was not on the bench for this case but sources close to the Court told us De Silva was behind the decision. End Note) –

June 14: De Silva issued a stay against Government plans to sell nearly 25 percent of its shares in Sri Lanka Telecom to a Malaysian company. The Court also subpoenaed all Government documents related to the sale. –

June 18: De Silva granted Tiran Alles’s petition to file a Violation of Fundamental Rights case against the Government for his arrest on May 30. Alles was arrested on charges of supporting terrorism after the President fired Alles’s allies, Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, from their ministerial posts. The Government also froze business accounts for Alles’s two newspapers, which were critical of the President and his policies, forcing them to close. Observers of the case said the Government’s actions were politically motivated. –

June 19: The Court permitted a prominent UNP member to file a Violation of Fundamental Rights case against the Government for bribery solicitation and harassment of his company, Sevanagala Sugar Industries.”

Under the subheading “SILVA’S MOTIVES POLITICAL, NOT JUDICIAL” charge d’affairs James wrote “Legal insiders say that while they are pleased with the recent rulings, they are not necessarily the result of an improved judiciary, but rather, are born in part out of De Silva’s political ambitions and alliances. Embassy contacts say De Silva has close ties to members of the Sinhalese nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), who are increasingly displeased with the Rajapaksa administration and who back De Silva’s recent decisions. Former Attorney General and De Silva colleague, Shibly Aziz, told us De Silva was ‘riding the wave’ of JVP and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) support. He cited the rapid fire manner in which the Court issued decisions in June designed to target the President and his Administration and win popularity with the public. Aziz explained that De Silva was playing to Buddhist sensitivities while portraying himself as a populist who is not anti-Tamil. Bhavani Fonseka, Senior Researcher at the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), claimed that De Silva made the politically savvy decision to stay the eviction of Tamils from Colombo in order to garner UNP and public support while still maintaining his allegiance to the JVP which expressed its disapproval of the evictions in a June 7 session of Parliament. Saliya Pieris, a prominent private attorney that tries Supreme Court cases, told us other judges privately say De Silva has gone as far as engineering cases he wants to adjudicate by inviting petitioners to file their case using lawyers known to him.”

“Aziz told us that never in the judiciary’s history has there been a chief justice with such absolute control over the rest of the country’s judges. Aziz and Pieris said De Silva is charismatic, cunning, and vindictive, as well as one of the great legal minds of Sri Lanka, making him the last person anybody wants to challenge. From the Supreme Court down to the Magistrate Courts, De Silva dominates. Although there are 11 other Supreme Court justices, the Chief Justice chooses which ones sit on a given bench (usually consisting of three judges per case). Aziz said De Silva picks the most compliant judges regardless of their seniority. Pieris told us that even when De Silva is not personally on the bench, the Supreme Court justices make decisions approved by De Silva. Pieris said the only Supreme Court justice who dares challenge De Silva, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake who is second in seniority, has now been marginalized. Aziz and Pieris point to the small number of dissenting opinions written during De Silva’s tenure as further evidence of his dominance.” he further wrote.

James Moor wrote “Thus far, President Rajapaksa has remained publicly silent on De Silva and his recent rulings, but there is little doubt he is unhappy with the Chief Justice. Supreme Court Justice Jagath Balapatabandhi (strictly protect) told our political FSN that, in mid-May, President Rajapaksa privately asked De Silva to retire. He said the President identified Supreme Court Justice Nihal Jayasinghe as his desired replacement. Pieris told us Jayasinghe is the fourth most senior on the bench and known as more pliable than De Silva. If De Silva does not voluntarily retire, the President would have to convince Parliament to impeach De Silva to put his man in the Chief Justice’s seat, which is unlikely given De Silva’s current level of public support. De Silva retires in 2009. In the meantime, President Rajapaksa consistently appoints Jayasinghe over the more senior Shirani Bandaranayake as acting chief justice when De Silva is away.”

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Rajitha takes the lead in supporting LLRC implementation

Thursday, 02 August 2012

Several powerful government ministers are currently engaged in creating the ideological environment to support the implementation of the President’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations. Minister Rajitha Senaratne is engaged in coordinating the campaign.

Ministers from the left front Tissa Vitharana, D.E.W. Gunasekera, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Chandrasiri Gajadheera and SLFPers like former Premier Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, John Seneviratne, Dilan Perera, Susil Premajayantha and Anura Priyadharshana Yapa are engaged in this campaign.

These ministers have pointed out that the pressure from the international community would intensify if the government did not show a positive response towards implementing the LLRC recommendations. These ministers have decided to carry out a bigger campaign against that carried out by Ministers Champika Ranawaka and Wimal Weerawansa against the implementation of the LLRC recommendations.

The President has appointed a committee headed by Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge to look into the implementation of the LLRC recommendations and they have pointed out the importance of implementing most of them.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has also informed the President that he would unconditionally support the implementation of the LLRC recommendations. A proposal drafted by the UNP and the TNA on the matter has already been handed over to the President.

Leaders of several left parties have also declared their unconditional support to implement the LLRC recommendations.

Sri Lankan government moves to gag web sites

By Vilani Peiris 
1 August 2012

Sri Lankan Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella announced on July 12 that the government planned new regulations under the draconian Press Council Act to control web sites. Once the cabinet approved the amendments he would present them to parliament for approval within weeks, Rambukwella added.

The regulations would extend the coverage of the Press Council, a government tribunal that can fine and jail journalists, to web sites as well as other media outlets. This step is part of an intensifying attack on media and democratic rights, designed to strengthen the police-state apparatus developed by President Mahinda Rajapakse amid an intensifying economic and political crisis.

Rambukwella did not specify all the details of the proposed measures but said the government would charge 100,000 rupees ($US770) to register a web site and 50,000 rupees every year to maintain the registration.

The minister said the provisions would apply the same rules to web sites as to news sources. “If any person or institution is disturbed or defamed by erroneous news reports, photographs published in any newspaper they could complain to the Sri Lanka Press Council,” he said. These rules against so-called “mudslinging” or “disturbing” anyone give enormous scope to the government to crack down on dissent.

Rambukwella claimed: “The free media is not under threat.” Yet, the announcement came just two weeks after the police raided and sealed off the offices of pro-United National Party (UNP) opposition web sites, Sri Lanka Mirror and Sri Lanka X News, and arrested nine workers, accusing them of “conspiracy against the government.” The police also seized computers and documents.

To justify the June 29 arrests, the police cited penal code 118, which prohibits the publication of articles defamatory of the president. When the defence lawyers explained that the clause had been repealed in 2002, a magistrate ordered the release of those arrested. However, the police are now seeking to charge them under other provisions in the penal code.

The government’s Press Council (PC) has the powers of a district court. Its chairman and members are appointed by the president. It can hold an inquiry into a complaint and censure the proprietor, printer, publisher, editor or journalist of a newspaper, and also direct them to publish an apology and correction.

If a complaint amounts to defamation, a defendant can be punished with a fine of up to 5,000 rupees or two years’ imprisonment, or both. Penalties can also be imposed for publishing cabinet proceedings, “official secrets,” government financial information or defence matters. Contempt or disrespect for the authority of the PC is an offense punishable by the Supreme Court, but no legal action can be instituted against PC members.

The Press Council Act (PCA) was introduced in 1973 by the coalition government of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Stalinist Communist Party. The legislation was adopted after the crushing of the abortive 1971 guerrilla uprising led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, during which the military killed 15,000 rural youth.

Facing increasing opposition from the working class and rural poor against attacks on their living conditions under conditions of economic crisis internationally and in Sri Lanka, the SLFP-led coalition government invoked draconian emergency laws and imposed the PCA to muzzle the press.

Since then, governments, politicians and companies have used the PCA to witch-hunt newspapers, editors and journalists. Among them was Kamkaru Mawtha (Workers’ Path), the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist League—the forerunner of the Socialist Equality Party.

A right-wing United National Party-led government temporarily rendered the infamous law defunct in 2002 during negotiations with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to end the island’s protracted civil war. However, it did not abolish the law.

The Rajapakse government that came to power in 2005 as part of its renewed communal war against the LTTE sought to intimidate and suppress the media. Under this government, 16 journalists and media workers have been killed by pro-government death squads and at least another 25 journalists subjected to physical attack. Others have fled the country, fearing for their lives.

In June 2009, just two weeks after the war ended in the military defeat of the LTTE, Rajapakse reactivated the PC to further intimidate the press.

Facing a deepening economic crisis and developing resistance by workers, poor and young people, the Rajapakse government—like other governments around the world—is fearful of popular means of communication and web sites.

The government is notorious for blocking web sites critical of it, or which expose the corruption of ruling party politicians and the use of military intelligence to attack opposition and workers’ protests. Last November, without any legal basis, the media ministry requested all web sites to register with it.

In March, the Defence and Urban Development ministry imposed new restrictions on widely distributed SMS news alert services. Any news related to national security, the security forces and the police must now get prior approval by the Media Centre for National Security.

In May, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the closure of four web sites that had failed to register with the government. The court ruled that freedom of expression in Sri Lanka was not an absolute right and could be restricted, even without passing a law to do so.

The government’s latest move has been condemned by international media organisations. “We view this move as the third stage in a crackdown on user generated content on the web, following the ban of four web sites in November last year for their failure to register with the Ministry and the police raids carried out on the office premises of two news portals in June,” the International Federation of Journalists said.

This intensifying repression is an attempt to counter deepening disaffection among workers, the rural and urban poor, and youth and students. The government is imposing a series of austerity measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that drastically affect living standards.

This month, the IMF backed the austerity measures by approving the final instalment of a $US2.6 billion loan, which was granted in July 2009 to avert a balance of payment crisis. The government is now seeking another $500 million from the IMF, on terms that will inevitably mean even more severe cuts to public spending and price subsidies for essential items such as food and fuel.

Sri Lanka: The Rise Of The Security Apparatus And The Decline Of The Criminal Justice System

By Sajeeva Samaranayake -August 1, 2012

Sajeeva Samaranayake

It seems to me that the depth of our concern about children being abused is equally matched by the depth of our stupidity in responding to this problem. By stupid I mean that we are following a beaten track, like sincere pigs, without looking left or right.

As ignorant adults we neglected these helpless children before they were abused. When there is a hue and cry about abuse we rush in with the police and drag the child into a criminal process which the child and his or her close relatives have no control over and cannot really understand. Sometimes the police themselves are not sure whether they should protect the child or the suspect. It all depends on the influence possessed by the suspect. In such cases (and they are not rare) there is a lot of confusion and disorder inside the police station because such suspects and their supporters are much more comfortable inside the station than innocent people.

If the suspect has no influence the law proceeds on its long course. Statements are recorded, JMO’s are harassed for medical reports and the file ends in the Attorney General’s Department to join thousands of similar companions pending disposal. By this time the child is forgotten again. Many other victims join the child in this state of misery. Starting with the child’s family and loved ones, the police officers, doctors, state counsel and finally magistrates and judges find themselves locked into a system where there are too many cases and too little time to finish their work. It is a baton relay that never ends – and this is no fun to run. The whole process has moved far away from the child – the original cause. Sensitive officials may suffer thinking of the seeming irrelevance of what they do. Mercifully none of them get to see too much of the child. There is simply no time for that.

I am not saying that the criminal process is irrelevant. It has been made irrelevant by a lack of independence, courage and a sense of direction by those at the helm.

When I referred to our ignorance above I was being neither derogatory nor Buddhist. Ignorance is our normal state until we start speaking to the avowed subject of our concern. When our interactions with the child are defined and shaped by the criminal process we give ourselves very little space and time to have a dialogue with the child. Having a video interview is good, but that is also in the service of the criminal process which has embarked on a long journey to punish the offender. Who is paying attention to the child whether s/he has injuries, whether s/he is hungry or thirsty, whether s/he is scared and lonely and wants to have a loved one with them? Many sympathetic police officers, doctors and magistrates do this – but they do this because they are sympathetic human beings; not because they are directed to do it by any law or procedure. Ultimately they can only do very little – because the child is NOT a case; the child is a human being.

After being abused the child and all the very important and powerful people (VIP’s) who have to do this and that with regard to the case come to a junction. One road is our beaten track that leads to the Police Station, JMO, Magistrate’s Court, Attorney General’s Office and finally the High Court. I must remind those who have forgotten that we took this road in 1995 by amending the Penal Code. The NCPA established in 1998 set up a dedicated Police Unit and made a great effort to stop the tide. It is honourable to try and fail. But it is dishonourable to take the same road again. The children suffered enough in the last 17 years as the adults bungled with their game of ‘justice.’

The road less travelled is of course the road taken by the child, most of the time ALONE. This may be to a Remand Home, a Children’s Home or to the child’s own home. Wherever the child is placed possibilities of further abuse and attempts to change the child’s version of the story can be made. There are many, many other issues to be looked into relating to the child’s health, schooling and future. Family members have to be advised to stay in touch and support the child. Most of this is very ordinary, human and social work. And it is not newsworthy for the press or the big institutions set up spending millions to ‘protect’ children. It will only become so if there is another allegation of abuse in the Home and then we will have the ‘child protection people’ coming in with their guns blazing, arresting and remanding people, getting their pictures into the press and going through that largely meaningless charade again.

We have to ask the children what they think of all this….

The real heroes of course are those who befriend these children in their time of dire need. The people who need our support are those simple officers and individuals who spend their time, day in and day out doing things to help the child. This work needs a lot of patience, kindness and thoughtfulness. It is a different way of being ‘tough’ on child abuse.

It is quite understandable for governments to show criminals who the boss is in this country. Governments have been trying to discipline people for centuries but they will never come across a better way of doing this than setting a personal example of good behaviour to others. If, and only if this standard of exemplary behaviour can be achieved by all the law enforcers and their god fathers the criminal law can be a serious exercise in our society. Not until then. So we will have to continue to struggle to keep the abusers away from children and struggle to help individual children in the future as well. My point is that if we cannot punish the offender or we have to wait years to do that we can still help the child TODAY.

In most of the ‘big’ cases which made the headlines recently if you take the road less travelled you will find that the child is still alone, still sad and neglected. Not only that; you will find that the poor man’s services like probation and social services are fighting a lone battle to help children with very little resources. The Probation service has to be re-organized. Some officers have too much work and some have too little. They are paid a travelling allowance of Rs. 2000 a month to visit families and carry out social inquiries. Like the midwives do today most of them simply get the children and families to come to them.

One day I was passing the Mirihana Police Ground to see about 50 nice blue Indian jeeps waiting to be sent to the police stations. We have more police officers today in the country than we have ever had. We must ask the children if they feel better protected.

This is the way to invest in suffering. The Ministry of Finance must ask itself what its role and function is in a society struggling to close the chapter of hatred and conflict. All forms of development that ignore children and families are suspect. A society cannot move one step forward without adults disciplining themselves to provide an example to all children. Till then our adults will remain children and children as a result will have to grow up much faster. Very soon they will be on the streets.

Recently when I spoke to a group of young adults they were very clear that the solution lies in better education to address our hearts and minds. They suggested that the best medium to use is the arts. We must keep talking to them because we have so little time left to live and they have so much more. It is their world we are destroying.

Going a little deeper into our ignorance we still believe that water flows from top to bottom. This is so in ignorant societies. In a society that starts learning the water goes from the bottom to the top; from children to adults; from the weak to the strong. When we start investing in learning about each other in this way this society will move away from all forms of violence.

* Sajeeva Samaranayake :Attorney at Law, LLB (Hons), LLM (Family Justice Studies – Merit) East Anglia; State Counsel 1994 – 2003; Child Protection Specialist – unicef Sri Lanka 2003 – 2008; Independent Consultant on Law and Child Protection 2009 onwards.

SRI LANKA: Will the Bar Association seriously defend the survival of the legal profession and judicial independence

August 2, 2012
The Sunday Times reported that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has decided to intervene in the contempt of court case filed by seven senior lawyers against Minister Rishad Bathuideen over the threats he is alleged to have made to the Mannar magistrate. Earlier these seven lawyers, Geoffrey Alagaratnam PC, Sunil Cooray, Lal Wijeyanayake, Chanrapala Kumarage, E.C. Feldano, Nalini Kamalika Manatunga and A.S.M. Perera initiated the contempt of court proceedings against the minister in the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal Judge, W.L. Ranjith Silva on Thursday issued a rule on Minister Bathuideen to appear in court on September 5 to show cause as to why he should not be punished for contempt of court for allegedly threatening the Mannar magistrate.

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the intervention of the BASL and at the same time repeats the call it has made on several occasions in previous years for the BASL to lead the fight against the virtual collapse of the rule of law in Sri Lanka and the threat this poses to the judiciary as well as to the very survival of the legal profession. 

There have been no arrests following the attack on the Mannar courts. Nor has the government taken any action to deal with the minister who is alleged to have been behind the threat to the Magistrate and the attack on the courts.

The lawyers and judges who boycotted all the courts in protest against these attacks have demonstrated the utter frustration felt by all of them as well as the people of Sri Lanka over the serious crisis of law which affects every aspect of their lives as well as their properties. The basic rights that the Magna Carta assured for the people, the right to protection of personal liberties and property has been under threat in Sri Lanka for several years now. This is perhaps the first occasion on which the judges and the lawyers have spontaneously reacted by way of a boycott of courts.

In fact, this should have happened quite a long time ago. It is reported that when, under the UNP regime stones were thrown at the Supreme Court judges, judges of the lower courts discussed the issue of boycotting courts in protest. Unfortunately that was prevented due to ill advice. However, had the judges and lawyers acted strongly at that stage the present impasse would not have happened.

For years there have been many occasions when much more decisive intervention by the judges and lawyers to defend their own independence required a serious understanding of the situation and a well thought out strategy to retaliate against this threat to their very existence.  Perhaps the former Chief Justice, Neville Samarakoon, who did realise how his former friend, President J.R. Jayewardene was undermining him and the whole judiciary may have done better by resigning or taking some dramatic stance than merely confining his protest to some strong words. 

In the period that followed much more leadership ability to defend the very system of the judiciary should have come from the country's senior judges. In India the Supreme Court clearly comprehended the authoritarian ambitions of Indira Gandhi and played a decisive role in defeating her schemes, thus protecting the country's rule of law and democratic system. The Supreme Court of India also defeated the attempt by the right wing BJP government in their attempt to reform the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. The court bravely held that no government has the authority to undermine the basic structure of democracy as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

In Sri Lanka President Jayewardene did undermine the basic structure of the country's democracy through the 1978 Constitution. What became of Sri Lanka thereafter has its ultimate root in this altering of the country's basic constitutional structure and replacing it with a basic structure that is undemocratic and which undermines the rule of law. 

There were times when even the Chief Justices collaborated with the executive presidents to further undermine the very basis of the existence of the law in Sri Lanka. The dark period under the former Chief Justice, Sarath Silva, who acted to fulfill the ambitions of the then executive president, Chandrika Kumaratunga has left insurmountable obstacles for the recovery of the system of the rule of law and democracy. His fallout with incumbent executive president did not contribute in any way to undo the enormous damage that was done to the basic structure of the Sri Lankan democratic system.

The deformation of the country's basic structure was brought to even higher levels with the adoption of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution by the government of Mahinda Rajapakse. So many actions have thereafter been taken to complete the course of erasing whatever might remain of the democratic tradition. The virtual subordination of the country to a public security system with no respect for personal liberties or property rights of the citizens has advanced in recent years.

Throughout all these crises the attempt by the judiciary as well as the legal profession under the leadership of the BASL has no proud moment to record. Perhaps the only light at the end of the tunnel was this boycott which came as a reaction to the attacks on the Mannar Courts.

Perhaps the prevalence of an overall situation of the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE has provided a useful background for the governments in power to allow curtailment of the serious resistance of democratic forces against the authoritarian course they are taking.

Some may say that things have gone too far and now it is too late for any attempts at reversal. No doubt there is considerable truth in such perceptions. However, the very survival of the judiciary and the legal profession are at stake. Particularly the younger generations entering these professions can see quite clearly as to how they are trapped and how their future is threatened. 

There is the example of the lawyers in Pakistan who fought a successful fight against the subjugation of the judiciary and the legal profession under several military regimes. There is much to be learned from their brave and courageous struggle.

The lawyers and judges in Sri Lanka must face their own destinies with seriousness; will they be doomed to an existence of subjugation under an authoritarian system or will they fight back to regain the basic structure of democracy and the rule of law that has been severely undermined.

Sri Lanka Tourism

Sri Lanka Tourism

The struggle to go home in post war Sri Lanka: The story of Mullikulam

Ruki-1 Aug, 2012

Photo courtesy National Fisheries Solidarity Movement

Groundviews

In 2011, a young Advanced Level student from Mullikulam in the district of Mannar, living as an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in a camp in Thalvupadu, Mannar, shared with me an assignment she had done about her village and effects of displacement. She proudly described the richness of her hometown in terms of natural resources, culture and traditions. But soon, her mood turned to one of despair as she asked me and a priest who was accompanying me, when they could go home.

Neither of us had an answer for her. We were both aware that Mullikulam had been under military occupation since September 2007. We have been visiting the people of Mullikulam on a regular basis since the time they were forcibly evicted from their village by the military, having being given very little hope of returning.

But inspired by the loving manner in which the villagers spoke about their village, and the teenager’s efforts to document the rich history of the village, the priest and I thought we could perhaps assist these villagers to write the story of their village. Both, the villagers and the Bishop of Mannar welcomed the idea, and pledged their continued support. I was working with Law & Society Trust (LST) at that time, and so approached two trusted and committed friends to join my team at LST, in carrying out hands-on research and writing. They assisted with documenting the story of the village, working closely with the villagers and Church leaders. In the process, we became friends and became involved in their struggle to return home.

Photo courtesy National Fisheries Solidarity Movement

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